Harris Wharf London 2b. Blazer Vitale Barberis Canonico Houndstooth

Vitale Barberis Canonico is a Biella mill with a documented history running back to 1663, and it is one of the small number of European weavers whose cloth arrives in a jacket with a reputation already attached. What it makes is worsted suiting: wool combed before spinning so the fibers lie parallel, woven tight, finished dry rather than soft. That cloth is why a houndstooth reads sharp rather than fuzzy. Houndstooth is a broken twill check, and at this scale it is a pattern that behaves like a texture at a distance and resolves into a figure up close, which is exactly what you want from a jacket you intend to wear with things rather than to display. Two buttons, single breasted, in navy, is the most orthodox set of decisions available in tailoring, and taking them in a house that mostly declines orthodoxy is a choice worth noticing. This is Harris Wharf London making a blazer the way blazers are made, in cloth good enough to justify it.

Why we selected it

We wanted a straightforwardly tailored navy jacket from this house, in cloth we could name, and this is a house that does not often give you both at once.

Most of what Harris Wharf London makes is a departure from conventional tailoring; this is the piece where the house does the conventional thing properly.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent virgin wool from Vitale Barberis Canonico, woven as a houndstooth, made in Italy. Two-button, single-breasted fastening. Color: Navy.

We do not know whether this jacket is canvassed, half-canvassed, or fused, and we do not describe a lining, a vent, or the buttons. Those are the facts that separate one navy blazer from another and we would rather say we cannot give them to you than describe a jacket we have not opened. Ask us and we will look.

Fit notes

Worsted suiting holds a line and does not drape, so a jacket in it fits where it is cut and gives very little. Two-button single breasted is the most forgiving lapel and button arrangement across body types, which is most of why it became standard. Layer over a shirt or a fine knit.

Styling

A navy houndstooth wants a solid trouser: grey flannel, charcoal, black, or a mid-blue denim if the occasion is loose. Keep the shirt plain, because two small patterns at close range fight. The Jogging Trousers are cut in the same cloth if you want the two together.

Care

Dry clean, hang on a shaped hanger, and rest it a day between wearings, which does more for a wool jacket than anything else you can do to it. Our general guidance on wool covers the rest.

Related pieces

The Men 2b. Blazer is a salt and pepper houndstooth in virgin wool, cotton, polyamide, and elastane, and the Men Pleated Trousers are virgin wool with two side pockets and one back pocket. Everything we carry from Harris Wharf London is listed together.