Fresco Suit Battle: "Tobacco" Brown vs. "Wheat" Tan

[Blackhood]

Thats probably a geographic thing. I'm in the tailoring business, in a rural area.

In fact, I was in the pub last night and counted at least six plusfours. Even in the heart of Cambridge you'll see suits in equal numbers to academic gowns and mortar boards.

 

[DocHolliday]

I like brown, just not that brown in that cloth as a citified suit.

 

[chobochobo]

I guess that I'm lucky that I can wear brown suits to work (dark brown herringbone, medium brown herringbone tweed and an in your face RLPL brown POW tweed with orange and purple hints) But then I don't see clients.

Oh and I voted brown. I think I'm signed up for someones brown fresco?

 

[Pingson]

Funnily enough I have a tan suit, and not a brown, but I'd much prefer a brown one.

Tan is of limited use in a formal environment; I certainly couldn't stroll into the office in tan because it has too much of a vacation vibe. The brown would get a few odd looks, but ultimately its more conservative [read darker] look means I'd put more mileage on it. As it stands my tan is very much for summer garden parties and formal dining when on holiday.

I can't imagine where I'd wear the brown. It's not a business suit but it's too, well, brown for a stylish casual suit. I would have a strong negative reaction to that being worn in a business environment, esp. if client-facing.

Brown is for farmer.

That is why it is impossible to know what would be "best" without knowing in what situations a certain suit would be worn. I am wearing a brown three-piece tweed suit today, but then again I am in academia where this type of suit has a long tradition. So wearing brown suits is not only perfectly OK, but actually not all that rare among my colleagues as well.

If you are coming from a business background brown suits may very well be frowned upon, but to universally reject them based on that seems rather narrow-minded....

 

[kulata]

He approves of the brown suit but I prefer tan. It all depends on the use

 

[Maccimus]

I made mine slewfoot brown into a three piece, but rarely wear them together...I pair the jacket (with tan MOP buttons) with white/stone cotton pants, and pair the pants with some worsted tweed jackets actually.

 

[Claghorn]



I like brown, just not that brown in that cloth as a citified suit.

What if it was countrified (that color, that cloth). Or could that color not be countrified enough without overwhelming the jacket with bells and whistles?

 

[add911_11]

You guys really expect fresco as a typical city cloth?

I have a tan (a.k.a wheat) 2pc fresco that I wear for non-work related stuff. Love it.

I will reserve brown for heavier months.

 

[Grammaton Cleric]

I don't like that brown. Def the tan.

Btw, Reagan's brown suit is nothing like the Slewfoot brown (which is very reddish-brown).

 

[Holdfast]

Tan, assuming we're talking a pale yellow sand sort of tan rather than a colder stoney off-white; I'm not sure which it actually is from the photo in the OP. A warm-coloured tan summer suit strikes me as quite versatile: suitable for a relaxed summer's day in an office or out and about for pleasure, so I think getting it in fresco would be a decent choice. This is putting aside my personal distaste for fresco as a fabric, as I don't much like how it feels.

Re: Grammaton's point above - hypothetically speaking, I would greatly prefer the Reagan shade for a suit, but the tobacco brown in the OP's post for an odd jacket.

 

[williamson]

The word "tan" has different meanings in British and American English. In Britain we refer to beige trench-coats and other raincoats; that colour is called "tan" in the USA. "Tan" in British English is a much darker colour - a lightish yellowish brown, often the colour of shoes.

 

[jrd617]



The issue is not whether brown is appropriate for suiting. It's that amongst summer-appropriate cloth, fresco is really second only to tropical wool in formality and a warm weather proxy for regular worsted suitings, so browns and tans are better left to linens and cottons. Afterall, regardless of history and specific contexts, brown and tan today are firmly and broadly known as more casual colors. To argue otherwise is akin to arguing that double-breasted suits are more casual than single-breasted for similarly accurate but ultimately irrelevant historical reasons.

In short, brown is fine for suitings, but brown suitings are more casual suitings. Hence, more casual types of cloth are more appropriate for brown suitings.

This is silly. You are being a drone to the "rules" and not thinking in terms of practicality. Linen is a ****** material. I prefer to have ventilated, dry armpits and pants seat. The feeling of sweat pooling in cotton or linen is the worst. I never though of myself as a heavy perspirer, but maybe I just sweat more than you in 90 degree heat.

What's more, you are creating a false equivalence between worsted twill suiting and a fresco suiting (cold and warm weather). The latter is much more casual with the open weave.

I've been saying linen this whole time. If you're going to get tan, might as well go all the way. If the wrinkles really kill you, check out linen-wool blends. Kerry Knoll has a good book with some beautiful blends.

 

[tim_horton]



Neither. Fresco is best suited for more city colors. Reserve tans and browns for linen and cotton.

Agreed. For a suit that's going to be worn in the summer, I'd rather go with linen for either color - they look better in that fabric IMHO, so why not?

For a fall/winter suit, brown worsted or flannel is fine.

 

[poorsod]

IMO, linen is more high maintenance than wool. Not only does it wrinkle, linen picks up odors and holds on to them more than wool. Linen suits would be fantastic if you had a valet/butler to clean and press them for you everyday.

I have a DB from the Slewfoot brown fresco but I haven't found too many shirt/tie combos. They are always of the striped blue shirt and textured tie variety. I'm not sure if the shade of the tan fresco works for my complexion.

 

[TheFoo]



This is silly. You are being a drone to the "rules" and not thinking in terms of practicality. Linen is a ****** material. I prefer to have ventilated, dry armpits and pants seat. The feeling of sweat pooling in cotton or linen is the worst. I never though of myself as a heavy perspirer, but maybe I just sweat more than you in 90 degree heat.

What's more, you are creating a false equivalence between worsted twill suiting and a fresco suiting (cold and warm weather). The latter is much more casual with the open weave.

Or you do not know enough to judge when someone is being a "drone" to "rules" or simply understands clothing better than you.

Perhaps you will claim that I am drawing an offensive, unfounded conclusion, but I would remind you that I had I wasted the time to carefully, rationally explain, you would just as likely have accused me of being argumentative. Hence, I have taken the easier route.

Let it be known that you actually want to discuss and we'll try again.