Seer Sucker details

[Happy Stroller]

I have yet to have the privilege of seeing a Seersucker Suit.

Should a Seersucker suit have full lining?

Should suspenders be used with Seersucker suits?

A friend tells me no one wears a Seersucker jacket and a pair of Seersucker pants together. Is he correct?

Can a Seersucker suit be worn throughout the year in Mexico, the Caribbean, Paradise Island (the one in 'Love Boat') type resorts, hot Tropical climes such as found in Vietnam and Thailand, Equitorial regions snf hot deserts, such as the Sahara and the Arabian Desert?

 

[Tomasso]

Seersucker suits perform very well with a full lining but I supposes that it wouldn't hurt to have them made with a quarter lining. Suspenders are a matter of personal preference, some like the comfort that they afford at the the waist and others dislike the pressure that they place on the shoulders. SS jacket + SS trousers = SS suit. What's the problem? I wear SS the year around, depending on geographical locale.

I would post photos of my SS suits but FL management doesn't approve of my photographic techniques.

 

[Happy Stroller]

Thank you, Tomasso, for your helpful answers.

What is a quarter lining?

The friend who claims a Seersucker jacket should not be worn with a pair of Seersucker pants suggests that a pair of khaki pants would be more suitable. Are khaki pants OK with a Seersucker jacket?

I forgot to ask about whether a tie or bow-tie is worn with SS. Any suitable pattern or color?

Also, what color should the shirt be and what kind of shirt collar can go with a SS? Instead of a shirt, the same friend suggested a simple (white?) T-shirt.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Thank you, Tomasso, for your helpful answers.

What is a quarter lining?

The friend who claims a Seersucker jacket should not be worn with a pair of Seersucker pants suggests that a pair of khaki pants would be more suitable. Are khaki pants OK with a Seersucker jacket?

I forgot to ask about whether a tie or bow-tie is worn with SS. Any suitable pattern or color?

Also, what color should the shirt be and what kind of shirt collar can go with a SS? Instead of a shirt, the same friend suggested a simple (white?) T-shirt.

Your friend's rather daft, isn't he?

Wear them together, but just make sure the patterns match. Mind you, if you don't, the jacket is a whole lot eaiser to use (khakis, linens, wool fresco, jeans depending on how far you'd want to go). The pants, what with being a strong pattern, are somewhat harder but could be worn sans jacket in general.

Regimental stripes, emblematics, and summer bows and neckties are fine for seersucker, bows a little more so though. Look for button-downs in light blue, white, pink, yellow... near about anything in the Ivy League pantheon. But, then again, you're not going to wear a tie if you follow your friend's most adroit advice.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

.

Seersucker may be worn a variety of ways, with dark shirts and skinny ties for a modern look, or with a nice pale blue shirt and a bowtie for a vintage look.

In the modern aesthetic, a full seersucker suit can be a bit much, a bit dandyish. That being said, I have two that I wear in the summer, and I still see old timers in Boston wearing them with skimmers on Sunday mornings, coming back from church. This type of suit attracts a lot of attention, especially with a fine Panama hat.

I think that bowties and suspenders add a very nice vintage touch. Here is one of mine.

 

[JamesT1]

One of the best features of seersucker suits is the fact that it comes in so many varieties. The suit pictured here is also seersucker.

 

[Flitcraft]

"Seersucker" refers to the weave, not the color of the material. Its a great warm weather fabric, just difficult to find in anything but the white and blue or white and brown stripes.
Dashiell Hammett was fond of seersucker because it was so comfortable and cheap- he said it left his friends wondering if he was broke, or setting a fashion trend!

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I would post photos of my SS suits but FL management doesn't approve of my photographic techniques.

I like your photographs. I'd like to see some seersucker given the Tomasso treatment.

bk

 

[Tomasso]

What is a quarter lining?

 

[Tomasso]

difficult to find in anything but the white and blue or white and brown stripes.

 

[Happy Stroller]

==================== End of quote ======================
Thank you all, for the various images. They all show how smart a SS can be. Thanks, Flitcraft, James TI and Hemingway Jones.

I didn't know a SS could look so great with a matching waistcoat and a long tie, too. I really love your red candy SS, Tomasso.

My fault in overlooking Seersucker refers more to the material rather than the striking typical blue or red candy Seersucker and white cotton stripes pattern. I had the blue and white stripes pattern more in mind when I asked with what the SS should be worn.

