I was going to refer to this as a camel wool jacket, but camel wool comes in several colors, including navy, black and tan. The camel hair shown here is probably the oldest – the most well known – so referring to that as camel color seems accurate. But let me know if that doesn’t make sense.
So, the camel. A light yellow/brown color that is often difficult to wear has similar colors that we recommend such as:
- A biscuit, like my jackethereequally light but brown and less saturated
- Cigarettes, like my suithereorange in color and full, but not too bright
- or Oatmeal, like my jacket here, which is like camel but washed
It helps that we are familiar with the camel that appearspolo shirtsor from other similar coatsThis one. But in the blazer it’s a little showery, and this (beautiful) camel fur from Piacenza is also a slightly lighter shade. So it requires a little thought.
I had a jacket made by Sartoria Ciardi a few months ago – not the best time of summer perhaps, but the English summer is not predictable. So far my favorite things to wear have been blue jeans, black washed jeans and medium gray flannels; with white, cream or black top.
Above is my most favorite: wide, blue jeans with aBryceland’s white western shirt and non feetsnuff-suede boots from Ugolini.
I love the casual look of the western shirt and jeans, and the added visual detail of the shorts. The white Oxford button down looked simple in comparison.
The boots look equally comfortable – they fit better than loafers – and the snuff suede picks up some of the yellow in the jacket.
Equally attractive is a cream knit top, like the Rubato above. Knitwear like this goes especially well with mixed colors of yarn – different shades of cream and white and gray.
Below the waist, black washed jeans work well though a white shirt (I wearRubato ecru work shirt) is better than pure white.
Conversely, neutral flannels in gray are an easy color for tailored trousers but suit a white oxford shirt or a white long-sleeve polo – there’s something country-chic about a camel polo shirt.
On the feet, brown suede works well – preferably as a boot with jeans, but as a loafer or derby with flannels.
Clothing is always a shocker than most of the other methods we have listed before. But on a sunny day it really feels like a celebration of the sun, and it’s still less flashy than bright summer options like bright green or baby green.
The fabric from Piacenza seemed like a good choice – I’ve never used it before, but the cashmere and camelhair jackets are really lovely. This one is fromDunes bookand all are medium weight (340g) with a comfortable finish.
We tried our best to achieve that in some of the images, like the most prominent one below, as it doesn’t always translate online.
Sartoria Ciardi did a great job with the production, but they suggested widening the shoulders by 0.5cm compared to my previous piece from them –tobacco linen suit– and I think that was a mistake. It’s not the end of the world for them to reduce it again, and not the kind of thing most people would notice.
When I was thinking about how to wear a jacket, I had the idea to search women’s websites, as I remember seeing camel appear more and more on women in recent years.
That paid off, and I would recommend it to anything where you feel there is that crossover. It doesn’t work with subtle menswear colors (shades of brown tweed for example) but where there is a connection, it’s worth checking out.
An internet search quickly revealed that women only style this jacket in a few ways – mainly a white or plain knit shirt with the blue jeans we discussed earlier, double denims, and variations of black (occasionally dark navy).
Some combinations of women’s clothing will often be too showy – as women can and often do – but it’s easy to narrow them down, and it’s better to start with more options than less.
Also, trying them can lead to other ideas: I tried black knitting with black jeans and I found that it was not for me, but with a white shirt it worked, and charcoal was good for pants. The dark navy didn’t work on the bottom, but it was fine as a knit top.
Pinterest can be good too, but I find the quality varies a lot – it’s great if you dig a lot and the site learns what you’re looking for, but not so useful for a quick summary.
Clothing details:
- Bespoke jacket from Sartoria Ciardi in Piacenza 1733 camelhair, 340g, 4/01 inDunes book
- Bryceland’ssaw white shirt
- Vintage Levi’s 501s
- Classic suede bootsfrom Roberto Ugolini
- Old red leather belt
- Rubato summer knit (discontinued)
- Bespoke Fox flannel trousers from Whitcomb and Shaftesbury
- Shanklin boot in mink suede from Edward Green