Another Look At Our Beautiful Sophia Jacket

I always like to show the jackets I have designed styled in a few different ways to give my customers different options. A few days ago I decided to revisit our beautiful Sophia jacket. It is made from a classic tweed fabric with contrasting brown velvet trim, A style that it never goes out of fashion.

While we are on the subject of tweed, I want to give you a little background on history of tweed fabrics and their use in blazers and sports coats over the years. Tweed fabrics were developed in the early 18^th century in Scotland from 100% wool yarns, as a durable fabric that would withstand a harsh climate. They became popular in 1900s for leisure lifestyle like horseback riding and hunting. High society and wealthy families started to wear more and more tweed and it soon became the fabric for all things sporty and outdoors and is still a popular choice for this to this day.

As far as where the name Tweed came from, the story goes that sometime around 1830, a London merchant received a letter from a Scottish company in Hawick about some tweels. The London merchant misinterpreted the handwriting of “Tweel” (Twill In USA), understanding it to be a trade-name taken from the river Tweed that flows through the Scottish Border textile area. Subsequently the goods were advertised in the store as Tweed, and the name has remained ever since.

Today tweeds are used all over the world for all kinds of garments but they are still very popular for outerwear. I’ve always loved tweed as I tend to love menswear fabrics. I am always looking for interesting tweeds to use in my “Jacket Society” jacket line. One of these examples is my classic Sophia jacket which is made of beautiful brown tweed and trimmed with a brown velvet collar and elbow patches which are inspired by the English riding jackets as well. I wanted the styling of this jacket to emphasize an Ascot men’s look as Ascots are normally worn by men in place of a neck tie and usually with a sports coat or blazer and they are more popular in Europe than the States. I love taking some of these menswear inspired looks and feminizing them by adding a bunch of necklaces or adding high heel shoes. That is exactly what I have tried to do with the look I am showing you today.

What are your thought on our Sophia jacket and the way I have styled it?