Typically, most morning coats are woven from wool, and sometimes cashmere, and while this might seem counterintuitive for a summer wedding, wool is actually a fantastic fabric for regulating temperature and moisture. All of our morning coats are lightweight in any case. The fit of the jacket is the most important consideration, with the shoulder dimensions being the most crucial as there is little a tailor can do to alter this area. Sleeves can be shortened or extended, but the shoulder width is largely fixed, so pay particular attention here. The tails of the coat should fall to around the back of the knee give or take an inch or two, and the jacket on the whole should drape naturally when buttoned, with the lapels lying flat against the chest with zero pulling. The sleeves should be of a length that one can see roughly 3/4 of an inch of shirt cuff, too.
Waistcoats
The degree of personality and individualisation to be had with a waistcoat is almost endless. Starting from the silhouette - single-breasted or double-breasted - and moving on to front and rear fabrics, our made-to-measure service will ensure that your waistcoat will be truly unique. We have literally hundreds of styles cut in a variety of designs. Linen styles work especially well for summer weddings, as do our lightweight wool gabardine options, and the long, smooth parabola of a double-breasted shawl lapel is the perfect foil for the crisp lines of a morning coat. Whether plain cloth, or patterned, you won't be short of options.
The Other Bits
Namely, shirt, tie, pocket square, socks and shoes. The shirt - a formal dress shirt in this case - comes in a variety of options. White is the fail-safe, but pale pastel tones and stripes with contrast white collar and cuffs can look extremely sharp. In all honesty, the best modus operandi would involve coming into the Pall Mall store and trying them all on and deciding what looks best with a morning coat and waistcoat. The tie and pocket square may seem like facile details but they are anything but. Get them wrong and you botch the entire look. Do you mix or do you match? Again, this will be dependent on a number of factors but at Favourbrook we almost always prefer an unmatched trio of waistcoat, tie and pocket square, provided they complement one another.
The Lounge Suit Wedding
Whether guest or groom, a linen suit is the perfect option for a less formal summer wedding. For whatever reason (it's the weather, it's always the weather) the English don't fling themselves into summer tailoring quite like our European cousins, for whom unstructured lightweight linen blazers and chinos seem as natural a combination as ripe tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella. We tend to wear our suits like armour, as a symbol of strength and power, whereas the likes of the Italians wear their own version of tailoring as a personal expression of la dolce vita. One would do well to purloin a few leaves from the Mediterranean book!
For a summer wedding, whether in the UK or abroad, a linen suit is without doubt the ensemble that ticks all of the boxes. Lightweight and almost always cut without any internal structure, it drapes beautifully and has that natural crumple that downplays the formality of the suit silhouette. Not only that, linen holds dye well, particularly the pastel tones which slide right into a summer sartorial setting. At Favourbrook, we have created linen suits in a wide variety of pastel tones this season, all of which are perfect for the discerning groom or guest. They're smart and traditional yet with a touch of that aforementioned Mediterranean savoir-faire.
Where shirting is concerned, a crisp white shirt is never a bad option with summer tailoring. It allows the tie to be more prominent by creating a strong contrast. Pastel alternatives are perfectly acceptable but we would probably opt for a contrast white cutaway collar just to frame the face that little bit better.
