Margaret Howell Stand Collar Jacket

Ventile is the most interesting cloth on any garment in this line, and the interesting part is that there is nothing on it. It is woven from long-staple cotton at a very high thread count, with very little twist and very little space between the yarns. When it gets wet the cotton fibers take up water and swell, the gaps close, and the cloth becomes water resistant by geometry rather than by chemistry. It was developed in Britain in the 1940s for flying suits, where a coated cloth would have been useless because a pilot in the water needed something that breathed and did not tear, and it has been made more or less the same way since. What that means for a jacket is worth stating plainly: there is no coating to crack, no membrane to delaminate, and no wax to strip, so the thing that makes it work cannot be washed off. It also means it behaves like cotton in every other respect. It breathes, it takes a crease, and it goes soft with wearing. The stand collar is the only formal gesture on the garment, a short upright band instead of a lapel, which closes the neck without turning the jacket into a coat.

Why we selected it

A weather garment that is made of one material and no coatings is a rare object, and it is the kind of thing that is still working in fifteen years. We wanted one jacket in the store that solves rain without plastic.

Margaret Howell’s habit of using a technical British cloth and then cutting the technicality out of the shape is the whole of this jacket.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent Ventile cotton canvas, made in Italy. Stand collar, button front. Color: Dark Navy.

Fit notes

Cut close to a jacket rather than a coat, so it goes over a shirt and a light knit and not much more. Lettered sizing. Ventile is stiff when new and stays stiff longer than an ordinary cotton, because the density that makes it work is the density that makes it firm. It softens with wearing and does not need forcing.

Styling

Over the Monogram Shirt, or over the Seamless Crew when it is cold enough to need one. With cotton or wool trousers rather than linen, because the cloth has weight and wants something under it that also does. Dark Navy against black is the version we would wear.

Care

This is a woven cotton, not a waxed one, and it is worth being clear about the difference, because the two look similar and want opposite handling. Nothing here is coated, so there is no finish to protect and no re-proofing to do. Wash it as cotton, cool, and let it dry on its own away from direct heat, which is what preserves the weave. Avoid fabric softener, which coats the fibers and works against exactly the swelling the cloth depends on. Our general care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The DB Jacket is cotton made up light with a doubled front. The Overcoat is a houndstooth wool tweed, and the Raglan Blazer is wool with the shoulder seam left out. Everything we carry from Margaret Howell is listed together.