This recent suit from The Anthology was something I wanted as a casual, easy piece to wear with knits and chambray as much as a shirt and tie. It’s a look I find particularly pleasing in double-breasted styles but casual materials, such as corduroy.
However, while the suit has certainly achieved that, there are a few idiosyncrasies worth pointing out and running through for readers – from the material to the peak lapels.
The material is a fine-wale corduroy in a dark brown colour that the Anthology call ‘caviar’. I have to say, material selection is one of the brand’s strongest aspects. The designs might not always be for me, but the cloth choices are very good – tasteful and often a little unusual.
It was the dark colour of this cord that really caught my eye, and along with the black they released at the same time, it seemed to tell an effective story of how corduroy could look particularly modern and relevant.
Having worn it for a few weeks, the colour is just as good as I thought. It’s a great partner for both black shoes (as pictured) and brown. The material, though, is also a little lighter and smarter than I had anticipated.
To a certain extent that’s inevitable with a fine wale like this (‘wales’ being the ribs that run up and down corduroy) but this feels more lightweight and a little more luxurious than other fine wales I’ve tried.
And compared to a wider wale like my Ciardi single-breasted cord, this feels more like it’s trying to be a suiting-like material, rather than something thicker and more robust. There will be some readers, I’m sure, for whom that removes some of the appeal of corduroy. But there will also be others for whom it will make cord easier to wear.
Both these brown cords by the way – the Ciardi one and the Anthology one – are not available to buy for use with other tailors unfortunately. The Ciardi was a vintage cloth and the Anthology one is exclusive to them.
The other unusual aspect of this suit – and one readers have asked about previously – is the peak lapels the Anthology uses.
They are set a little lower on the body, and point a little more horizontally, than most classic DB lapels. Shapes have of course varied hugely over the decades, but still on average they are on the low, flat side.
And more unusual is the rounding to the peak, which is the first thing I find most people notice if asked about the style. It’s the most obvious point (pun intended) and inevitably the one that draws attention.
My feeling is that while I generally prefer a classic point, these lapels do fit with the overall style of the suit and the Anthology as a whole. They would make less sense on a smart suit with a strong shoulder and roped sleevehead, but they sit quite naturally here with the soft material and soft shoulder.
I see it as a pleasing quirk to the suit – something that gives it a bit of individual character – but not something I’d necessarily want to repeat elsewhere.
The fit is good, the only small issue being some wrinkling below the collar on the back, suggesting the collar there is a little high. It was suggested this might settle down with wear, but it doesn’t seem to have done. Not a hard thing to change later.
Importantly, the team have managed to produce a comfortable, relaxed fit, which for me really suits the style and the material.
Historically The Anthology have tended towards quite close fits, which I usually pushed against during fittings, but they seem to be relaxing that gradually. Actually, I don’t know why I say that – I actually asked Buzz and the team when I saw them in Hong Kong last December, and that’s exactly what they said they were doing.
For them it’s a question of moving with their own preferences as much as reacting to customers. Compared to most small tailoring operations we cover, they see themselves as more of a design-led brand, which I think comes across in things like the cloth choices as much as the coat and unstructured jacket designs.
I’ve shown the suit here with a couple of different outfits, reflecting a couple of the ways I wear cord today. The main one is with a grey-checked shirt and black knitted-silk tie, and the other (above) with a knit and scarf.
The shirt and tie is the smartest I would wear the suit – with a casually patterned, casual-material shirt (brushed cotton) and a knitted tie rather than woven. The knit, on the other hand, is the kind of look I enjoy because it is so casual and relaxed – no collar, but a scarf worn when outside in order to have something around the neck.
The third regular choice for me would be something in between – a shirt without a tie, in a casual material like denim or chambray (such as the Bryceland’s one covered here).
Between those three looks, the suit adds up to something very versatile. Particularly as the trousers and the jacket can be worn on their own. (A good example of a ‘three-way’ suit.)
That black knit by the way is a new colour of the PS Finest Crewneck, which will go on sale next week. The scarf is an old one from Drake’s – I don’t wear many patterned scarfs, but often reach for this one when there’s no pattern going on anywhere else. And the shoes are vintage Ralph Lauren.
In the other outfit, the tie is from Tie Your Tie (a wider style than most silk knits) and the shirt is from D’Avino, in the Balmoral quality from Thomas Mason (FM69809/40). The coat is the PS Donegal.
The suit was bespoke from The Anthology, fitted in Hong Kong and during trunk shows in London. It cost £3,200, while bespoke suits in general start from £3,000. An MTM version would be £2,050 and RTW £1,120 (converting from US dollars).
