Sartorial Concepts
Search

Try
A man in a navy suit and striped tie buttons his jacket at the foot of a stair.

LookbookNo. 01

October Navy, and brown

The month the cloth turned soft and the shoes turned brown.

October is when a navy suit stops looking like work. The worsted gives way to flannel, the tie to a knit, and the black oxford goes back in the box until the evenings ask for it.

This issue follows what the shops had this month: navy tailoring, brown shoes from Northampton, Italy, and Spain, the loafer for the weekend, and wool for under the coat.

  1. The cloth
  2. The shoe
  3. The weekend
  4. After six
A navy check three-piece suit, the hands fastening the jacket over the waistcoat.
Check, three pieces. The waistcoat comes back in October.

I The cloth

A navy suit in flannel reads differently from the same colour in a summer worsted. The nap takes the shine off, the drape is heavier, and the jacket looks right with the collar of a knit under it.

Look for a soft shoulder and a lapel with some belly to it. Italian houses cut for exactly this: a suit you can wear without a tie and not look as if you forgot one.

A man in a navy suit and open white shirt walking through a glass lobby.
Open collar, brown belt, no tie.
A man in a black jacket and black shirt, wearing sunglasses, on a city street.
The dark suit, for the evening that comes early.
Close view of tan calf derbies, the toe of one resting over the other.

II The shoe

Brown in town

Three brown lace-ups on a pale wooden shelf by a window.
Three browns: dark, tan, and the one between.
A brown full brogue on a worn wooden block.
A pair of polished brown oxfords on a warm oak floor.
Mallorca, on oak.

The rule was never “no brown in town”. The town had simply not seen a good one.

Dark brown penny loafers on a pale stone floor.

III The weekend

Off duty, still dressed

The penny loafer does the work of a lace-up on a Saturday: grey flannel, a knit, no socks to speak of. In dark brown calf it goes to dinner too.

Spain makes the most honest ones for the money. Italy makes the softest.

Dark brown double monk straps on a table in a dim room.

IV After six

The buckle, after dark

A box tied with brown ribbon on a stone counter, beside a brown wingtip.
Wrapped, tied, and sent on.
Black cap-toe oxfords resting on white linen.
And one black pair, for November.

Everything in this issue

The October edit

  • Church's Brown

    Farfetch

    Church's Nevada leather brogue Oxford shoes - Brown

    Brown · Leather

    ≈ $1,309 , £970.00 at the shop

    Currently unavailable

  • Church's Black

    Farfetch

    Church's Hertford 2.0 penny loafers - Black

    Black

    ≈ $1,188 , £880.00 at the shop

    Currently unavailable

  • Pt Torino Trousers 21 percent off

    Italist

    Pt Torino The Rebel Trousers - Navy

    Navy · IT 46 IT 48 IT 50 IT 52 IT 54 IT 56

    $287.15

    Currently unavailable

  • Doucal's Brown

    Farfetch

    Doucal's leather brogue shoes - Brown

    Brown · Leather

    ≈ $562 , £416.00 at the shop

    Currently unavailable

  • Santoni Brown

    Farfetch

    Santoni leather penny loafers - Brown

    Brown · Leather

    ≈ $640 , £474.00 at the shop

    Currently unavailable

  • Brunello Cucinelli Sweaters 28 percent off

    Italist

    Brunello Cucinelli Half-Zip Cashmere Sweater - Brown

    Brown · Cashmere · IT 48 IT 50 IT 52 IT 54 IT 56

    $1,193.90

    Currently unavailable

  • Pt Torino Trousers 21 percent off

    Italist

    Pt Torino Trousers - Navy

    Navy · IT 46 IT 48 IT 50 IT 52 IT 54 IT 56 IT 58

    $291.65

    Currently unavailable

  • Crockett & Jones Brown

    Farfetch

    Crockett & Jones Westgate 2 brogue Oxford shoes - Brown

    Brown

    ≈ $1,066 , £790.00 at the shop

    Currently unavailable

  • Church's Brown

    Farfetch

    Church's Portsmouth penny-slot loafers - Brown

    Brown · US 7

    ≈ $1,039 , £770.00 at the shop

    Currently unavailable

  • Pt Torino Sweaters 31 percent off

    Italist

    Pt Torino Merino Wool Sweater - Red

    Red · Wool · IT 46 IT 54

    $249.66

    Currently unavailable

A brown wingtip resting on a wooden block in low light.

Next month

Until November

The photographs in this issue are stock photographs, standing in until it is shot. The pieces on its shelves are real products, sold by the shops named.

Pieces and prices as they stood in the shops on . Some may since have sold; those show as unavailable.

The archive

This is the first issue. A new one follows each month.