Every once in a while, you’ll see a men’s style blogger write about the weird or the exotic. Usually it’s some ugly thing the author has convinced himself is charming, either because he’s done too much arcane reading or through sheer repetition of seeing the item over and over again.
I suppose this is one of those posts.
I’m rather infatuated with single-button sleeves on sport coats. There are a good number of Apparel Arts illustrations to show that this style was widely applied and accepted in the past, as well as a few inspiring photos of the design being worn today (see? arcane reading, and repetition). It’s a detail reserved for casual jackets - tweeds you’d wear to the country, patch pocket linens you’d wear on a stroll, and peak-lapel, navy single-breasteds you’d wear to a polo match. Assuming people still go to polo matches.
I’ve been thinking about getting something similar for myself. I like the simplicity and tidiness of the look. On a tweed jacket, I think it can be quite sporty; on a travel jacket, I think it would be fairly chic.
Of course, the problem is that it can also look rather provincial. Though I’ve seen the detail on a few British jackets, I think the style is more or less confined to Southern Italy today. In the States, some might even think a few buttons fell off of your sleeve, or that you weren’t able to afford a jacket with sufficient horn buttons. Still, I’ve been considering the design for months and I’m fairly certain of it. The trick, I think, is to just make sure the button is slightly larger than usual, so that more discerning people will know that the detail is intentional.
All else fails, I can also carry around a few Apparel Arts illustrations and pictures of Gennaro Solito, Michael Alden, and Simon Crompton, and just show them to people when they doubt my sartorial choices.
