Mai-Gidah Bourbon Red Jacket

Concealing a button placket is a small piece of construction with a disproportionate effect. The buttons sit behind a fly of cloth instead of on the surface, which means the front of the jacket has no hardware on it at all and reads as one continuous piece of wool from the collar to the hem. On a quiet color that is a subtlety. On a red it is the entire point, because a strong color wants an uninterrupted surface and a row of buttons breaks it into segments. The other decision is at the bottom, where the jacket is flared a little rather than cut straight, so it moves away from the body below the waist instead of gripping it. Pure wool over a cupro lining, which is regenerated cellulose spun from cotton linter and is the lining fiber that slides best over a sleeve. The color is Bourbon Red. Made in the Netherlands.

A red jacket is easy to make and hard to make wearable, and the difference is almost always the front. Taking the buttons out of sight is the one change that turns a red jacket into a red garment.

Mai-Gidah hides closures more often than it shows them, and this is the version where hiding one is the reason the piece works.

One hundred percent wool with a cupro lining. Waist length, concealed button closure, and a slight flare at the hem. Color: Bourbon Red. Made in the Netherlands.

Waist length, so it sits above the hip. The flare at the hem means it does not pull across the seat when it is closed, which is the usual failure of a short jacket. Wool at full strength has some recovery, so the front will not stretch out at the closure, and a concealed placket is the least likely of all closures to gape.

Over the Extra Classic Trousers or the Jogger Trousers, and let the jacket be the only color in play. Over the White Shirt with Autoportrait when the shirt should show at the cuff and nowhere else.

A lined wool jacket goes to a dry cleaner rather than into water, because the wool and the cupro lining behave differently when wet and a home wash is what leaves a lining sitting wrong inside its shell for good. Brush it and air it between cleanings. Our care guidance covers the rest.

The Black Wrap Coat is the longer wool piece with a cupro lining, closed by a wrap instead of by concealed buttons. Everything we carry from Mai-Gidah is listed together.