Beaubien

The Double-Breasted Blazer

The first cold Saturday in October, and Rosemont smells of leaves and coffee.

He walks up Rue Beaubien with the jacket buttoned, because this is the week the city decides it is autumn and gives you about ten days to enjoy it before it means something else. The maples along the street have gone the same colour as the cloth on his back — that deep rust that isn't quite red and isn't quite brown, the one that only exists for a fortnight a year and then only here.

The jacket was made for exactly this fortnight, and then for every other one. Double-breasted, but soft — no padding in the shoulder, no stiffness in the chest, so it moves like something knitted and sits like something tailored. The lapels are wide and peaked, the kind that used to mean formality and now just mean intent. The cloth is Australian Merino, brushed until it has the hand of a good blanket, matte and warm and forgiving of a long day.

The pockets are patches — sewn onto the outside, large enough for a paperback and a pair of gloves, and honest about being used. Four horn buttons. Nothing inside but the cloth itself and a line of burgundy at the neck that no one will see but him.

The queue outside the Cinéma Beaubien is already round the corner. He joins it, hands in the pockets, and does not check the time. Someone behind him is talking about the leaves. He agrees that they are the best they have been in years, which is what everyone says every year, and is always true.

Composition
Shell — 100% Australian Merino wool, brushed finish
Unlined, with burgundy facing at the back neck

Details
Double-breasted, four dark horn buttons
Wide peak lapels
Unstructured, unpadded shoulder, shaped waist
Chest welt pocket, two patch pockets
Four-button cuffs

Fit
Soft tailoring, true to size. Cut to be worn over a fine knit or turtleneck.

Care
Specialist dry clean only. Brush gently with a clothes brush to lift the nap. Hang on a shaped hanger.