What if I told you that wearing a suit jacket with jeans is not only possible, but it can look great too? You might be thinking to yourself: "never pair a suit jacket with jeans."
But some rules are made to be broken.
At IsuiT - Italian Sartorial Luxury, we believe in wearing what makes us feel and look our best! So today, we want to talk about when wearing a suit jacket with jeans is appropriate and how to make it happen!
Let's start by saying this look is totally fine - and not just with jeans.
What does a suit jacket or blazer go with?
A suit jacket is much more versatile than people think. In fact, it can be paired with a number of different pants to give you a modern, sophisticated look.
It's important that you know how to properly accessories - as accessories can make the difference between a good outfit, and a great one.
A suit jacket can go with:
- Jeans
- Chinos
- Dress pants
Although the general wisdom of traditional Sartorial tailoring is that the suit trousers should match with the suit - We're here to tell you that's not always true.
Let's talk about the rules for matching suit coats with jeans
Wearing a suit jacket with jeans - The rules of how to get this look
Wear a dark suit blazer with darker jeans and a lighter suit coat with lighter denim jeans
The first rule is that you have to pair dark with dark and light with light. They don't have to be the same colour - and you can definitely express your stylishness by wearing a suit which has a different coloured thread running through it - but generally, it's best to match shades.
So for example you're going to want to pair:
- A grey suit jacket with grey jeans
- A blue suit jacket with blue jeans
- A navy suit jacket with navy jeans
- ETC.
Don't wear jeans with a dinner jacket or tuxedo
Also make sure that you're not wearing a tuxedo or dinner jacket with jeans, this is a faux pas. This is because most events where you want to wear a tuxedo are too formal to get away with this look.
Again we are tiptoeing around the edges of "informal formal fashion" - similar to our unbuttoned t-shirt or suits and sneakers guides - it's important to know when it's necessary to be dressed in full format clothes - such as funerals or going to the opera.
The jeans and suit look is a perfect middle point - and can look incredibly formal (just don't wear it to a funeral)!
Buy a fashion-forward suit blazer - Don't go for something too old school
A lot of the Sartorial fashion houses' blazers will not look correct when worn with jeans. This is because they have a very traditional Italian suit cut.
That is not to say these blazers aren't incredibly stylish - just for different situations. The likes of Cesare Attolini and Kiton were simply not created to be worn with jeans. Kiton's sister company Kired, however, is much better for embracing this kind of look.
For example, IsuiT - Italian Sartorial Luxury - recently teamed up with the team at Kired and created a whole new line of modern suits for modern men. Although these suits are complete, their cut is perfect for wearing with a pair of jeans:
Another few great examples of forward-thinking fashion companies that would work perfectly with a pair of jeans are:
Don't wear this suit jacket and jeans combo at the wrong event!
As mentioned previously wearing this look is fine - but wearing it to the wrong event will make you stand out for all the wrong reasons.
For example, wearing a suit jacket with jeans to a funeral would be completely inappropriate. However, at work it's completely fine. Especially when your company has some sort of casual Friday or dress-down day during which wearing this ensemble would be a home run.
Wearing it at a wedding is also fine - but wearing it to the ceremony would be inappropriate.
Clothing rules are like fashion trends: they're always changing, and not everyone is a fan of them. Some people might hate, but you won't be able to notice them.
Make sure the fabric of the suit goes well wth jeans
This is not the same as making the colours match - there are some materials and patterns that will not work together with jeans.
A great example of this is pinstripes. Pinstripes are made to wear with dress pants, not jeans, and you will make fashion-aware people cringe when they see you.
This is obviously not the end goal, so make sure that the pattern looks good. Some examples of suit patterns that go well with jeans are:
- Checks and Plaids
- Birdseye
- Solid coloured (navy blue, light gray, medium gray, and charcoal)
The final thing is: make sure you get the right pair of jeans
The final, and potentially most important rule of this process is to ensure that you have a pair of jeans that goes correctly with a suit blazer. If you don't do this correctly, you will have some problems.
A great brand we'd personally recommend is Barba Napoli. They have some great, modern cut jeans that go great with a blazer.
The golden rule here is that the jeans should not be baggy. You're not in the 1990s. Wear some skinny jeans which fit you perfectly, and are hemmed at the bottom. This also allows you to then express yourself with a pair of dress shoes, or sneakers.
A few other brands of jeans which we would recommend are:
The final stage of wearing a suit jacket with jeans - Accessories
You want to polish your look by adding various accessories, for example a belt from Stefano Ricci tops this look off. You can really go bold with this - as the belt and other accessories will not take over the look, but will instead accentuate it.
Other accessories you should definitely consider are:
- A pair of sunglasses from Zilli
- A watch from whoever you want
- A wallet from Zilli or others
You also have to make a very important decision - are you going to wear this look with a t-shirt, or instead with a dress shirt.
We would definitely recommend wearing a dress shirt, particularly a white one or light blue one, Sartorio Napoli have some fantastic dress shirts which IsuiT - Italian Sartorial Luxury - sells at incredible prices.