So you lost the trousers of your suit, and now you’re wondering what to do with the jacket.
According to most online style gurus, a suit jacket without its trousers is essentially useless and might as well be thrown away.
It has become a point of repetition that you cannot use such a jacket with any other trousers without looking ridiculous.
The truth is that it depends: Mostly on fabric texture but most suit jackets can definitely be used separately if the trousers are somehow lost or worn down. Here’s how.
Why put your “orphaned” suit jacket to use
It’s obviously a step down in formality when you use your suit jacket separately from the suit.
It probably won’t work in office environments with specific dress codes, nor at formal events, but it can be used for smart casual private purposes, when you go out to eat, drink coffee, visit friends, etc.
It’s a way of having fun with your clothes. A way to be a little creative and not always sticking to the ‘rules’.
In today’s age where sustainability is highly valued, and where many are aiming for ‘capsule wardrobes’, it’s great that clothes can be used as much as possible and in different ways. That should apply for every garment, also the suit jacket!
The concept of spezzato
Rules are meant to be broken. It’s good to know the rules, but even better to break them when possible.
In the anglosphere countries, particularly the US and the UK, people seem to be quite strict about the rules – and they don’t like to break up suits. Third world countries tend to copy those established rules without raising any questions.
Continental Europeans are bit more relaxed about it, especially the Italians and Spaniards who frequently mix-and-match jackets and trousers from different suits and looking extremely elegant in the process. The Italians call it ‘spezzato’ which means broken. You break up a suit by using the jackets or trousers separately. The goal is to create a new style that is fun and innovative.
Spezzato can be a permanent philosophy to make your style more colourful. It can also be an occasional experience just to try something new once in a while. For example, you might wear a full suit four days in a row, and on the fifth day, a casual Friday, you want to try something different, and you decide to break up the suit by using the jacket as a separate piece with some other trousers. It’s totally fine to do this, as long as the jacket-trouser combination makes sense visually.
Texture matters most
If the suit jacket has any kind of unique texture or weave, it is much easier to use it as a separate jacket.
Sports jackets tend to have a rough texture and that’s why they easily work with different trousers. With textured sports jackets, you can clearly see that there is a contrast between the jacket and trousers, and therefore it is intended by the wearer. A sports jacket will also have some casual details to make sure it doesn’t stand out as being too formal (although that doesn’t say much in today’s era where almost any tailored jacket is considered formal).
Very smooth worsted suit jackets are the most difficult to match with other trousers. If a jacket has a very clean and formal look, it will generally not look good with casual trousers. You would have to match a formal jacket with equally formal trousers, which naturally becomes difficult when it’s no longer a suit. But it is possible (in some cases).
Turning a suit jacket into an odd jacket
In some cases, when the trousers are lost, you can send your suit jacket to the tailor for some minor alterations that make it seem more like an individual jacket (also known as an odd jacket).
If the jacket already has a non-smooth texture, it will be fairly simple. Often you can use it immediately without any changes.
Perhaps the fabric is a hopsack or serge weave, in which case it can easily be considered a blazer from the get-go. If the jacket is navy blue, then go to the local tailor and ask them to put golden or silver coloured buttons on it.
Golden or silver coloured buttons won’t work for a very smooth worsted fabric, however – in that case you have to be more creative.
An idea here is to add a different button colour to it. For example, you could put off-white or light brown buttons on a navy suit jacket, allowing it to be casualised and easily used with off-white or light brown wool trousers: It would look intentional enough for people to consider it a sports jacket.
Suit jackets tend to be slightly longer than sports jackets. If a suit jacket seems slightly too long when paired with other trousers, you could have a tailor shorten it by a tiny amount (1-2 cm, half an inch).
Using fabric from the trousers to change the jacket
Perhaps the trousers of the suit are very worn, but with some parts of the cloth still intact.
In that case, a talented tailor could use that extra fabric to add patched pockets to the jacket, giving it a more casual look and making it more suitable as an odd jacket.
More creativity is also possible. Using the inlay, if there is any, to let the jacket out – giving it a more casual fit.
Or perhaps do something special like adding cuffs to the sleeves, although that is more difficult.
A formal worsted suit jacket could be transformed in small ways and turn out as a more-than-decent odd jacket for smart casual use.
Examples of how to use a suit jacket separately
Navy blue worsted jacket: Use with mid-to-dark grey, burgundy, brown or cream wool trousers
(Fairly easy)
Charcoal worsted jacket: Use with light grey wool trousers
(One easy combination – anything else would be difficult)
Mid or light grey worsted jacket: Use with white, cream or light brown trousers
(This might be the most difficult one)
Beige linen jacket: Use with brown linen trousers, mid-blue jeans, white denim
(Super easy to use as a sports jacket)
Those are just some examples, related to the most typical suit jacket colours.
Additionally, these are some easily used suit jackets as separates:
- Any jacket in a hopsack weave
- Most jackets in a serge weave
- Any in linen fabric
- Most in mohair fabric
- Most plain-weave jackets
- Most checkered jackets, unless the texture is very smooth
- Most alternate coloured jackets (green, pink, cream) can often be used as odd jackets with contrasted trousers, as they are already less formal
- Lightweight spring/summer jackets that already have interesting details, e.g. patched pockets (but these are probably already sports jackets and not suits)
Jackets that can’t be used separately
A black worsted jacket is very difficult to use individually. But then you could also argue that a black suit is difficult in itself, even with the trousers. The best way to use a black jacket would be as a modernised version of the black lounge suit, combined with either striped mid-grey trousers or simply plain light grey trousers. This combination is also possible with a dark charcoal worsted jacket, and it actually looks really good.
A jacket with stripes is almost impossible to pull off on its own, as the stripes signal formality and is rarely seen in individual jackets. So it almost always looks kinda off. This is probably the only type of suit jacket that we would never recommend you to use as a separate.
Then there can be individual cases where, for whatever reason, the jacket is designed in such a way that it just doesn’t make sense. The eye-test never lies; if a jacket looks good on its own, use it! But if it seems impossible to pair with anything, just let it go.
Sometimes you may come to the conclusion that a certain jacket is just too difficult to pair with anything else.
What can you do in that case? A good idea would be to donate it. Maybe someone out there has different priorities than following ‘the rules of style’ and they could simply use a warm jacket. Or you could donate it to a recycling company that can re-process the fibers of the cloth so that it can be used again by somebody else.
Tips when buying future suits
If you’re buying a smoothly textured, formal worsted suit in the future, it can be a great idea to add an extra pair of trousers. That way, the entire suit may get a longer lifespan, as jackets obviously tend to last longer than the trousers.
When planning ahead for versatility and ‘spezzato style’, and you want to buy a suit where the jacket can easily be used separately, try to buy suits where the jacket is already versatile and has some unique details to it. Especially in terms of texture, but also in other ways, like pocket style, lapels, etc.
If you are buying your first ever suit, then go for a navy hopsack suit! It looks good as a formal suit and with that weave, you can easily use it as a separate piece, and once the trousers wear out, you simply put gold buttons on it and it will have a brand new life.