Rick Owens Fogpocket Soft Soft Blazer

Four percent elastane in a wool suiting is a small number that changes the whole garment. Wool alone recovers slowly from being sat in, so a soft jacket, one built with little canvas and light construction, will crease at the elbow and go slack at the back over a long day. Add elastane and the cloth returns. That is what makes a genuinely unstructured jacket practical rather than merely comfortable: the softness is in the construction, and the recovery is in the fibre.

The name describes the result. Soft soft is the house's own doubling, and it means what it says, a jacket with the internal architecture stripped back until what is left is cloth and seams. The Fogpocket line takes its name from the chest pockets that open vertically down the front rather than horizontally across it, sitting along the line of the body instead of interrupting it.

Forest is the reason to choose this one over the black. It is deep enough to read as a neutral in most light and reveals itself as green only when it catches the sun.

A soft jacket that holds its shape is a rarer object than it sounds, and most of what claims to be deconstructed is simply unfinished. This one is soft by design and holds because of the cloth. We also wanted tailoring that was not black, and Forest is the version of that which a customer will actually wear rather than admire.

Fogpocket is the house's continuing tailoring line, and this is the soft, coloured version of it.

Ninety-six percent wool, four percent elastane, made in Italy. Colour: Forest. Soft, lightly structured construction, with the house's elongated line.

A soft jacket sits closer than a structured one and follows the shoulder rather than setting it, so it will read more relaxed than a conventional blazer of the same size. The elastane means it moves and recovers, so it can be cut closer through the body without becoming uncomfortable. It layers over a shirt or a fine knit.

Over black or charcoal, which is what makes the green read as deliberate. With a straight trouser. It is soft enough to travel in, which is worth knowing about a jacket cut this way.

Hang it on a shaped hanger, brush it, and air it, and let a crease fall out overnight before assuming it needs pressing, because a cloth with elastane in it recovers on its own more than plain wool does. Keep it away from a hot press, which damages elastane permanently. Our care guidance covers the rest.

The F/W 25 Fogpocket Soft Blazer is virgin wool, the S/S 26 Fogpocket Soft Soft Blazer is cotton, and the Giacca Soft Soft Blazer is flannel. Everything we currently hold from Rick Owens is listed together.