Done With Summer, Not Quite Autumn: The Sartorial Patience This Time of Year

This time of year is an enormously frustrating time for me sartorially, somewhat akin to what it must feel like to be a race horse in the starting gate. By now I am finding my summer uniform as dull as ditch water, and questioning the very virtues of even adhering to a uniform. I think this is mostly because in summer, there are very few opportunities for layering.

But I know there are buckets and buckets of scrummy sartorial prizes at that finish line, starting with my favorite, Scottish Fair Isles. And specifically Bosie Fair Isles. And Harley of Scotland. (The Bosie owner is a Harley family member and her world class sweaters are made at the Harley facility.) And truth be told, she already sent me the first three of her new Fair Isles, months ago, but I must wait until they are up on her site. So there they sit, on my table in all their glory, testing my patience. But I am greatly looking forward to sharing those and more very soon.

Also, for this upcoming season, I have been working on a quite special and very British tweedy project for the ladies. But again, I must wait.

So, in the meantime, and for a bit of a pretty fix, I turn to Liberty. I absolutely must have this Ann Mashburn Liberty scarf. For tying around my neck and for tying around my pony tail. And probably this larger size one as well. I am mad for Liberty, shirts and scarves, and always have been. And while I am not a jeans wearer per say, I couldn’t help but notice that terrific cut on these Ann Mashburn jeans, and if they were offered in a khaki, they would already be on their way to me. Along with these good looking suede loafers.

On to flannel. I have a love/hate relationship with flannel shirts. The hate part is that they are just so masculine. The love part is that they are just so soft. And L.L. Bean still offers the best of the bunch. So this autumn I am giving flannel shirts another go.

I always compare the feel of Scottish tartan flannel shirts with British brushed cotton tattersalls, which is probably unfair, as they are really apples and oranges. But neither have that deal-breaking natural fiber dilution — under the specious guises of “comfort” or “performance”. Natural fiber dilution is the bane of the fashion industry these days.

There is nothing quite like waking up on a cold morning while it is still pitch black out and putting on that unbelievably soft and thick flannel shirt, quickly pulling over it an Irish hand knit fisherman’s sweater. Add to that a bit of woodsmoke, my quite large hand thrown nautical chart mug filled with hot coffee, and I have myself an awfully perfect morning. (The spouse doesn’t hurt either.) And where the only thing that can make all of that even a wee bit better is a cold piece (or two) of apple pie that I had made the day before. My highly specific, but not infrequent, flannel shirt use case.

I never wear flannel shirts out of the house. They are strictly in-home attire. Not quite Jim jams, but not quite heading-out attire either. And I only wear them under an oversized woollen, lest I start looking like Luke Danes.

Which is unlike the brushed cotton tattersalls — I wear those out all the time — especially with the aforementioned Fair Isles and often with pearls. The femininity of the patterned yoke with the more severe tattersall check for me gives that tension I often favor.

While I maintain there is no such thing as a bad tattersall, in contrast, finding a tasteful flannel shirt can be a challenge. I have traditionally gone for Bean’s Black Watch or the Dress Campbell, and occasionally a Dress Stewart, which they had reliably offered for years and years. Now they offer none of those, though their Vintage Tartan bears an uncanny resemblance to the Dress Campbell, so I am currently wait-listed for that one. September 19^th they say. Just in time.

They have a wide ranges of styles/fits, including the Tradition and Slightly Fitted for Men, and the Relaxed and Boyfriend fit for Women. While I did try the Women’s Relaxed, I still favor the Men’s Traditional cut, my long arms and all. Same flannel though.

But in no time at all, things will suddenly speed up, at which time the challenge will be to keep up.

All photos of/by Muffy Aldrich