Casual British Elegance with Chester Barrie & The Rake

Introducing a limited edition travel blazer by Chester Barrie for The Rake

One of the perks of contributing to The Rake is that we’re able to get our hands on some pretty amazing stuff. (By the way, have you seen our latest piece? Waxing poetic on Old Hollywood style and glamor, or glamour, as my editor would say.) Case in point: this fantastic Chester Barrie travel blazer made exclusively for The Rake.

Let’s talk details first. The jacket is a wool, silk and linen blend – that’s a 70-20-10 split, if you’re keeping score – is half-lined and comes in the lightweight Chester Barrie structured house cut.

What all of that means is that you’re getting a classic British silhouette with a clean roped shoulder and hourglass shape, without heavier weight and structured formality more typical of traditional Savile Row tailoring. And you have the incredible fabric to thank for that.

| WEARING | Chester Barrie blazer, Neiman Marcus shirt, Yves Saint Laurent pants, Drake’s pocket square, IWC watch, Oliver Peoples sunglasses, Tateossian and Cantini MC Firenze bracelets, To Boot New York shoes | PHOTOGRAPHY | by Rob McIver Photo

Speaking of the fabric, you’ll notice that this jacket is called a “travel blazer”, a style that we’ve been seeing more and more of these days. What does it mean? Well, a travel blazer is meant for travel.

In other words, resistant to the creasing and wrinkling you’ll often incur as a result of sitting on planes and trains, folding or rolling your jacket up to store in overhead compartments, a duffle or suitcase.

I’ve had some experience with travel blazers in the past, but I have to tell you that this one is exceptional. I know this because when it arrived, it came in quite a small box and I thought that my steamer was going to have to use of all of its powers and all of its skills to de-wrinkle. Much to my surprise, one pass with the steam and the wrinkles just melted out. It was seriously like magic.

On the body, the jacket also feels amazing. I love wearing double-breasted blazers, but you generally know that you’re wearing a double-breasted jacket, if you know what I mean. This one, on the other hand, almost feels like you’re not wearing a jacket at all. It’s that nice.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that, as I mentioned up top, this is a limited edition piece and there were only 10 made. And according to the jacket’s shop page, there aren’t that many left.

Keep your fingers crossed that they’ve got your size, or if they don’t, write a note telling Chester Barrie and The Rake they need to do more collaborations like this one. We’ll all look better when we travel if they do!

Thanks for reading.

Stylishly Yours,

Brian Sacawa
He Spoke Style