Margaret Howell DB Jacket

Double-breasted is a shape with a lot of history attached to it, most of it naval and most of it stiff. The reason is the overlap: two rows of buttons and a doubled front panel put twice the cloth across the chest, which in a heavy wool makes the most solid and least casual garment in tailoring. Make the same shape up in a light cotton and the arithmetic reverses. The doubled front becomes a soft fold rather than a wall, the jacket closes across the body without armoring it, and the whole thing hangs from the shoulder like a shirt with ambitions. That is a genuinely useful garment in a climate that is hot in the afternoon and cold at eight, which describes most of a New Mexico summer and most of an English autumn.

We wanted a jacket with some formality in its shape and none in its cloth. A lightweight double-breasted is the shortest route to that.

One hundred percent cotton, made in Italy. Double-breasted, relaxed and lightweight. Color: Slate.

Relaxed and light, so it layers over a shirt and a light knit rather than over heavy knitwear. Lettered sizing. A cotton jacket creases at the elbow and the crook of the arm and does not fall out overnight the way wool does; it wants a press or a wash rather than a hang.

Over the Monogram Shirt with the jacket left open, which is how a double-breasted looks least formal. Buttoned, with the flannel trousers, if you want the shape read as a shape. Slate is a grey with blue in it and sits well against Covert Ink and Dark Navy.

Wash or press as cotton and keep it away from high heat, which is what sets a shine into a lightweight cotton jacket. Our general care guidance covers the rest.

The Stand Collar Jacket is Ventile cotton, woven dense enough to turn rain with no coating on it. The Raglan Blazer is wool with no seam across the shoulder, and the Pleated Crop Trouser is cotton, pleated and cropped. There is more on the house on the Margaret Howell designer page. Everything we carry from Margaret Howell is listed together.