Stone Summer Suit - A Lightweight Wedding Classic
Bespoke Stone Summer Suit
How to make stone suits work
Oh, I love the feeling of impending summer. When the last days of spring start giving way to more consistent sunlight and the days feel never ending.
As I write this the mercury is expected to hit 24deg today and sun is beaming through the windows. No wonder I feel in such a good mood.
Feelings like this make it no surprise that people get married more in the summer and often decide to do so abroad with its more reliable sunshine.
It’s no surprise then that one of our more consistent requests is for a lightweight stone summer wedding suit. Stone colours remind me of beaches and summer sun and if paired with blue have the perfect colour ways to remind me of waves breaking on the shore.
Making a suit in a lightweight material has its challenges. Lighter fibres tend (not always) to crease more, and lighter colours tend to be more opaque. So, a light suit in a light colour is a precarious proposition.
However we are Colmore Tailors, and we are different. I’ve built this passionate company upon testing and living in different cloth, so I have first-hand experience of everything that goes through these doors. And now I have Ruben on the team it’s an approach he is starting to experience.
It’s often meant that the clothes I wear and not always what I want, I’m not wearing them for me. I’m wearing them to get the information of how they wear, how they drape and what they feel like, so when I’m advising someone, I know exactly how each fabric responds.
If I sample something and I feel it doesn’t work, or it needs a different use or application then you wouldn’t see it in the suite. We focus on making great garments (you can view our past commissions here) and we will show you what works, not what doesn’t.
So, believe me when I say I’ve sampled a LOT of lightweight cream summer suits. In truth most of them worked for differing reason, but also a most of them fell down for weddings on 2 fronts.
Cream linen wedding suits are wonderful, but they crease…..and often people don’t want that look on the photos.
And lightweight cream wedding suits more often than not become slightly opaque, and people don’t want their underwear on display on the biggest day of their life. Funny that.
So, I am beyond excited that we have found the perfect riposte to cream wedding suits in Drago’s Bluefeel2 cloth. And we have found the underlying drivers to the reason why the cloth works and how to apply it to other fabrics.
The cloth we sampled was BWF514 001/01, a 240gram super 130’s cloth. A light stone crease and water-resistant fabric, with a subtle herringbone and a touch of natural stretch.
Firstly, you want the cloth to have a touch of texture. It’s this texture that’s going to give the cloth its depth and stop it being see-through. Now it doesn’t have to be anything too much. As little as a tough of salt ‘n’ pepper finish is normally enough.
And secondly a little bit of colour in the stone will re-enforce the above points and differentiate it from the shirt (normally white) sufficiently. Again, its not much. In fact, a lot of clients have often taken the cloth too close to white and it doesn’t give enough shade variation for the shirt. In short, you look like a block.
And the predominant reason we looked at this fabric was its lightness and its crease resistance. They are both wonderful characteristics when for weddings. Especially overseas weddings when you have to travel with the suit and pack it in a case.
If I was looking at alternative cloth choices, I would therefore stick to the same characteristics and cloth requirements. A touch of colour, a little texture, good crease resistance and, if possible, a touch of stretch. Huddersfield Fine Worsted’s Fresco and Drapers Ascot are both good choices.
These photos were taken on a sunny day in January 2025, and it was absolutely freezing. At one point my teeth were chattering and my cheeks were red.
Now that’s commitment to the cause.
Massive thanks to Ben for the photos and for braving the Baltic weather too.
Feel free to ask any questions in the comments
Scott
GARMENTS PICTURED
Suit - Drago Bluefeel2 BWF514 001/01
Shirt – Getzner White Linen and Cotton
Shoes – Carmina (Scott’s own)
Tie – Ralp Lauren (Scott’s own)
Our price list can be found here
Colmore Tailors
Birmingham’s Best Bespoke Tailors
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Colmore Tailors are specialists in soft tailoring and men’s bespoke suits and shirts.
