Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette! In today's video, we'll clear up some
menswear confusion and discuss the differences between Blazers, sport coats,
and suit jackets. When you shop at a department store or large clothing
retailer, chances are you'll probably see most jackets marketed as Blazers but
just because they have lapels and buttons, doesn't qualify them as being
this type of jacket and it's not just brick-and-mortar stores that contribute
to the confusion around the various names of these garments. For example, on
eBay, there's no category listing for Blazers or sport coats, only for suits
and suit separates. And while it's not totally within our wheelhouse here at
the Gentleman's Gazette, we should note also that many jackets
with buttons and lapels for women are also marketed under the blanket term of
Blazer. All of these different factors have contributed to a broader
misunderstanding about the true differences between these different
jacket styles. So let's clear that up in today's video. We'll start with a suit
jacket which is precisely that. In other words, it is the jacket portion of an
outfit made up of either two or three pieces along with trousers and a
waistcoat that have all been constructed from the same fabric. So definitionally,
if a jacket comes from an ensemble of two or three pieces from the same fabric,
it is a suit jacket. Of course, just because this jacket comes from an
ensemble of the same fabric doesn't mean that it always has to be worn with its
companion pieces. Suit jackets can be worn with other garments in a sort of
mix-and-match technique, that's often referred to by the Italian term "spezzato".
For example, one could take the navy jacket from one suit and the gray
trousers from another and mix them together. In a sense, this can blur
definitional lines between suit jackets and sport coats because one is
breaking up the original unity of the suit jacket from its other companion
garments. Spezzato literally means "broken" If you would like to learn more about
this distinguished style technique, you can take a look at our article on
spezzato here. So it's easy enough to say that a jacket is a suit jacket if it
came from a suit but other than that, what are some defining characteristics
you can use to identify a suit jacket? Overall, suit jackets are usually more
formal than either of the other two jacket styles we'll discuss today. This
is why the suit has long been considered a sort of default uniform for business
meetings, funerals, and other events that require somberness and dignity. The
formality of a suit jacket is usually reflected in its relative absence of
pattern and texture and by being generally more structured than a sport
coat or blazer will be. The majority of suits are made in smooth worsted wool in
solid and conservative colors. For example, charcoal gray or navy blue. There
are a small number of patterns that are considered formal enough for use in
suits such as Glen plaids, windowpanes, or chalk stripes but there aren't a lot
of patterned suit styles that you'll see out there. Speaking structurally, a suit
jacket tends to have more padding inside the shoulder area and in some cases, more
canvassing between the inside lining and the cloth itself. The formality provided
by this structure, especially in something like a British styled suit,
combined with typical suiting fabrics makes a suit jacket somewhat more
difficult to wear with a different pair of pants as your upper body is probably
going to appear more dressed up than your lower body and it might simply look
like you're wearing the orphaned top half of a suit. By the way, if you're
curious as to what we mean by a British styled suit and how this might contrast
from something like an Italian or American style, you can find our video on
that subject here. So the essential difficulty then in
pairing suit jackets with other types of garments is that padded shoulders and
worsted wool are more formal features so they're not as easily going to gel with
other kinds of garments that are slightly less formal. There is a school
of thought that says one can lean into this disconnect and pair a formal suit
jacket with something like jeans or shorts but of course, being proponents of
classic style, we, at the Gentleman's Gazette, aren't going to recommend that
look. So while the spezzato technique exists for mixing and matching different
suit elements, you'll probably have an easier time pairing odd trousers with a
sport coat or a blazer. What do we mean here by odd trousers? Not odd in the
sense of being weird or unusual, although some designs certainly can be, we just
mean that these trousers weren't made to be part of a suit originally and
therefore, they can go with a variety of different elements. Similarly, a sport
coat which is also referred to as a sports coat, sport jacket, or sports
jacket is a type of odd jacket in that you can mix and match it with other
garments easily. In a number of ways, the sport coat can be seen as something of
an opposite to the standard suit jacket where suit jackets are usually smooth and
solid in color, sport coats are more often than not made with textured weaves
and fabrics and they come in a larger variety of patterns and colors. Say for
example, something like a houndstooth pattern on a tweed sport coat. By that
token, the presence of bolder patterns and more textured weaves communicates
that a sport coat was not originally part of a suit and that it is
essentially a more casual garment. As the name suggests, sport coats were
originally designed for sporting events in the British countryside, things like
pheasant hunting or fishing. While it's not going to be accurate in all cases,
one broad distinction to make is that a sport coat would be more appropriate for
country wear whereas a suit jacket would be more appropriate in the city. Of
course, given that many men these days aren't going to be wearing any sort of
tailored jacket, just wearing a sport coat will still make you more formally
dressed than a great many people. Still, a sport coat remains less formal than a
full suit and is appropriate for more casual events like weekend parties or
picnics. What is it that makes a sport coat less formal then? Well, we've already
talked about the more textured weaves and the greater variance in colors and
patterns but additionally, there's often going to be less structure in a sport
coat as well. Natural shoulders without padding are
common and summer sport coat styles can often lack an internal canvas or a
lining. Of course, there are some suits that can lack some of these features
like padded shoulders but as a general rule, you'll see this more casual styling
and structure in sport coats more than suits. Another casual aspect that will
often set a sport coat apart is the type of pockets that it has. While suits will
often have flapped or jetted pockets, you're going to see patch pockets on
sport coats more commonly which are generally more relaxed in appearance.
