What is the spring/fall outerwear equivalent of Oxford/chinos/loafers?

[wafflingwaffles]

What do you guys wear when you need to wear a piece of outerwear over your Oxford/chinos/loafers outfit but you want to keep the overall vibe of that outfit?

Most sport coats feel too dressy (except for maybe a completely unstructured cotton jacket)

Knits are too “soft” and don’t feel as rugged

safari jackets are too #menswear

really the only jacket I can think of that fits the relaxed vibes of Oxford/chinos/loafers is a Harrington and a field jacket. Maybe a gray crew neck cotton sweat shirt.

What do you guys wear?

 

[Ich_Dien]

If you want something "rugged" then outdoors wear is generally a good option. Personally I wear the following with casual outfits like you mentioned, depending on the occasion:

Tweed / Barbour jacket / Belstaff trail master / Italian military surplus jacket / Shooting jacket (brushed cotton Maremmana) / Cord sport coat / Shetland jumpers / Fair isle / Knitted cardigans / Cricket jumper / Patagonia Retro-X / Suede gilet or waist coat etc.

They're all informal but offer good protection against the elements to various degrees without being too dressy. It's often the little details which differentiate the line between formal and casual, such as fabric, elbow patches on jumpers or jackets, bellows pockets on sport coats, leather buttons etc etc.

 

[jaywhyy]

As for knits, a Shetland fisherman or cabled cardigan wouldn’t feel as soft. Although a simple merino/cashmere sweater/cardigan IMO is fine and become my workhorse wear with an OCBD/pennies, outside of sportswear.

 

[Waldo Jeffers]

Good topic— I’ve been thinking about this lately myself

the great thing about this uniform is you have a wide range you can work with on outerwear

Here are some examples of things I think could work

down vest (example from the North Face)

Trench coat/Mac variations (example from American Trench)

field coat (example LLBean)

Harrington (example Orvis)

Anorak (example Battenwear)

 

[mak1277]

First thing that came to mind was a Barbour

Next thought was - why not a tweed sportcoat, if you're just wearing it as outerwear?

Lastly, what about a varsity/letterman type jacket?

 

[Waldo Jeffers]

I find spring to be especially difficult in this area

where I live spring can often be very cold especially in the morning up until June

so for me it’s key to have a jacket I can layer under

 

[anonymouz]

I go with chore jackets and overshirts in the Spring. Mac type jacket is good too. Also non denim type 3 jackets (corduroy, canvas, etc).