Studio Nicholson Dash Jacket

An unlined leather jacket is a harder object to make than a lined one, for the plain reason that there is nowhere to hide. A lining covers the seam allowances, the skiving, and every decision taken on the inside of a leather garment. Take it out and the inside is on show every time the jacket comes off a chair, which means the seams have to be finished with the same care as the outside. Very few people will ever look. It is the kind of decision that shows up in how a garment ages rather than in how it photographs.

What it buys is the absence of weight. Cow suede has more substance than lamb, and a lining on top of that gives you a jacket you wear the way you wear a coat. Unlined, the same hide drapes, and it warms to the body within minutes instead of staying cold across the shoulders for the first ten. It also layers, which is the point of the relaxed cut and the adjustable side tabs: take the volume in when there is a shirt underneath, let it out when there is a knit. Snap closures rather than a zip, so the front stays soft and there is no hardware running down it holding a line nobody asked for.

Why we selected it

A suede jacket is usually bought as an occasion and then worn like one. We wanted the version that goes on over a shirt on a Tuesday, and unlined is what makes that possible.

Studio Nicholson’s outerwear is where the house’s architectural habit is most visible, and the Dash is that habit applied to a soft material rather than a stiff one.

Materials and construction

Grey, one hundred percent cow suede, unlined. Relaxed fit with adjustable side tabs and snap closures. A nap has no polished surface to reflect, so a suede reads as light and shade before it reads as anything else, and a grey with no warmth in it is where that is easiest to see: brushed one way it goes pale, brushed back it darkens.

Fit notes

Unlined leather sits closer to what is underneath than lined leather does, because there is less between the hide and your shirt, so it reads slightly leaner on than the relaxed cut suggests. The side tabs are the real fit adjustment and they are worth using rather than ignoring. Suede molds and stretches a little at the elbow and across the back, and it does not come back, so buy it to fit now rather than to grow into.

Styling

Open, over the Votan top with the Minos trouser, which is the easiest version of it. Over the Achille dress, where a soft jacket against a dress that stands away from the body is a better contrast than another soft thing would be. Grey is what makes both of those easy, and it does the job differently from a warm hide. It has no temperature to impose: the soft bone of the Minos stays a warm off-white instead of being pulled toward tan, and the spearmint of the Votan keeps its coolness. Against the black of the Achille it reads as the same idea at a lighter setting rather than as a contrast. It is also a suede jacket that does not arrive already dressed as a western one. Sleeves pushed rather than rolled, because suede holds a roll badly.

Care

Suede has no finish on it, which is what makes it feel the way it does and what makes it vulnerable. Brush it with a suede brush in one direction, keep it out of the rain, and never dry it near heat, which is what makes a hide go hard. Our general care guidance covers leather, suede, and nubuck.

Related pieces

The Doublet Leather Bag carries the same suede in a clay, and the Sonny Pant is the drawstring trouser in cotton and linen. Everything we carry from Studio Nicholson is listed together.