Here we go again!

Episode 2 of the Thomas Mason x JKF Man series finds our titular hero in need of a dress shirt for a swanky soirée.

Jamie once again turns to the aid of shirtmaker Jakes Ldn, who whips up a western inspired number in a beautiful Thomas Mason Marcella cloth and sends him off on a mysterious hunt for the reclusive importer of formalwear, Mickael Korausch, aka La Bowtique.

Will Jamie end up being the belle of the ball? Or a squishy pumpkin?

Tune in and find out!

The ‘rules’ thrown up when dressing for a formal occasion can be a bit of a minefield at first glance but the more black tie events I’ve attended the more I’ve learned to throw caution to the wind. 

Like any form of dressing, it should be fun or at least that’s how I try to approach it. 

Thus for the second instalment of these videos, as we already knew we wanted to cover evening wear, I approached Jake with the idea of doing something a bit different. 

The jumping off point was the Marcella cloth from the Thomas Mason Bespoke range. This is a wonderfully stiff cloth with the customary piqué texture which I thought would add some lovely visual interest to the finished article. 

Traditionally, this cloth is only used for the front and cuffs of an evening shirt. I asked Jake if we could use the cloth for its entirety and he suggested we make up one of his western models, keeping the front yoke design but removing the chest pockets, and that the pearl snap buttons would act in place of dress studs. I was immediately sold.

We’ve anchored the fits around the shirt from Jakes, accessories from La Bowtique, a pair of tuxedo trousers from Officine General and black velvet slippers from Stubbs and Wootton. 

I wanted to show several variations to give people a bit of an idea of the creativity available to them, while keeping in mind some of the sartorial strictures.

For the first look we’ve gone full tartan with a robe jacket from J. Mueser and trousers from Campbell’s of Beauly.

The second look is more casual with a New and Lingwood robe thrown over the top.

Third up we have a cream shawl collar jacket from Caruso and a beret from AWMS.

Finally, we settle on a velvet, double breasted smoking jacket also from New and Lingwood and the cherry on top being the Kirk Originals x FE Castleberry sunglasses.

Until next time.

Jamie