The Gentleman Mason

The Wooster Project

Some time ago I posted this photograph of Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster from the old Jeeves and Wooster series from British television.  Jeeves and Wooster is one of the greatest programs ever for men’s clothing, right up there with Mad Men.  The program is set in the period between the first and second world wars, and the wardrobe is amazing.  From the evening wear to the lounge suits, everything hits just the right notes.

One suit that I’ve admired enormously is Bertie’s brown Harris tweed.  It’s elegant, but not overdone; it’s subtle.  I’m really impressed by it, so much so that I’ve decided to try to replicate it as best I can.

To that end, in cooperation with my friends at Bookster, I have commissioned a new three-piece tweed suit.  There are some details I can see, others that I can’t and I’m just filling those in with my own preferences and/or best guesses.

The jacket is a three button notch lapel, that’s pretty straightforward.  Bookster would have been happy to have added working sleeve buttons for an extra £30, but I’m not sure that’s necessary on a suit of this type.  Probably on a jacket of that vintage it would have been done, but I passed. I also can’t tell about the vents.  Tweed is a country fabric, and jackets of that material generally have a single rear vent, the purpose being to improve the lay of the jacket while one is on horseback.  I so rarely ride horses these days that I’ve decided to err on the side of modernity and personal preference and make the jacket with twin vents.  I opted for straight — rather than slanted hacking — pockets for this jacket, and no ticket pocket.  Those details are fairly clear in the photo.  The buttons will be a brown horn.

The trousers have two pleats, obviously.  Mine will have cuffs, or turn-ups as the English call them.  I’m sure that there are no belt loops, only buttons for braces, but this is one of those details I don’t know for certain, as I also don’t know the treatment of the waistband.  A traditional touch that was more popular at the time was a fish tail back on the trousers. 

The fish tail is a detail reserved solely for trousers that are worn with braces, obviously.  The fishtail is designed to raise the waistband to fill the space between your waistcoat and your trousers.  It prevents your shirt from being seen from behind for a smoother, more consistent appearance.  The fish tail is something that is almost never seen in a modern garment, and that’s one of the things I like most about it in this application.

Speaking of the waistcoat, it will be their standard design, without lapels.  I have one of their waistcoats with lapels and frankly like them better on a tweed suit, but Bertie doesn’t have them and so I shall not have them either.  The waistcoat will have five buttons (as opposed to Bertie’s six), and two jetted pockets.  The back will be same fabric rather than lining material.

I still have plenty of time to think about accessory details like the braces, shirts and ties.  Bertie’s shirt appears to be a simple white or cream with a point collar, that’s easy enough.  Tweeds are frequently worn with tattersalls, but the plain fabric is a cleaner and somewhat less country look that I like.  Bertie, after all, was a Mayfair lad even when spending time in the country.

As for the tie, it’s some sort of plaid, I can’t tell whether it’s a wool or silk tie from this picture, but I have a few plaid wool ties that look similar enough to possibly do the job.  This is a place where I may well break from Bertie’s choices and wear the suit with an ancient madder silk tie.  Brooks Brothers has a beautiful selection of madder ties this year, and if there’s a silk made for tweed, it’s madder.

Braces, of course, will be Albert Thurstons and I am giving serious consideration to their dark green boxcloth, as shown at left.   They also make an olive barathea (at bottom) that would work out splendidly with the fabrics I’ve chosen.  Not that they’ll be seen.  Braces are considered to be undergarments and should not be visible, Larry King and Gordon Gekko notwithstanding.  Like jacket linings, it’s a matter of personal preference that you choose because you enjoy.  Other companies make braces, Trafalgar being one such, but Trafalgars are generally considerably more expensive and I vastly prefer Thurston’s simpler designs.

I have a brown fedora made by Art Fawcett, but it’s a fairly light brown.  Maybe too light.  The Akubra Federation IV in dark brown would be an excellent, well regarded and relatively inexpensive choice.  Bookster are also making a driving cap for me in same fabric.

As for the fabrics themselves, here are my choices.  The tweed is a 450g genuine Harris that Bookster calls Vintage Brown.  As you can see, it has a sort of a heather appearance, and my sample swatch shows that it has quite a lot of grey in it.  The grey seems to smooth out the brown somewhat and makes the color a bit creamier.  The lining is a viscose satin called Antique Gold that I think goes with the Harris quite spectacularly.

So that is my Bertie Wooster-inspired brown Harris tweed suit.  When Bookster finishes it up, probably in about three months, I’ll be sure to show you the final product.