One jacket - five styles. Making full use of your wardrobe with Sarah Gilfillan and an M&S tweed jacket

As a stylist, Sarah Gilfillan works with clients to review their existing clothes and revives little-used items by suggesting new and different uses. We thought this would be a useful idea for readers and have applied it to a reasonably-priced Marks & Spencer grey herringbone jacket. We agreed that its colour and style make it the perfect for this project. The middle-aged or older man will find plenty of inspiration here for rejuvenating their wardrobes.

The herringbone tweed jacket has been a useful item for decades, as stylish men as diverse as Gianni Agnelli and Steve McQueen (above) have shown. It's ideal for casual wear, but we feel it also, in its grey/black form, has potential to be useful for smart and even formal events. 

I'll hand over to Sarah to comment on the five looks she has styled after rummaging through my wardrobe. (To make use yourself of Sarah's styling services see Sartoria Lab).

Outfit 1 - Cream sweater and jeans

Outfit 1

Sarah Gilfillan writes: 

I've always loved these vintage fisherman's type sweaters and when I discovered this old Royal Navy submariner's jumper while raiding David's wardrobe, I wanted to use it as the basis to our first outfit. I like the juxtaposition of a casual sweater like this with some tailoring, but the grey herringbone texture of the jacket means they're still in keeping with each other. The dark slim cut of jeans, worn with a small turn-up, keeps the look modern and shows off this great pair of boots. The gold toned pocket square was chosen to pick up on their colour and adds a nice little kick to the neutrals. We finished it off with a chic and super soft toning grey scarf.

Jacket: Marks & Spencer (from 2013). Scarf: The Merchant Fox. Pocket Square: bought by Grey Fox on Lake Como, Italy. Jeans: The Jean Machine. Boots: Loake Dovedale.

Outfit 2 - White shirt and navy trousers 

Outfit 2

Super classy, non?! A classic look when worn with navy trousers, we've dressed the jacket up here with a double cuff white shirt. It gives a sharp contrast which adds formality, and the double cuff allows you to sport a dashing pair of cufflinks, further formalising the look.

We've chosen a grey wool tie which tones in well with the herringbone of the jacket and adds a quiet elegance to the look. Using a stylised 3-point fold on the white pocket square continues the formal feel and polished black brogues finish off the look perfectly.

Shirt and tie: Marks & Spencer. Trousers from a suit by TM Lewin. Pocket square: Mr Porter. Shoes: Charles Tyrwhitt.  

Outfit 3 - Pink shirt and burgundy chinos

To contrast well with the neutral grey of the jacket and give it a smart/casual look, we chose tonal shades of a light pink shirt and burgundy chinos. The button down detail of the shirt keeps it on the casual side of smart/casual, and this is continued with the choice of a burgundy & blue knit tie. (This is a vintage one that David cleverly hung on to from first time round - right back in fashion now!) Along with the toning (never exactly matching) pocket square, it brings the colour of the trousers into the top of the outfit. Navy suede shoes echo the casualness of the rest of the outfit.

Shirt: Tripl Stitched. Tie: vintage. Pocket Square: vintage Liberty's. Chinos: Paul Smith 2013. Shoes: Bodileys.

Outfit 4 - Blue polo neck sweater and jeans

This outfit was David's favourite. The simplicity of his fine knit roll neck in deep periwinkle and dark jeans makes a great backdrop for the texture of the grey herringbone. We added the orange pocket square and matching socks to create some focus to the outfit and which keep it looking modern and fresh. I really like the retro-style tortoiseshell glasses which give a nod to current trends, and you can never really go wrong with classic brown suede brogues. It's an outfit you could pretty much wear anywhere.

Polo-neck sweater: Uniqlo. Glasses: Scarlett of Soho. Pocket square: Duchamp. Socks: London Sock Co. Shoes: Cheaney x Mr Porter. Jeans, as above.

Outfit 5 - Fair Isle knit and cords

Herringbone and cords to together like love and marriage, don't you think?! We wanted to include an outfit that had a country-ish feel, so went for earthy toned cords, and a Fair Isle knit which we then teamed with a denim shirt to keep it from looking "fusty". The wool tie with a hare print fits in with our country style, and the paisley pocket square echoes the colour. Brogues originally had holes punched in them so the water could drain from the shoe when walking through boggy countryside, so of course they are a fitting accompaniment to this outfit.

Shirt: Hentsch Man. Fair Isle sweater: Drake's. Pocket square: vintage. Tie: Cordings. Cords: Massimo Dutti 2013. Shoes: Loake Otterburn (link as above).

Sarah's pick of grey herringbone tweed jackets. Please mention us to suppliers:

Beams + at Trunk Clothiers

Man 1924 at Trunk Clothiers

Paul Smith at Matches

Gant

Oliver Spencer at Liberty
Marks & Spencer

For more on the vintage submariner's jersey, see my post here.

This is not a sponsored post. If you would like to see your products included in future styling posts of this sort, please contact us.