I can see the question of suitable hats could be touched on. I imagine there's some kind of straw hat or something similar to what Uncle Sam typically wears with the Stars And Stripes pattern replaced by blue or red candy and white stripes on the vertical sides of the hat which, not as tall as a Top Hat, could be worn.

Maybe I could add a suitable cane to stroll around with in the park or along an esplanade on a nice cool morning. Should it be a formal cane, such as a black one with a gold or silver ball top?

BTW, would such an outfit qualify as a sports suit, or a leisure suit? If so, would wearing such a suit downgrade the image of a respectable conservative gentleman?

 

[Happy Stroller]

Thank you, Tomasso, for that great photo of a jacket with quarter lining.

I can see it can really help keep an SS cooler.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to turn an SS that has full lining already into one with quarter lining?

 

[Indy Magnoli]

I'd like to see some more vintage examples of seer sucker suits. I've searched the net, but keep turning up modern jackets. I'd like to offer at least one seer sucker on my site, but want to find the perfect style first. Thanks and

Kind regards,
Indy

 

[Tomasso]

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to turn an SS that has full lining already into one with quarter lining?

A competent tailor should have no trouble removing/modifying the lining and cleaning up the seams.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I'd like to see some more vintage examples of seer sucker suits. I've searched the net, but keep turning up modern jackets.

If you mean pictures of seersucker suits from before 1960, your best bet is to look at fashion plates from vintage Esquire magazines and Apparel Arts quarterlies.


If you mean real live seersucker cotton suits from before 1960, forget it. VERY few have survived. Seersucker suits were inexpensive, and their tendency to shrink and attract stains meant that they were thrown away after several seasons of wear.


.

 

[Sardou]

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BTW, would such an outfit qualify as a sports suit, or a leisure suit? If so, would wearing such a suit downgrade the image of a respectable conservative gentleman?

Quite the opposite. Throughout the 70s and 80s (and perhaps still) the only people in the Northeast who could be reliably counted on to own a seersucker suit were "old money", together with those aspiring to look the part. See Hem's description of churchgoers, above.

No matter how well-pressed upon leaving the house, after a stint on the train into town from the North Shore, Oyster Bay or the Main Line, a couple of hours in a desk chair and a three-martini lunch, a seersucker suit looks so disreputable that only those who are quite secure in their place in society would risk being seen in one. Let alone revel in it.

Note that a seersucker is one of the few suits that really works with penny loafers (of the Weejuns type).

Years ago, someone told me that it was perfectly fine in some circles to wear a seersucker suit without socks in the afternoon, as this was a sign that you had played squash at lunchtime and hadn't felt like putting them back on.

Sardou

 

[Indy Magnoli]

If you mean pictures of seersucker suits from before 1960, your best bet is to look at fashion plates from vintage Esquire magazines and Apparel Arts quarterlies.

Yes, old photos or ads would be fine. I'll have to do some detective work.

...their tendency to shrink and attract stains meant that they were thrown away after several seasons of wear.

lol I think I'll have to save that quote to help advertise these on my site! lol

Kind regards,
Magnoli

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Speaking of unusual seersucker ... here's a cream / tan stripe seersucker suit that I wore last Saturday.
Alas, the photo doesn't show that it's double-breasted.

.

 

[Fu Manchu]

Seersucker and Southern Gentlemen

Quite the opposite. Throughout the 70s and 80s (and perhaps still) the only people in the Northeast who could be reliably counted on to own a seersucker suit were "old money", together with those aspiring to look the part. See Hem's description of churchgoers, above.

I'm also from the northeast and can attest to the fact that seersucker suits are worn by very conservative gentlemen - mostly bankers and such - during summer months. Seersucker also has a devoted following among southern gentlemen; the epitome of the breed, Gregory Peck=Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird" sports a Haspel three piece seersucker when going to court.

(sorry, I'm having trouble uploading stuff - go here

I think seersuckers are great and would love to get a matching boater. Maybe next summer.

 

[Sunny]

Here's a very apropos quote I caught from my radio listening earlier this week.

Show: "Night Beat"
Speaker: Randy Stone, night beat reporter for the Chicago Star.
Air Date: September 11, 1952

Stone: It was a brutal hot night. It was too hot to hang around the city room, but the street wasn't any better. The air stood still and so did my mind. I was as devoid of inspiration on what to tell my alleged readers as I was on ideas on how to keep cool. The seersucker suit I'd bought in the hopes it would give me a Princeton air only made me look like a wilted bookkeeper.