Seersucker Talk Pt 2

Seersucker Explained

Seersucker, hickory stripe or railroad stripe is a thin, puckered, cotton fabric, usually striped or chequered, used to make clothing for hot weather. The word originates from the Persian words Persian: شیر and Persian: شکر, literally meaning "milk and sugar", from the gritty texture ("sugar") on the otherwise smooth ("milk") cloth.[1] This lightweight silk originated in colonial India and was introduced to the wider world from there.[2] Seersucker is woven in such a way that some threads bunch together, giving the fabric a wrinkled or puckered appearance. This effect is often achieved during weaving by feeding the warp threads for the puckered bands at a greater rate than the warp threads of the smooth stripes. (These are often of different colors but do not need to be.) The unevenness causes the fabric to be mostly held away from the skin rather than being plastered on it when wet with sweat, facilitating heat dissipation and air circulation. It also means that ironing is not necessary.

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Hello everyone. Thank you for joining Take a Fashion Seat. So tonight's topic is you're not gonna believe it, part two of Seer Sucker Fabric. So we talked about it last year, and we talked about the history, we talked about where to shop to buy it. So I want to do a part two because seer sucker is here to stay. It's a wrinkled look, guys, that you gotta love. I mean, you can't deny it's a classy and sophisticated and amazing look. So I want to that, you know, like dive deeper into the story of Searsucker. So it's a couple of articles that was written, and I want to go over some of them. So Haswell wrote an article, and they're showing this amazing young man standing by the ocean, standing by the sea in a sea sucker jacket. It's light blue, and he has light blue pants and a red tie with a white shirt. Um, and he looks amazing. It's for me, it's a spring and summer look. When I see it, I'm thinking in terms of someone that's going to a polo match, or someone that's going out for an afternoon or evening dinner, someone that's going on a yacht or a cruise. It's just it has such an amazing and compelling look. Now, this story is written by Haspel, the ocean story. So nearly 40 years after creating the original Sear Saka suit, Joseph Haspel, Sr. made history. So he made history with this fabric, okay. In June of 1946, while attending a trade show in Boca Bretongue, Florida, he wanted to demonstrate to his colleagues the endurance of his wash and wear sear sucker suit. Wearing the sear saker suit, he drove into the Atlantic Ocean, splashed around, and then hung it on a fence to dry. Later that evening, he famously wore it unscathed to a cocktail party. You hear that guys? Over the last 116 years, the evolution of Haspool has grown from Joseph Sr.'s cornerstone suit into a wide array of men's attire. Today we continue to revolutionize the style and wearability of Searsaka with darker colors, innovative fabrics, and bolder patterns, all while keeping the thread, you know, sewn into the creation. I mean, it's a beautiful sight to see. Now, Ramply and Co. did Searsucker. They did an article, The History Fabric, and How to Wear It. Because you gotta know how to wear it. You can't just buy it, you gotta know how to wear it. It's classy, guys. You can't just wear, like anyone can't wear it. It's gotta be somebody with a lot of taste. I'm telling you, because that's what it's giving. Sheersaka is one of the great summer fabrics. See, didn't I say that before? And I'm just reading the article. It has a history of stretching back centuries, a textile science that predates modern performance wear and a range of styling possibilities that most people have only explored at one, and the post covers all of it. So, where does it come from? The name is the clue. Seasucker derives from the Parisian sure shaker. It's sure shaker means milk and sugar, a description of the fabric's alternating smooth and puckered surface. The weaving technique creates this texture by placing different tensions on the warp threads during production, causing some threads to pucker while others lie flat. The result is a cloth with a distinctive, bubbly surface that is as practical as it looks. That surface is not merely decorative. The puckering means the fabric sits away from the skin rather than lying against it, allowing air to circulate between the cloth and the body. Now, this circulation wicks moisture away and keeps the wear cooler than a flat woven fabric of comparable weight. The science was understood for centuries before the era of technical performance fabrics and has not been substantially improved upon for a structured summer garment. The British encountered seersucker in India, appreciated it for entirely practical reasons in a warm climate, and brought it back to Europe through trade. From Europe, it traveled to the United States, where it found its most devoted audience and its most distinctive cultural expression. Now, in the history of the Siasaka in American and British dress, in the American South, Siasaka became something close to a uniform. It's like a uniform. The classic blue and white striped Siasaka suit, typically worn with a bow tie and white shoes, was the conservative southern summer outfit for much of the 20th century. Remember the Roaring 20s, guys? And guess what I'm reading? So I'm reading The Great Gatsby. So you know everyone, you know they wore Syria Saka during the Roaring 20s. And that book I'm reading, you know, Jay Gatsby had a bunch of those jackets in his closet. If you read The Great Gatsby, you would know. Um, it was an amazing book. I'm still reading it, I'm almost finished. I'm just it's my fourth time reading it, and it's oh my gosh, it's compelling. I had to keep reading it because I get something every time. But back to Searsucker. You saw it in law courts and political offices at summer occasions of every kind. It