Men's Second Style

No man’s formal wardrobe can be complete without at least one smashing suit from swaffette Firefly’s collection at SF Design. Her suit designs are carefully thought out, artistically executed, handsome and sophisticated. Also—and this is a big plus for me—they’re never stuffy, always interesting and often exciting.

My most recent acquisition from SF Design is swaffette’s fairly new Siddharts Tuxedo. As the name suggests, this striking formal suit proudly displays its clear Indian style influences. The vibrantly colored, boldly patterned vest may be the first thing you notice, but there’s so much more. Although they’re less immediately obvious, the coordinating ascot and decorative detailing on the jacket’s collar and cuffs are just as lively and beautiful. All these details work together perfectly to bring perhaps unexpected life to an otherwise conservative suit.

Putting on one of swaffette’s suits can be an intimidating experience at first. If you’ve seen how many individual items there are in the inventory folder for just one of her suits, you know what I mean. You could be forgiven if your first impulse were to exclaim, “How many separate pairs of pants do I really need, anyway?” Well, here’s the thing: you need all of them. Although the construction of a suit may be simple, making it flexible in terms of wear is not. So, yes, there are a few different jackets and pairs of pants, several shirt-layer items, and a double handful of prim attachments. But everything is clearly named, and there’s most definitely a method to what might seem, at first, like madness. Trust me, it’s worth the little bit of extra trouble to get just the right look…that isn’t exactly the same as every other guy who bought the same suit.

As with most suits, the essential components are basic and familiar: jacket, vest, shirt and pants. As with absolutely every suit, it’s what the designer does with the details that makes all the difference. Here, the jacket’s trim collar is upraised (think Paul Reiser and the other Company men in “Aliens”), and the cuffs can be worn with or without properly shot shirt cuffs. Both cuffs and collar are trimmed with decorative embroidery, a touch that doesn’t call attention to itself but simply rewards closer inspection. A flexi lower section gives the suit strong lines, and squared-off shoulder pads subtly (or boldly, depending on how you fit them) enhance the overall profile.

The aforementioned Dandiya vest is textured in a bright design characteristic of India’s desert regions, where clothing is often decorated with “intense sun-burnt colors with strong linear patterns.” Formal and crisply white, the dress shirt is something of a wonder with its delicate pleats, sculpted wing collar, knotted ascot and cufflinks with enameled inlay that matches the vest’s fabric. Sculpted cuffs for the pants are included but optional, so you can leave these off if you prefer the cleaner lines of the garment-layer pants alone. The ensemble also includes the simple but handsome Emilio shoes that coordinate well with the suit. In keeping with swaffette’s emphasis on flexibility of wear, all clothing items are included on multiple garment layers for your convenience. L$600 each in Earth, Spring, Ice and Fire (worn here).

The Siddharts Tuxedo appears to be a structural evolution of swaffette’s slightly earlier Anniversary Tuxedo, shown here in beautifully understated Sage. The Anniversary Tuxedo is similar in appointments to the Siddharts Tuxedo, with jacket, vest, shirt, tie, pants and coordinating shoes. The only exceptions are certain variations or enhancement pieces—for example, this suit includes jacket cuffs without but not with integrated shirt cuffs. L$600 each in Purple, Rose, Ice Blue, Burnt Umber, Copper, Berry and Sage.

All at SF Design (Penryn 69, 64, 36).