Seersucker: Summer Style

Increasing summer heat means that the search is on for fabrics that are cool, stylish and, for holiday use in particular, easy to maintain. A cloth that has become a summer favourite for me is seersucker.

Gregory Peck wears seersucker as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird 1962

Tailoring is becoming less structured and more comfortable. Linen is popular for summer but can be hard to look after as a tailored linen garment is best dry cleaned. A better choice is seersucker. Easily maintained (it can be washed in cool water, more below) and relatively crush-free, seersucker is ideal for travel in warmer climes where a lightweight, airy, and relatively crushproof cloth is essential. While remaining crisp and elegant in the heat seersucker develops a slightly lived in look which Gregory Peck displays to perfection in To Kill a Mockingbird (see above).

Originally from India, it was introduced to Europe on the eighteenth century and while we now associate it with the USA (where it started out as workwear for the poor but later became an essential part of a preppy summer outfit), it was originally adopted by the British and other Europeans for wear in hotter climes.

Seersucker is woven from cotton, linen or manmade fibres, although I suggest you avoid the latter. Some years ago I was loaned a seersucker suit. It looked great; navy blue, double breasted with tapering trousers with turn ups. However, the cloth was made from a synthetic fibre which meant that on hot days it became almost unwearable: hot, damp and smelly. Natural fabrics, on the other hand, remain breathable and comfortable.

The cloth is woven at varying tensions so that it has alternating puckered stripes which are said to lift the material away from the body, allowing cooling and drying air to circulate; whether this is a valid scientific explanation I don't know. Certainly seersucker is light in weight and I find it cooler to wear than medium-weight linens, even though it has a tighter weave. Its slight elasticity adds to its comfort.

We tend to associate seersucker with blue or grey and white stripes, but it's available in plain colours and a wide variety of stripes (see below). 

And of course seersucker has been worn by the congenitally cool for many years, as can be seen from this selection of images:

Cecil Beaton wears Anderson & Sheppard seersucker in 1936

David Hockney 1967

James Stewart in seersucker, Spencer Tracy in linen

Miles Davis in seersucker

So, seersucker provides a summery alternative to linen. Both have similar casual, slightly rumpled, preppy looks. The choice between them is down to personal taste. Many dislike the wrinkled nature of linen: while seersucker rarely looks too crushed. Linen has a looser weave and, if not too heavy, ventilates better than seersucker - but the latter is a lighter weight cloth so doesn't seem to retain heat as much as linen while still protecting against the heat of the sun. 

In terms of maintenance, seersucker seems to hide stains more effectively than linen, especially if striped or checked. Seersucker (unlike linen which will need dry cleaning) can in theory be  washed in water, but linings may complicate this, so check the washing instructions. Despite these considerations, I have no preference between linen and seersucker and wear whichever I am in the mood to wear on a particular day. I do prefer seersucker for travel as it's so easy to look after and is relatively crease-free

Try mixing seersucker with other cloths: seersucker trousers with a linen or lightweight wool blazer or vice versa, a seersucker jacket with shorts or trousers from a contrasting colour summery cloth.

Wearing seersucker

I own two seersucker suits. A navy blue suit was made to measure some years ago by King & Allen. The striped suit shown below was off the peg (altered to fit) from MbE at Grey Flannel. This is the cooler to wear of the two as the jacket is unlined, single breasted and loosely cut to ensure ventilation. The navy blue suit has a partly lined, double breasted jacket, making it slightly warmer to wear on a hot day - but it looks great as a more formal, warm weather work suit. 

Both are worn regularly as separates, indeed, the casual nature of seersucker means that you don't so much buy a suit as matching jacket and trousers - the future of the suit indeed (see my feature "Will The Suit Survive?")