my favorite clothing item in the world
an insight into blazers and sport coats by pikachu, the kid.
I have experimented with different styles of clothing for a while. I have been through the cycle; not giving a fuck about clothing to wearing Supreme, Billionaire Boys Club and Stüssy in high school and now adopting a style with elements from American and Japanese trad-Ivy style that I call Neo-prep.
Writing for The Journal on Mr. Porter, Michael Williams defines Neo-prep as a style that “maintains the aesthetic of that preppy style, but repurposes classic staples without the associated worldview that came along with it originally,” noting that prep’s more traditional, WASP-y, Ivy League roots are shed to “represent the diversity, inclusion and public-spiritedness of the world today.”
Brands like Aimé Leon Dore, Noah NYC, Band of Outsiders and Thom Browne adopted certain aspects of the style and have put their own spin on it. Notably, Aimé Leon Dore, or ALD, in certain circles is noted for their collaborations with New Balance, New Era and Drake’s, which combine the Queens flair with that of Saville Row.
Even longtime streetwear staples have incorporated prep elements into their catalogue, with Supreme utilizing wool from Loro Piana to create overcoats in their F/W 2018 collection and Stüssy incorporating cardigans and sweaters with unique patterns and textures in their latest collection.
Personally, I love the fact that the style is nearly formless, where I can blend traditional “prep” items like chunky sweaters, cardigans, chinos and wool overcoats and Harrington Jackets with more contemporary items from “streetwear” such as sneakers, skinny jeans, printed hoodies, sweatshirts and t-shirts. A lot of these items are at easy reach, or if you are Filipino with parents that have lived through the 1990s - would live in a box of your dad’s clothes in the attic.
One particular item I have been adopted from this aesthetic as a key part of my closet is the blazer and sport coat.
Why blazers and sport coats?
They’re cheap. Walk into a Goodwill, Value Village, Buffalo Exhange or any other thrift store and you are greeted with at least one or two full-size racks of blazers and sport coats of different patterns, sizes, brands and eras. Sure, you can go to Macy’s, Dillard’s or any other department store or H&M, but everything bought there ends up at Goodwill anyway and you certainly can’t get one for cheap.
If you are really vigilant about your tag color of the day, you could get one for even less. These days, you can score a Giorgio Armani blazer from the 80’s - a time when Armani was Armani, for less than $20 at the thrift if you get the tag colors right. My best score was a Zegna piece that I got for $8.
They’re also easy to wear. You don’t need a tie to wear one. If you wear it with a clean T-shirt, chinos or dress pants, you and/or your significant other can live out your K-drama protagonist fantasies. If you wear it with a dirty white T-shirt and some slim fitting dark grey or black jeans, you can be a member of The 1975. Wear it with a pair of light wash jeans and a tucked-in Oxford shirt and you can cosplay Jerry Seinfeld.
My regular, everyday “business casual” outfit these days consists of a blazer, black t-shirt and jeans or chinos paired with wingtips or sneakers, depending on where I am going that day.
My life is much better as a result of regularly incorporating blazers and sport coats into my clothing rotation. Food tastes better, sex feels amazing, random ass people respect me more and call me “sir” and open the door for me when I wear them. That’s why they fill up a huge part of my closet and occupy so many boxes in my attic. I can’t tell you how many of them I have, I think I lost count at probably 40-50.
These jackets to me are comfortable. Most of the time, they replace a layer that would be otherwise be a sweater or a hoodie, they’re that important in my life.
But like all cool things we like, there is a dark truth and backstory behind the philosophy and concept of them. There is always something deeper than what’s at the surface in all sorts of everyday facets of human life. For me, it was a realization of perception, class and racism.
Wearing a cheap, but put together sport coat or blazer as part of your outfit is an experiment in something called perception; which the Oxford dictionary defines as “a way of regarding, understanding, or interpreting something; a mental impression.”
For as long as time existed, the aesthetics of clothes have been perceived in an exclusionary manner. I remember attending the Volez Voguez Voyagez Louis Vuitton exhibit in New York City in 2017, where one of the many trunks on display was one from the recent collaboration with Supreme, complete with a fully-built skateboard.
As I was looking at the trunk and admiring how it incorporates and blends the aesthetics of both the heritage of Louis Vuitton and the bold tones of Supreme, an old couple in Loro Piana overcoats stands next to me and looks at the trunk in disgust. They see me examining every detail like a painting and proceed to ask me questions.
“What the fuck is this?,” the old woman asks me. I replied, “This is their latest collaboration, it’s with a skateboarding brand named Supreme. They’re based in New York City and they have locations in Tokyo and they just opened a store in Paris.”
Their next question took me aback. “Do [n-word, with hard R]s wear their stuff?”
Being someone who has had to diffuse racists in parts of my life, I knew at that moment that any sort of hesitation would trigger further action that could hurt me or others.
“Yes,” I reluctantly replied.
They look at each other and say in a normal talking voice “See, even a brand like Louis Vuitton is bowing down to the fucking [n-word, with hard R]s.” before walking away.
I continued looking at the trunk until I felt that they left. I remember making eye contact with a security guard, who was black and also witnessed this old couple drop n-bombs in normal conversation with me, shrug their shoulders in reply to my surprised “holy fuck, that did not just happen” expression I looked at them with.
Remind you, Supreme was started by a white British man named James Jebbia, who got his start working for Stüssy, a surfing brand started by another white guy named Shawn Stüssy.
They don’t know, they wouldn’t care if I explained it even further. All they had was their perceptions and lo and behold, it was fucking racist and they wanted to confirm it.
There’s a term going around social media called the “Old Money Aesthetic,” where reels from certain fashion influencers try to incorporate elements from prep and “dark academia” and push this idea that “old money” does not wear logos or other signifiers of overt “loudness,” touting brands like Loro Piana.
But if you ask those that in the client range of Loro Piana, such as those old people at the Louis Vuitton exhibit, they’ll say the “old money aesthetic” is not dressing like a, you know who.
In a capitalist society where the agenda for any brand from H&M to Louis Vuitton is to meet sales goals, they’ll sell “loud” things because any money is money that can appease shareholders.
It also goes to say as well, that brands, fashion journalists and everywhere in between sell the fashion consumer a costume. You can dress like a certain status, but you’ll never be the status - fake it until you make it.
For me and my closet of blazers and sport coats, I just wear them because they’re accessible, cheap and requires little styling. Even when my mom addresses me as “senator,” or people treat me differently or look at me funny when I wear a blazer or sport coat, I still hold them in high regard.
If there is one tip I have for anyone going to buy a blazer or a sport coat, go to the store and try them on. Don’t buy them online because the way it is supposed to feel on you is akin to a favorite hoodie. You won’t feel that through a screen.