The versatility (or not) of navy hopsack – from Paolo Martorano

August 21, 2024BruceDayne

The versatility (or not) of navy hopsack – from Paolo Martorano

Wednesday, August 21^st 2024Tags:

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I wore this new hopsack jacket from Paolo Martorano quite a bit this summer, which surprised me. Although I’ve had navy jackets in the past, since I stopped working in an office I tend to wear more earthy colours, such as browns, taupes or the ever-reliable default, grey herringbone.

A navy jacket or suit in a fine material tends to be the tailoring most associated with offices, and it can have other associations too - the preppy blazer or, in some parts of the US, even the security-guard uniform.

Manish addressed this when he talked about selecting cloth for bespoke - how the standard advice of a navy blazer has perhaps had its day, or certainly doesn’t work for everyone with changing dress codes.

I even made a mistake when selecting my hopsack - I should have gone for something darker, more uniform and drier like the ‘mesh’ I got from Holland & Sherry years ago. Instead, I was taken in by the luxuriousness of the Loro Piana material, and went for that slightly bluer, slightly shinier option.

The cloth was Paolo’s recommendation, but I don’t blame him for my choice. He makes this bunch (Loro Piana 'Jackets') up for a lot of his customers, and it works well for them. As I know from seeing some of those customers and Paolo himself, they usually want something sleeker, and wear it more smartly.

Among drier or more ‘rustic’ options, Paolo recommended the Oyster bunch from Harrison’s and the Worsted Classics from Fox, but both of those felt more like suitings to me, given their density. Or at least, they would have been more traditional-looking blazers, and could have made great suits too.

We went into more detail on this in our dedicated article on hopsack, part of the Guide to Cloth. The Holland & Sherry mesh I used years ago is still available, by the way, but has a different number now - 3024010. It’s the midnight, not the navy.

Given all this, I’ve been surprised how much I’ve worn the Paolo jacket. One reason I think is that I like the combination of a navy shirt and jacket so much - with grey, charcoal, cream, even brown trousers.

The navy-on-navy immediately looks non-corporate and interesting, and if you swap the shirt for a knit that impression is reinforced. I'm wearing a linen popover in these images, but also wore the jacket with a PS Finest Polo underneath (recently restocked - here).

In fact, as I write this it occurs to me that I featured exactly the same combination before - five years ago. That outfit (below) and this one make an interesting comparison, because the fit of my clothes now is so much more generous. The Paolo jacket is a different style - more English, more structured, more drape - but also has bigger shoulders, a bigger waist and generally has more sway going on.

The trousers are the same - back then from Solito, now from Assisi, with the modern ones a little wider and higher.

To my mind neither is right or wrong, just different styles, and I can see the attraction of the slimmer fits (particularly having worn both). But the roomier one feels more mature to me today, less striving after some sharp, narrow figure.

Also, I should say that these changes don’t mean the clothes become redundant. Those Solito trousers are still going, the legs have just been widened, using the inlay you’d of course mostly find in bespoke.

The other reason I’ve been wearing the Paolo jacket is that I’ve enjoyed wearing it with pale-blue jeans (and usually the same navy polo underneath).

This shouldn’t really work, and in many ways it doesn’t. A jacket in a softer make and a more casual material would be a more natural partner for the jeans. But what makes it work is that the deliberate contrast - something purposefully more unusual, more showy, and executed quite carefully (fewer shoes, knits, shirts etc work).

It’s not the kind of combination most readers will want or will find the most useful, which is why we generally don’t recommend it. I discussed this in the article on my Caraceni blazer, whose outfit with black jeans is similar. It’s advanced dressing, so not for everyone, at least every day, but can be refreshing or more personal.

I’ll do a dedicated article on this at some point.

As to Paolo’s execution, it was very good - the kind of thing you forget to comment on, because it is not just good, but predictably good.

The make and fit were the same level as the black cashmere jacket he made, just dialled in in all the ways a second bespoke piece should be.

I continue to recommend him to anyone in New York that is after true bespoke - or indeed in other parts of the US, as he is in Palm Beach as well as other places often.

The shirt I’m wearing is a popover made by Jean-Manuel Moreau in Paris, in Solbiati linen. It’s superb - I had a white one already and asked him to make a navy one for this summer. I recommend him as a shirtmaker as well as a tailoring resource.

The shoes are Sagans from Baudoin & Lange of course. The sunglasses are Meyrowitz and are sneakily peaking out of the breast pocket thanks to having that breast pocket made a little bit shallower.

The jacket material is: Loro Piana 'Jackets', Super 150s, N721047, weight 270 grams.

Paolo's bespoke prices are (all including cloth and tax): Jacket $5200, suit $7500, trouser $2200, overcoat $7500.