carried associates of stability, institutional respect, and a particular kind of patron ease. The British relationship with Seersucker was quieter but no less genuine. Here it sat within the off-duty wardrobe rather than the professional one. A summer jacket for country weekends, garden parties, and formal occasions where linen might have done equally well, but seersaka offered an interesting alternative. So you know everybody grab their linen, but you can also grab seersucker. Well, some people say sheer sucker. Like I say seersaka. Correct me if I'm wrong. Send me a message. Okay, I have lined seersucker jacket from a traditional outfitter, and this style is actually what it would be would have been 40 years ago, and that continuity is part of what recommends. Okay, so how it works, the cotton, the wool, and what to look for. So most seersuckers is cotton. Pure cotton. Sears is the classic version, and for ready to wear, it is the most useful. Some high street versions use the cotton polyester brand, which retains reasonable breathability, but loses some of its hand and the visual quality of the pure cotton. You want the pure cotton, guys, so go for the cotton. Put the money out, like invest. I got a sear sucker dress, and um I'm at the point now where I knew I want the jacket, the light blue, and or the pink. So I'm looking for both. So if you guys come across one, let me know and send me a DM me or email me. For a jacket or a suit you plan to wear heavily, the blend is not a disaster. For anything you care about, particularly the pure cotton, is worth finding. Like I just said, see? So, in terms of structure, CSEC works well across the full range from unstructured to fully canvased, an unstructural jacket with minimal internal construction to clothes the wearing, a very well-cut shirt. Now, a fully structured version with a chest canvas should shoulder pads and sleeve roll has presence while restraining the breathability of the fabric. For most casual summer dressing, unstructured is correct. For a summer occasion where the jacket reads to hold its shape, the structured version is far more interesting. So sear sucker colors beyond blue and white. The blue and white stripe is a classic, and it is classic for good reasons. That's the main one, guys. It works with an enormous range of shirts and trousers and carries the full weight of the fabric's cultural history. If you own one Searsucker Sucker jacket, sorry. Blue and white is the difference. It's basically the choice of everyone's choice. They get that one. That said, Searsucker is a better color vehicle than its reputation suggests. Gray and white produces something noticeably smarter and more versatile, with the striped reading as less assertive against a wider range of outfits. Cream and ecru gives a tonal look that sits closer to plain tailoring while retaining the texture. Browns, tobaccos, greens, pinks, and reds all work in the fabric, though they are rare to find well executed up the page. Now, the tonal version, where both reds are shades of the same color, are the most sophisticated option. A dark navy over a brighter navy reads as a textured suiting cloth to most observers, rather than classic striped seersucker. This is useful if you want the properties of seersucker without the Pacific Cultural Associations of the Stripe. I mean, and then it goes deeper, you know, and then it talks about the tonal seersucker, the stripe and button-down stripe shan tongue tie and white linen pocket square. Um they good, they even go deeper and do the English DD approach, the Greek linen tie. So a cutaway collar chambray shirt, a gredged linen tie, and an overside spot pocket square with a classic blue and white seasucker jacket. This is sea sucker and it's most characterable, worn with a clear awareness of its English Germany Street, Germ, I'm sorry, German Street Associates rather than its American ones. The combination works well for an informal summer wedding where you want to look properly dressed without the formality of a lounge suit. The chambray shirt keeps the collar palette rooted in the blue and white family of the jacket while the green linen tie introduces a warm, neutral that takes the edge off the blue entirely. So, I mean it's different ways you can wear it and how you can put it and pair it together. So I'm coming to the end of why searsucker and linen works well together. Searsucker and linen are natural companions. They're companions, guys. Did you know that? I just learned it myself. Both are summer fabrics, both carry a relaxed authority and both reward wearing with other pieces from the same family. A sea sucker jacket with a linen shirt, a linen tie, and linen trousers sits together in a way that mixed fabric summer dressings often fails to achieve. The reverse also works. If you have a linen jacket and want trousers that are not linen, a sear sucker trousers in a complementary color is one of the better solutions available. Okay, so keep that in mind, guys, when you go shopping. I like the pink. I'm looking, guys. If you see the pink jacket, let me know. But I'll get the blue one first and then I'll get a pink one. So let me know if you find a sale on one. Now I do a lot of vintage shopping, so I'll look there first, but I probably won't find it. But I might find it if I keep looking. So if you own one summer jacket, a blue and white sea sucker and pure cotton at a good cut is a defensible choice over almost any alternative. There's no other one. You just need that blue one, guys. And um, then that one you can build around your wardrobe based on that jacket. Build it, build it, guys. I hope you enjoyed part two of Sia Sucker Fabric and Talk, the history, and thank you for listening. I mean, this is so amazing. I got some upcoming guests coming over the next couple of weeks, but I wanted to just throw in a summer fabric, you know, between um my guests. So gotta allow, take a fashion seat. Good night, everyone. Thank you for listening.