MALE CALL Tweed, corduroy coats are always smart picks

— Q. What I want to know has to do with tweed and corduroy sport coats. Will we be wearing those this year? I have not seen much tweed and only a little corduroy, but no corduroy pants, although I have already seen some fall pants in stores. And I’m not sure what they go with.

A. I suspect that - unlike most men - you began shopping a bit too early, before the major shipments of fall men’s pants arrived in stores. I definitely do not fault you for this, because most men do the opposite - that is, they wait until it is too late to find what they want in their size.

Tweed and corduroy are classic men’s sport coat fabrics for fall and winter wear. You should always be able to find them in traditional men’s stores and in more fashionforward men’s shops as well. This year, as in the past, tweeds and corduroys are out there in a range of styles, colors and prices. Which ones you find and in what variations will depend on the type of stores you are exploring.

Currently, traditional and trendy stores have in stock wool tweed sport jackets in checks and plaids of all sizes as well as in the more typical nonpatterned nubby tweeds. Most of them are single breasted and many of them come with the classic suede elbow patches.

When it comes to corduroy jackets, the trendier stores will not have many (or any) of them in the standard wide-wale fabric (fabric with wide ribbing). The midwales and narrowwales are more popular this year. I have even seen a few matched suits in very narrow micro-wale corduroy. These last have so little texture that they resemble twill.

As to which pants to pair with tweed and corduroy sport jackets, you have the full range, from jeans and khakis to dressier wool flannels and gabardines. Perhaps the best choice to go with a corduroy jacket is something in cotton - a cotton chino either in khaki or some darker shade.

A note of caution: Certainly, do not try to match up a pair of corduroy pants with a corduroy jacket. Too matched and yet not matched enough to look like a suit.

In truth, corduroy pants have been selling a lot this year for casual dressing. Colors include all the light beige and tan tones as well as darker fall shades. The styling is either a regular dress-pant cut or a jean cut. Ralph Lauren’s Polo brand has a five-pocket jean cut madeof corduroy rather than denim. These are in the $75-$98 price range. Other designer corduroy pants are even more expensive, and, of course, you will find far less costly versions in large department stores, catalogs and online. Probably the ideal jacket to wear with corduroy pants is a tweed jacket, but a navy blazer also works.

Everything you have heard about corduroy (that it is difficult to tailor and that it tends to make you look fat) is somewhat tempered this year. Today’s corduroy pants are a trimmer cut, they are not pleated, and the ribs are more narrow - all of which help them to be more flattering and less likely to make the wearer appear fat.

Q. What can you tell me about cuffs on men’s pants? Should they be put only on dress pants or on casual pants as well?

A. Recently I was seated on a Manhattan-bound commuter train next to an obviously very clothing-aware guy. As is my habit, I struck up a conversation. When it comes to men’s clothes, people are always picking my brain; this time I decided to do the same.

One question I asked him meshed exactly with the one you asked me - cuffs or no? His response agreed exactly with what I believe and what I hoped he would say, “I put cuffs on all of my pants.”

I know that there are those people who will tell you that dress pants should have cuffs and casual pants do not need them. There are others who think, “Cuffs are for old men; my father wore cuffs.” The truth is that well-dressed men have always worn cuffs. Cuffs are right for the traditionalistand for the fashion-conscious.

But suppose you are short. The books you have read and the tailor in the store may tell you that cuffs on trousers are better left to tall men. Nonsense! While it is true that short men should avoid most horizontal lines that tend to shorten them visually, it is ridiculous to think that a horizontal line all the way down near the ground will affect height. Since the world’s bestdressed men have always worn and are currently wearing cuffs, go with cuffs.

Be sure to have the fitter/tailor measure each leg separately when the pants are in the normal position where you always wear them and you have filled the pockets with the items you normally carry. Legs can vary in length. Whether you decide on cuffs or not, I recommend a slight break in the crease line.The pants front should rest one-quarter to three-eighths of an inch on the top of your shoe - not so long that they are dragging along and not so short that people can see your socks. And, seen from the side, the bottom of the trousers should give the illusion of extending downward very slightly toward the back. The back of the pants should approach the top of your shoe’s heel. It should appear to be about one-quarter to one-half an inch lower than the front.

I must mention that there is one definite exception to the rule about wearing cuffs. They are never worn with formal wear - black tie or white tie.

Send questions for Male Call to:

lois.[email protected]

High Profile, Pages 56 on 10/31/2010

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