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The Ultimate Guide To The Khaki Cotton Suit

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He Spoke Style

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Earlier this week — Monday to be exact — I had

Earlier this week — Monday to be exact — I had the honor of attending a one-of-a-kind candlelit dining experience hosted by @occasionscaterers at the incredible @georgepeabodylibrary. It was the perfect opportunity/excuse to break out our new Champange dinner jacket. Thinking this needs to be an every Monday night kind of thing...

Florals for the event were by @victoriaclausenflorals, cocktails by @cocktailcreations, music by @bialeksmusic, stationary by @socialonweekends, and lighting by @frostlightingdc.

A preview of coming attractions, featuring our nav

A preview of coming attractions, featuring our navy blue linen suit styled simply. In the meantime, you can shop the suit at the link in bio.

Today on the He Spoke Style website, we’re takin

Today on the He Spoke Style website, we’re taking a close look at the venerable (and sometimes controversial) khaki cotton suit, answering pretty much any question you could have about one. Like, where did khaki come from?

Well, like a lot of menswear, khaki’s origins are military in nature and based on practicality. To find it’s roots, we travel with the British Army to India during the mid-19th century. At the time, soldiers wore bright white uniforms, which they found not only uncomfortable in the quite hot Indian climate, but also easily noticeable, making them easy targets.

In order to solve for both of these problems, the soldiers began dyeing their uniforms with a heady mixture of tea, curry, and mud. The result was a dusty, earthy color that proved much better as camouflage in the Indian landscape. The new uniform color was dubbed “khaki,” which is a Persian word that means “dust” or “earth.”

The British Army officially adopted this new khaki uniform by the time of the Second Anglo-Afghan War in 1878 and the world took notice of the uniform’s practicality and effectiveness. By the early 20th century khaki became the standard color for military uniforms in a variety of Western countries and widely used by soldiers on all sides during World War II.

Following the end of World War II, as often happens, these uniforms — or at least versions of them — found their way into civilian attire. Since then, khaki has become an extremely popular color for a plethora of garments, from suits to sport coats to the iconic casual khaki cotton trousers.

Head to the link in bio for the full post (and feel free to leave any questions we left unanswered in the comments).

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