Outfit Of The Week 1/12/25 – 1/18/25

This week’s edition of “OOTW” is a cold-weather, office ensemble.

The outfit is notable for two things. One is the fact that it was actually cold enough in the city to wear an overcoat, which pleased me. The past few times I’ve had to go into the office, I was fine in just a tweed jacket or a heavy sweater, so I was happy that it was chilly enough to warrant a nice, big coat.

My wife bought me this coat a number of years ago from J. Crew. It’s a luxurious wool and cashmere blend. Sizing is always tough with overcoats. You never know if you should get your suit-jacket size or if you should go a size up to account for wearing a jacket underneath the coat.

Thankfully, my wife guessed correctly. Technically, I could probably go a size down, but then that would mean the coat wouldn’t slide on and off quite as easily as it does now, which is a feature I really enjoy about this piece.

Even though fashion is trending away from the super skinny fits of suits, jackets, and pants, I still see many men wearing very slim overcoats. A tight fitting overcoat is really uncomfortable because your clothes get all bunched up underneath it. A large, loose, drapey overcoat is a real joy to wear! Now, I’m not saying it should be hilariously oversized, just large enough for you to pop on over your suit without it causing any issue. If that means the shoulders are a little extended, then so be it.

The second aspect of this outfit I wanted to highlight was my use of suspenders. I got these chocolate, flannel trousers back from the tailor a few months ago and have been really enjoying wearing them. The last time I wore them, I used a belt and, while they still looked good, I felt like they really deserved to be worn with suspenders as they are full-cut and high-rise and drape very nicely.

I used to be weirdly dogmatic about suspenders. I thought I had to wear them EVERY time I wore tailored pants. The problem was that I was embarrassed if anyone saw I was wearing them. They became an article of my style that made me enjoy my clothes LESS because they made me feel self-conscious.

Well, since then I’ve had some years of sartorial practice and general confidence-building and I’ve realized that I don’t mind if someone sees me in my suspenders because… PSST!… I look really good in them!

Moving on to other aspects of my outfit… my shoes were my burgundy lace-ups from Beckett Simonon.

Even though I like to wear shoes that are darker in shade than my trousers (to avoid unwanted attention at my feet and not my face) sometimes it’s just not possible. As you can see here with this outfit, I was naturally going to wear brown shoes but the chocolate brown pants are so dark, I would be hard-pressed to find brown shoes in a matching or darker shade than the pants. This is an example of not getting too bogged down in the “rules”. Would I wear a light tan shoe in this case? Of course not. But the shoes I chose are dark enough to not draw the eye downward. Also, I only own one pair of brown lace-ups so I didn’t really have much of a choice!

The shirt was an OCBD from Brooks Brothers. The jacket was my trusty, herringbone tweed that looks good with everything. The pocket square I chose was a green and orange square from Poszetka.

Rounding out my outerwear, I chose my grey, tweed cap, black, cashmere scarf, and black, leather gloves.

Next week is forecasted to be below zero so stay tuned for next week’s VERY cold-weather outfit!

Have a wonderful weekend!