A jacket is (still) required
Bongi D D M Radipati | Monday August 22, 2022 06:00
Indeed, clothes are variously closest to our bodies, our hearts, our sense of identity, and our public image. In fact, if we look closely, we will find that this closeness is actually a psychological connection with ourselves.
In other words, you could say that this connection is the public presentation of our private sincerity with ourselves.
Clothes are mass-produced, often of average sizes, commercially affordable, and of uniform shapes. But, like their wearers, they are still unique in some respects, such as appropriateness, colour, cut, styling, etc.
Clothes, therefore, have a rare combination of ubiquity, flexibility, and uniformity. These factors are necessary for addressing the complex emotional and sartorial calculi at the heart of each individual’s taste in their appearance and dress sense. In a generation of work-life balance, dressing down and fashion consciousness, I think the remote work phenomenon dictated by the pandemic, the general absence of the daily gaze of workmates at our clothing, or the general absence of the necessity to dress in a particular manner, have each allowed us to appreciate how we relate with our clothes and how clothes give us endless possibilities for our own personal dress style. In any case, some clothes are sentimental, some are aspirational – seeking to locate the wearer within the community they belong to or wish to belong – some are utilitarian, while some may be power-dressing, by consciously placing the wearer above colleagues, competitors, or customers.
If we paid attention to how pervasive our dress sense is or if we kept a diary of how we dress each day or for each event, we would realise that next to our daily routine of waking up, training, working, leisure, eating, and sleeping, clothes occupy a lot of our time. Besides the time we spend around our clothes, there is always the image they reveal about us, the display of status, means, or success they convey to others. Additionally, clothes have always been a way of expressing our sense of self-appreciation or a celebration of our joy. Sometimes, they have even been a creative outlet for us. In short, while we wear them, surreptitiously, clothes make us!
Although clothes are massively produced, our dressing in them tends to free us from a composite identity, and also allows us to live as individuals in the midst of others. In my view, a jacket, a particular one really, provides us with the most concentrated form of individualised clothing, with taste and style. Since 1837 when the British royal family approved it as an item of desirable clothing, the blazer – previously a jacket only for the British navy and English rowing clubs – became a versatile garment and a staple in the wardrobe of virtually every discerning man and woman all over the world.
There is a simple reason for this: a blazer epitomises a polished casualness and an understated elegance without appearing as if you belong in an imposed suit! Anyhow, because people often relate to a blazer easily or instantly, it has virtually become the world’s uniform. In this context, it is almost like good music, say classical music. You hear that music, you may not even know its lyrics and sometimes you may neither immediately know its composer nor its players. But once you discern its composition, rhythm, harmony, and melody, as with a blazer, you will relate to it, instantly. And then, as with your blazer, you will be hooked onto it, forever!
The contrast between a blazer and a suit or sport jacket is the fabric used to make a blazer. In making a blazer, worsted wool, serge, cashmere, flannel, and fresco are the most common types of fabric for this garment, and less common in suits and sport jackets. Although a blazer can be in any colour, navy is its colour of choice, whereas a vibrant, bright-coloured blazer often signifies that the wearer is a member of a particular association or sports team. The best pairing of a blazer – for both sexes – is with grey flannel pants, and the second and third best respectively is with well-fitted chinos or khakis and jeans, which are appropriate for an informal or semi-formal appearance.
Even for attending a wedding, a blazer and a pair of well-fitting pants are acceptable. And if you add a pocket square to poke out of your blazer's breast pocket or a brooch on the blazer’s lapel, you will have created your own personal style worthy of emulation. Indeed, if you are a man and have the good looks and the talent of Sean Connery, you may then fancy yourself as him in a blazer, in the movie, 'Dr No'. If you are a woman, you may then imagine yourself as Anna Kendrick who succeeds in pairing her blazer with a pencil skirt and a plain shirt in 'Up In The Air', a 2009 movie about corporate culture, personal choices, and the triumph of reason: undoubtedly, the everyday reasons for preferring a blazer. Additionally, a blazer is a study in restraint. If you allow it free rein in your dressing, it will discourage you from adorning yourself needlessly.
If your job or professional life does not require you to wear a suit and even if they did (but you can manage without it) then a blazer should be your choice of a jacket – to be worn whenever formality is required or for a business meeting or just to look presentable. In any case, when you wear a blazer, you are guided by a universal acknowledgement that it is a good thing to do so. Thus your wearing of a blazer is not a whim or a product of some silly choice that is opaque to others. Rather, it is intelligible and sensible to others and may often be required.
At every stage of our lives, and no matter who we are, we have to reckon with our clothes in the Miyake sense. We might as well do it better, by dressing appropriately, during all times. In any case, my view is that hard times such as the ones we face now or the prospect of sorrowful news because of a pandemic or some world event should goad us to pay attention to ordinary matters in our daily, uncertain lives. Good, timeless clothes, such as a blazer, can thus be the balm of our anxious souls.
*Radipati is a Mmegi contributor