Chinese Silk Blazer - Outlandish but perhaps chic?

[babygreenspots]

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/146/3...6e0f26.jpg?v=0

What are your thoughts? I have quite mixed feelings. I should say that I was skeptical while it was being made and then surprised that it seemed to look good. I realize this is rather extreme and probably not what most people would wear, so I ask for a certain suspension of dislike all showinees.

Anyway, it is in a 2 and a half button style blazer cut. Tailor-made so quite fitted. He has collar popped in this picture, which allows you to see the silk behind it which is the same as the lining.

It is a beautiful silk with a delicately woven pattern. The red inside one has pheonixes and dragons. The inside pockets use the exterior fabric.

I couldn't pull it off, but I'm very eager to hear if anyone would wear this or if you know people who might.

 

[drizzt3117]

Originally Posted by babygreenspots

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/146/3...6e0f26.jpg?v=0

What are your thoughts? I have quite mixed feelings. I should say that I was skeptical while it was being made and then surprised that it seemed to look good. I realize this is rather extreme and probably not what most people would wear, so I ask for a certain suspension of dislike all showinees.

Anyway, it is in a 2 and a half button style blazer cut. Tailor-made so quite fitted. He has collar popped in this picture, which allows you to see the silk behind it which is the same as the lining.

It is a beautiful silk with a delicately woven pattern. The red inside one has pheonixes and dragons. The inside pockets use the exterior fabric.

I couldn't pull it off, but I'm very eager to hear if anyone would wear this or if you know people who might.

Dude that's badass. You can go all Russell Wong, Romeo Must Die style!

 

[babygreenspots]

I should add that if anyone is interested in a jacket like this, we can probably make one for you, though the fabric is quite limited in supply. The quality is excellent - both materials and workmanship. Please do not think of the usual Kung Fu jacket you would find in Chinatown or the silk market in Beijing.

I'm most interested in people's reactions though. Should this be a signature style for our tailoring shop?

 

[DNW]

I'd wear it. It's flashy, but would work under certain circumstances, i.e. New Year's Eve party, trendy clubs, etc.,.

 

[Arethusa]

Completely not my style, but it's not bad. Fits a sort of outlandish rockstar chic. I could kind of go for a traditional chinese jacket cut in that fabric, though.

 

[Max]

Looks too gothy for me.

 

[dusty]

Other than the red, I love it. Is that a fabric made for patterned dinner jackets?

 

[babygreenspots]

Originally Posted by dusty

Other than the red, I love it. Is that a fabric made for patterned dinner jackets?

The red was purely his choice and it is quite extreme, but he seems to do nicely with it. We do use this fabric for western style dinner jackets as well as more Chinese collared jackets. We have more subtle options for the patttern as well as some traditional Chinese silks not available elsewhere.

I haven't really gone this route yet and made one, but I am considering it. This type of silk comes in several different colors. What do you guys think would work aside from black?

 

[Edward Appleby]

I don't think I could pull it off (and I think few could) but it's cool in theory. There was a Brioni jacquard silk dinner jacket in one of the earlier Men's Vogues that had a similar effect. However, I liked it a bit better because putting it in the dinner jacket format subdued the overall look a bit, which I think is the key to making patterned silks like that work.

ED: Just read that you have done it as a DJ. If you're going to use it as a showpiece I'd do either a dinner or smoking jacket.

 

[Jared]

Brocade is the next velvet!

(And I say that as someone who enthusiastically got a velvet jacket when the trend was still on the way up.) What kind of price are we looking at for these? If the price is right I'd be willing to try and pull one off...

 

[babygreenspots]

Originally Posted by Jared

Brocade is the next velvet!

(And I say that as someone who enthusiastically got a velvet jacket when the trend was still on the way up.)

What kind of price are we looking at for these? If the price is right I'd be willing to try and pull one off...

These are USD 375, shipped.

 

[mack11211]

I might order one if I had something like the CV of the client, as described and pictured in babygreenspots' blog:

Originally Posted by babygreenspots, in his blog

Born at his family's summer villa in a hilltop village near Lake Van, Barak Bessarian is a Sephardic Armenian who grew up in Beirut, and spent his adolescence in Haifa, Novosibirsk and Yokohama. His father was an amber and fur merchant, and work took him frequently to Yakutia. Barak has many fond memories of summers on the family yacht cruising through Lake Baikal, right after the fall of the Soviet Union. The yacht was later confiscated by a local magnate/governor, but the Bessarians purchased a new one, which they sailed mainly in the South China Sea. This yacht was sold to a Singapore developer when amber prices plunged around the turn of the century.

At fifteen, Barak was sent to New York to live with an uncle and reap the benefits of an American education. His nickname growing up was "silver bolt" - referring to lightning rather than the metal object.

That gives you a bit of an introduction to Barak. I would love to continue telling his story, but I have to write some steps companies can take to protect IPR.

Let's come up to the present.

Barak is an antler merchant currently, though he also smuggles champagne. Demand for the latter product is skyrocketing in China. Antlers have been hot since the Zhou Dynasty.

Barak is also an accomplished scholar of Naiman (a tribe in northern Mongolia) burial rites. There is even a Naiman mating dance named after him.

Barak is THE man about town in many towns throughout Asia.

Blog also has more pix of Barak being fitted with the jacket and then wearing the jacket in his glam life.

 

[seanchai]

I would wear that jacket with boots.

 

[babygreenspots]

Originally Posted by mack11211

I might order one if I had something like the CV of the client, as described and pictured in babygreenspots' blog:



Blog also has more pix of Barak being fitted with the jacket and then wearing the jacket in his glam life.

Yes, Barak is quite a fellow. As it turns out, even with his diverse background, he is one of the most patriotic Americans I have ever met.

Perhaps you do have to drink four bottles of champagne a night, like Barak, to pull off the jacket.

He actually had a rather traditional tweed blazer made as well though, so it's not all debauchery (though two of his occasional lovers run the largest prostitution and gambling ring in the city).

 

[mendel]

It's a fine line between glam and goth and I think that's on the wrong side of it for me. eta: woot, 100th post for me!