Styling My Community Clothing Co. Suit With Sarah Gilfillan

Community Clothing Co. make clothing for men and women in the UK. We tend to think that British-made products are more highly priced than those manufactured abroad due to higher manufacturing costs - despite the costs of shipping, import taxes and other charges which have to be added to imported goods. In fact, this needn't be the case and CCCo. show the way by selling well-made and competitively priced British-made men's and womenswear.

Community Clothing Co's British-made khaki cotton jacket and matching relaxed chinos

I was after a summer suit and had a look at CCCo.'s website to see what they offer. I noticed that the cotton twill jackets and chinos are made of the same cloths, so can be made up into casual suits, so I selected these in khaki (they also come in navy blue). The unlined/unstructured jacket and trousers came to a total of around £140 - a bargain wherever made. They are well made, the cotton twill is robust and soft and the fit is better than I had expected.

I wanted to try out various ways of styling the jacket and trousers and Sarah Gilfillan, ace stylist of SartoriaLab, kindly agreed to look at my efforts and give her frank and honest comments on them. I'm grateful to her for this; it's her expert thoughts that have helped me so much in my search for style. You too can use her personal styling services; links below.

Community Clothing Co. cotton jacket & relaxed chinos in khaki, scarf Geoff Stocker

Sarah says; "Overall I like this look but feel perhaps the scarf looks like a bit of an afterthought? It might work better if he swapped the shirt for a lightweight crew neck sweater and the scarf was worn loose like this, but tucked slightly under the lapels so you get the colour but with a sweater you don’t have the problem of it competing with the collar of the shirt".

The great thing about the chinos is that they come in three fits: slim, 'relaxed' and pleated - an idea that others should adopt. You can be ahead of the fashion curve with the full-cut pleated version or mainstream with slim. I selected the medium 'relaxed' fit which is comfortable high-waisted and full enough to look contemporary without going down the rather safe slim fitting route. I wear the relaxed fit above as part of my 'suit' and a pair of pleated chinos in the image immediately below.

Here I wear CCCo. cotton jacket in khaki and full cut pleated chinos, shoes Loake, shirt Emily & Khadi  

Sarah says of this look; "It’s great that you can split this suit up and put it with different items like these lighter chinos, so you can get maximum use from it. As David has a tall and very slim frame, at least one part of this outfit could do with being a bit more fitted and structured though, so he doesn’t get overwhelmed with fabric. I’d prefer to see this shirt and jacket with jeans, or the jacket and trousers with a shirt that was more fitted, in a crisper fabric with a more structured collar. David likes to wear a lot of textures and patterns normally too, so perhaps a coloured woven belt that brings in the colours of the outfit and shoes would add a nice bit of detail". 

In an earlier blog feature I argued that the suit's future lay in the concept of the 'casual suit', a garment that is comfortable enough to be worn at any time, yet capable of being dressed up for at least smart casual, if not totally formal wear. 

A relaxed look with polo shirt (Spoke), cravat (Cravat Club) and sneakers 

Sarah says; "I’m quite surprised that I like this outfit! The soft blue and khaki look great together and I think it hits a good balance between formal and casual. I wonder if the cravat and Converse are a little too much at opposing ends of the smart/casual scale though – he could maybe replace the cravat with a cotton pocket square instead to add a bit of detail".

More smart casual: shirt Triplstitched, brogues Barker 

Sarah says; "I love the pink and khaki together, and I like the style of the button down shirt. I think I would have opted for a burgundy cravat so it’s a bit more tonal as there’s no other blue in the outfit. I prefer the more summery feel of the suede shoes from the previous picture as I feel the leather shoes are a touch too heavy/formal"

Woven polo Sirplus, goat leather sneakers Billy Tannery 

Sarah says; "This may look good on some people, but for me, it doesn’t work on David. The collar of the top looks very large on a slim man like David, and it’s also quite a low cut which elongates his already long neck. He’s not much of a trainer wearing guy anyway and everything looks too baggy, casual and unstructured for his frame".

Shirt Budd Shirtmakers bespoke, tie Augustus Hare, shoes Loake

Sarah says; "Ah… back to well-dressed David! This to me works really well – a bit more structure in the collar of the shirt and the higher collar stance suits him much better. I like the fresh look of the striped green shirt and the textured grenadine tie works really well (silk would be too formal). It’s great to see that you can dress the suit up or down making it a very versatile buy".

Denim shirt Jaeger, Tie vintage, shoes Edward Green

Sarah says; "I think this is my favourite look! The slightly more casual nature of the chambray shirt looks great – and it’s a bit neater and has more structure than some of the other soft collared shirts. I really like the cotton madras tie with the suit. This looks like something David would normally wear but a touch more casual and a looser fit that we’ve been used to. 10/10 for this one!

I'd like to than Sarah for her help with this feature - she can be contacted through her website at SartoriaLab.

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