Fall/WinteR 2019 Lookbook: Autumn in New York

Photography by Christopher Fenimore

This season’s lookbook doubles as a mini-tutorial on how to use color to best enhance your face and complexion. With Jon and Tommy, we have two diametrically opposed countenances of color, Jon’s dark hair and light skin qualify as high contrast complexion while Tommy’s fair skin crowned with gold-blond hair qualify as a more muted or medium contrast platform. For better repartee with each’s countenances we’ve paired bolder, more contrast shadings for Jon (and Kwame later on) and warmer, more gold-toned, lower contrast tonalities for Tommy.

Below Jon debuts an enthusiastically striped double-breasted flannel number, the chalkstripe’s light tone mirroring the silver streaks in his full head of black hair. Notice the soft and easy drape – we eliminated the canvas and shoulder pads for a de-constructed take on suit normally associated with power-dressing.

Using our lightweight chestnut brown worsted flannel suit to backdrop Tommy’s gold-blond autumnal coloring and blue eyes, the addition of a moss green Alpaca top coat, russet silk necktie, and medium blue horizontal-striped dress shirt marries his complexion, no less his personal style to his clothes organically.

On Tommy: MTM 9oz wool flannel suit, MTM shirt, custom wool/alpaca/mohair polo coat

On Jonathan: MTM double-breasted 10oz chalkstripe wool flannel suit, custom oxford shirt, wool challis tie

Custom-Tailored Separates

Once again the clothing colors follow the complexion’s lead. Tommy sports a unique cashmere and mohair soflty-constructed jacket whose caramel over-plaid echoes his hair color and his tobacco-toned suede loafers. Notice the ensemble’s horn buttons and quietly understated elegance, Tommy’s face is center stage, no upstaging here.

In lock step, Jon mates his chocolate brown stretch corduroy “slack jacket” with a seasonally appropriate scarf, which once again bows to his higher contrast complexion. His sweater-like custom top could accommodate multiple levels of formality, from t-shirt to turtleneck to necktie.

On Tommy: custom 9oz cashmere/mohair/silk glen plaid sport jacket, custom cotton corduroy trousers, MTM denim sport shirt, and our wool/cashmere/silk crew-neck sweater

On Jonathan: custom 12oz wool/cotton stretch corduroy slack jacket, custom oxford sport shirt, own jeans

Town Suits

Kwame now steps into the picture, wearing a rich navy suiting accessorized by high-contrast haberdashery which supports his dramatic complexion. It doesn’t hurt that we’ve chosen our favorite unsolid navy suit for his wearing pleasure. Close-up, its subtle pattern provides surface interest, yet when viewed from a distance it loses its patterned limitation inviting sartorial freedom and aplomb.

On Kwame: MTM 9oz wool navy plaid suit, MTM multi-stripe dress shirt, cashmere tie

On Jonathan: MTM chesterfield topcoat, MTM 10oz wool flannel chalkstripe suit, custom poplin shirt, wool/cashmere tie

Breaking Up the Suits Into Separate Jackets

It takes a bit of sartorial license, but some suit jackets can be pushed to perform as a sport jacket. In the case of our favorite un-solid navy suit, when dressed down with less formal navy horn buttons and grey flannels (or blue jeans), it transforms into an elegant alternative blazer.

Then there’s Jon pushing the proverbial style envelope but not tearing it, lobbing a DB striped flannel suit jacket into the fray as a separate jacket. Not for the meek of heart or fashion fearful, but worn with our dark brown cashmere and silk knitted long sleeve tee, and his own classic blue jeans, it’s a mélange of downtown-mined classics that together add up to more than the sum of its parts.

On Kwame: MTM 11oz wool flannel trousers, wool/silk/cashmere crew neck sweater

On Jonathan: own jeans, wool/silk/cashmere crew neck sweater

Shades of Evening Wear

Who says a dinner jacket has to be worn with a formal bow tie, or for that matter, formal dress trousers? This is not to say that we take black tie protocol lightly, it’s just we just do not want to be bound by it. By knowing what the classic regiment requires and how to design it correctly, we also know how to tweak it and even break out of it without compromising good form. You may be surprised at how creative black-tie attire was back in its heyday.  Because each element of the original kit was a classic unto itself, it wasn’t long before the sartorial savvy began breaking off items to wear on their own – like black opera pumps with grey flannels or the double-breasted dinner jacket with blue jeans. 

Not for everybody, but that doesn’t make it wrong, or more importantly, unstylish. Here’s a couple of our newer eye-cues for black tie, from the bold patterned pink pocket square and French voile patterned dinner shirt to the velvet dinner jacket worn with turtleneck and satin-trimmed dinner trousers. And don’t think you can’t take those dinner trousers and wear them on their own. You’ll be able to greet the next couple of decades in them confidently.   

On Kwame: double-breasted cotton/cashmere corduroy dinner jacket with silk satin facing, 9oz wool/cashmere charcoal flannel dinner trousers, custom windowpane dinner shirt

On Jonathan: 10oz cotton velvet dinner jacket with silk grosgrain facing, black wool dinner trousers, own charcoal turtleneck