The Morning Suit: Rules Rule

We've come a long way (photo Men's Wearhouse)


She's seen the future (from Trad Private Collection)



A Gentleman's Wardrobe by Paul Keer 1987 (click to read)



ABC of Men's Fashion by Hardy Aimes 1964 & 2o07 (click to read)




Duke of Windsor's Morning Suit from Sotheby's Auction Catalog




Gentry Magazine Summer 1952

Did you get all that? It's not difficult. Morning Dress is worn during the day. Before 5PM and not after 7PM. Most Morning Coats will have a peak lapel but Brooks Brothers sells a Golden Fleece Morning Suit with notch lapel. Not sure why that is. The tails of the coat should end close to the break of the knee.

Trousers are wool and I recommend you buy as light a wool as you can find. A Morning Suit can get pretty warm. Waistcoats are offered in linen as well. Boots work well and you don't have to sweat the color of socks. I'm just not into seeing socks with these trousers -- Checked or striped.

An earlier comment suggested a shirt with detachable collar. They do look better but I gave my only one away. Check out Keezers in Boston, Hornets in London and eBay (including the UK) for significant savings. You can buy decent kit for what it could cost to rent that train wreck up there from Men's Wearhouse.

Will it sit in the back of your closet collecting dust? Mine does, but I know it's there and that's comforting. When my boss is chewing my ass off I can lean back in my chair and think of my Morning Suit while I contemplate his Cole Haan kilties and my new found poverty.

Off My Back: Vintage from Hornets

Hornets: 2&4 Kennsington Church Walk, London (photo: Not Mine)

Out of the way but worth it. (Photo: Not Mine)

A Shirt Valise (Photo: Not Yours. Mine)

from the 1920s according to Hornets. (Photo: Not Yours. Mine)

I'm guessing hog skin (Photo: Not Yours. Mine)

Anachronistic luggage, (Photo: Not Yours. Mine)

where purpose & style are served... (Photo: Not Yours. Mine)

for 25 Quid. (Photo: Not Yours. Mine)

London is a man's city. I'm not the first to say it and as long as there are places like Hornets, I will not be the last. It's hard for a visting American to find. Maybe that's intentional. I first heard of it from a claims man who worked for a Lloyd's of London syndicate. Whispered over pints on a Friday night in the Lamb, "Mate, you've got to check this place out, yeah?" As he offered me a Silk Cut he added, "But tell no one."

I have great respect for claims people. They know a bargain when they see one. They have to. I'll spare you the search. My poor sense of direction combined with a poor map (never get directions from claims people) are best left to history. But when I finally found it. It was worth it. A hundred times over.

Savile Row suits are crammed tight onto racks with new old stock shirts falling off shelves. Hats from St James, bespoke shoes, cricket bats, public school blazers, tweed sport coats, shooting jackets...it's almost too much. Any vintage hunter would shoot off a flare at the discovery of one item. In Hornets, there are thousands of discoveries. This was mine.

I bought a couple suits (Anderson & Shepard) and shirts (Airey & Wheeler) but the hog skin valise up there was my signal flare. The exchange was almost 2 to 1 but then it almost always is when I'm in London. $50 was steep but, like so many things in Hornets there was real authenticity. Even history. Who owned it and where had it been? I didn't need to hear I was recycling from the gentleman helping me but it didn't hurt.

I didn't tell anyone. Well, not many. And while its been almost 10 years -- I figure the shirt's out of the valise.