This can sometimes include the breast pocket as well which would usually be
welted on a more formal garment. Finally here then, let's go back to the garment
whose name is often used as an all-purpose umbrella term for men's
jackets. What really is a blazer? Technically speaking, a blazer is the
most specific of these three jacket types because it has to meet a certain
set of criteria to qualify as such. One of these criteria, for example, is that a
blazer can come in a solid color, most often navy blue or it can incorporate
either contrasting piping or stripes. All other types of patterns technically
disqualify a jacket from being considered a blazer. One somewhat common
additional ornamentation on a blazer, however, is a crest of some sort which
signifies the heritage of the Blazer as a garment worn by men who were
members of a particular organization or club.
Conversely, you're not usually going to find a crest on a suit jacket or a sport
coat. Another key criterion is that a Blazer's
buttons are going to contrast strongly with the jacket fabric. You're commonly
going to see things like gold colored or brass buttons with anchors on them or
maybe bright mother-of-pearl buttons. As an example here, you're often going to
find retailers like Ralph Lauren who cater to a more traditional crowd
selling Blazers with these styles of contrasting buttons. Whatever their
specific details may be, blazers are often intended to be bright and ablaze
with color, as their name would suggest. For example, the blazers created for the
Lady Margaret Boating Club in Cambridge, England are one such garment. They're
said to have started this trend of bright blazers being made of red flannel.
You're also going to see blazers in other bright colors like green or yellow.
The striped versions which are known as rowing blazers, boating blazers, or
regatta blazers are similarly quite bold in nature and even the standard navy
blazer will command some attention if it has bright brass or mother-of-pearl
buttons. Therefore, any man who's wearing a blazer should either be somewhat
extroverted to be able to take this additional attention or in an
environment where blazers are being worn by everyone such as at a nautical event.
In a certain sense, blazers exist somewhat in the space between suit
jackets and sport coats. Like a sport coat after all, a blazer is traditionally
worn with odd trousers in a different color.
At the same time though, traditional Blazers are true to their British
tailoring origins and they're generally more formal than sport coats possessing
some of these structural components of suit jackets like a more padded shoulder.
It should also be said though that nowadays, you can find some less
structured Blazers more influenced by Italian style which are
wading into sportcoat territory. For more information on blazers in particular
though, not just how they differ from suit jackets and sport coats but also
their unique history, you can check out our blazer guide here. Everyday language
often fails to recognize the traditional differences between suit jackets, sport
coats, and blazers and while using the information we've outlined here today,
you'll be able to identify these different types in traditional settings.
Do be aware that more and more as style lines are blurred and casualized, you may
also see hybrids of these jacket styles. There are casual suits with unpadded
shoulders that fit more like sport coats and blazers that fall into this category
too. These reflect the prevailing trends for less formal and more relaxed cuts.
Still, gentlemen who appreciate the history and heritage of these garments
are going to want to know where they came from in terms of the different
style elements and also, how to most correctly differentiate between the
three. In terms of how to wear and pair these three different kinds of jacket
styles, the blazer guide definitely has more information on that type. If you're
curious about suits, we've got videos on how to pair shirts and ties with gray
suits and with blue suits here. and if you're curious about sport coats, I'd
suggest that you check out our tweed guide here. in today's video it should
hopefully be obvious given the navy blue color and brass buttons that I'm wearing
a blazer it's double-breasted in configuration
features some padding in the shoulder but at the same time does have flapped
pockets and a single vent in the back which make it slightly more casual than
it might traditionally be I've paired it with plain charcoal trousers and a blue
and white striped French cuffed shirt in those French cuffs the cufflinks I'm
wearing today are from Fort Belvedere they are
gold plated sterling silver cuff links in a monkey's fist knot design
because they feature tied rope I figured that they tie into this nautical
heritage of the Blazer my other accessories are from Fort Belvedere
today as well including my pocket square which is an Art Deco Egyptian scarab
design in straw yellow antique brass blue black and cardinal red and features
a brown contrasting edge meanwhile my bow tie is in madder silk and features a
diamond pattern of yellow red blue and orange both the pocket square and the
bow tie have predominantly yellow tones and so harmonized well with the gold
buttons on the Blazer my boutonniere is a pink and white cherry blossom which
harmonizes with both the yellow and red colors in the outfit as well as the
white that's found in the shirt my socks are from Fort Belvedere - they are shadow
striped models in grey and light blue which of course harmonized with the
color palette as well you can find all of these Fort Belvedere accessories
including the bow tie pocket square boutonniere cufflinks and socks in the
Fort Belvedere shop here rounding out my outfit today then are my shoes which are
dark chocolate brown suede penny loafers from Meermin