Level Up with a Blazer

I get a lot of guys asking me what I would recommend if they could upgrade only one piece of clothing in their wardrobe. Some men would recommend a guy pull a Barney Stinson and wear a suit whenever he can. Others would say that shoes are the first thing a woman really looks at and are the ultimate choice for leveling up your style game. However, while there is a lot of merit between these two choices and many others you’ll hear, the key ingredient to improving your style with one item is versatility.

By now you are well versed in the High/Low philosophy. It’s much easier to transition from formal to casual and back again if you’re wearing something that’s equally appropriate in almost any situation. And the one piece of clothing that pulls that off better than any other is the blazer.

You can wear one to the post office or a board meeting, a baseball game or a friend’s wedding, when you’re out on the prowl or when you’re meeting with clients. In fact, there are more situations wherein a well-fitting blazer is appropriate than not and that is why it’s the one piece I recommend a man focus on if he’s limited to small and simple upgrades.

Be careful though because a blazer is different from a suit jacket. In fact, just throwing on your suit coat with a pair of jeans and a V neck is going to end up looking worse than if you had stuck with your high-school hoody. There are a few major differences that give a blazer its High/Low versatility.

• Unstructured or minimal shoulders. Most suits – especially cheap suits – come with too much padding in the shoulders. It’s a relic from the 90’s that  refuses to die and was introduced to give men an enhanced structural and muscular appearance. However, these shoulder pads are much more formal than any casual jacket and look out of place when paired with jeans or chinos. A blazer will either have no padding or very minimal padding to go with the more casual appearance a blazer works with.
• Notch lapels. Peak lapels are formal. Yes they are flattering on men who are short and/or hefty, but ultimately they’re formal. A versatile blazer will have a notch lapel.
• Thicker fabric. One of the synonyms for a blazer is a sport coat. This is because they were first invented to be used in men’s sports. Think of the tweed jacket that was worn by English gentlemen hunting on the countryside, or the cotton worn by polo players, and the thicker material worn by golfers. Sport coats were created to be worn in the countryside and to take their fair share of some daily abuse. As a result, they needed to be made of thicker materials in a heavier weight. Yes you can wear a linen blazer in the summer time, but that three-season wool your suit is made from will look too formal on a good sport coat.
• Patch pockets, elbow patches, etc. Continuing with the understanding that a sport coat was made to be worn by active men, these jackets were reinforced with things like leather elbow patches, leather shoulder plates, and patch pockets. The extra reinforcement helped protect either the garment itself or the wearer from the minor irritants that came from being outside. You may not wear your jacket on a fox hunt now, but owning one with patch pockets will help keep it from looking like a misplaced suit jacket.
• Jacket length. A major rule of suit coats is that they need to cover your rear. While this is largely ignored by more trendy suits, it’s a key element for a timeless look. However, a blazer can be worn shorter in order to keep its appearance on the casual side.

The beauty of a good blazer is that it can be worn with literally almost anything. You don’t want it when you’re in your gym clothes, or when it’s the middle of July and you’re at the beach, but wearing one on a daily basis helps dress you up a bit, gives you a masculine-looking frame, communicates that you expect  respect from those around you, and even gives you extra pocket space so your pants don’t look like they’re about to be dragged off by all the dead weight you have loaded in there.

Because it’s such a versatile article of clothing, make sure you get it in a good, neutral color. Navy is the most common but grey, camel, and tan are also good options. Stick with a solid color and throw it on anytime you’d default to a hoody. It’ll take a couple weeks to get used to, but once you do, you’ll carry yourself differently, feel better about yourself, as well as realize that men and women alike treat you better.