The Boglioli and Caruso jackets at Trunk are my favourite range of casual alternatives to tailoring in London. There are several reasons why you might want a casual RTW jacket, including styling, cost and finishing. For me the biggest one is the whole-garment washes that cannot be replicated with bespoke, and which are the most attractive feature of a casual cotton jacket.
Even within Trunk’s small range, however, it’s not obvious what the different models are and what they mean in terms of style and price. Plus I always find it’s nice to know that kind of information before going into a store. So here’s my guide.
Boglioli
Coat
Starting price: £455
Fit: The loosest and longest of the Boglioli (though none of them are long)
Style: Tends to be in more casual fabrics, such as washed cottons, to reflect the relaxed fit. Like all the Boglioli, it is unlined, with no canvas in the chest or padding in shoulder, and a ‘shirt sleeve’ where the sleeve runs underneath the shoulder
Dover
Starting price: £525
Fit: Shortest of the three models, but in the middle for slimness
Style: The best-selling of the three, it is usually in wools and cottons.
K jacket
Starting price: £815
Fit: The slimmest of the three and in the middle for length
Style: The most luxurious fabrics, such as cashmere. This is the only real reason for the higher price – the construction on all three models is the same
Suits
The Boglioli suits are modelled off the Dover, just with matching trousers. There is also a new line called Eton that tries to be a little more English, using chalk-stripe flannel for instance. It still has no padding in the shoulder, a shirt sleeve and no lining, however.
Caruso
Starting price: £800
Fit: Slightly roomier than the Boglioli, and slightly longer, though still shorter than any tailored jacket
Style: Made with shoulder padding and chest canvas, so more like a recognisable English jacket, though largely with a shirt sleeve. Comes in two levels of finish: Golden and Parma. The former has the Milanese buttonhole in the lapel, pick stitching and some more handwork on the lining. (Drake’s jackets are Golden finish.)
Trunk
Starting price: £755
Fit: Made by Caruso but in a slightly softer cut than the jackets above (the Shelby), and slimmer and shorter
Style: Differentiated from normal Caruso by its roped shoulder, half lining and flapped rather than patch pockets. All more English touches, which is reflected in the materials: all relatively heavy Fox Flannel and Breanish Tweed.
These jackets are the direction Trunk wants to take its branded tailoring in the future, hopefully creating a line in great materials with a mix of the English and Italian styling.
Trunk is also offering Permanent Style readers free shipping this week. Enjoy free worldwide shipping on all orders over £50 at Trunk Clothiers until Sunday November 17th. Add items to the shopping bag, click ‘View full bag’ and enter the code PERMANENTSTYLE before checking out.
Simon, This isn’t strictly relevant to your article, but have you seen this excellent product? It’s a “pockerchief”, a pre-constructed pocket handkerchief … and it can be custom-made to your own order: http://www.pockerchief.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=DRTED&Category_Code=P. I fancy that once you see these, you will be chucking out all your messy old pocket squares and stocking up! Best wishes, Matthew
I’m sorry Matthew, but those look pretty horrific. Cheap and unnatural
How rude!
Matthew
Totally agree with you, Simon. They are some of the most awful things I have ever seen.
I do hope this was an attempt at advertising. A more misguided one I don’t think I have ever seen. Everything about that website is the antithesis of Simon and his excellent blog. I cant think of a pocket square I dislike enough to have it butchered by the handkerchief ‘surgeons’ on that site.
Actually, an attempt at humour. Clearly equally misguided.
Given that the jackets are unstructured with no canvas construction, chest or shoulder pad, what is it that warrants the ‘premium price’? Is it the cut ? The cloth? Or, the branding ?
Cut, cloth and construction. Just because there’s no structure doesn’t mean the making doesn’t need very close attention and skill to make. I find the question of branding a strange one, yet everyone asks it. Boglioli isn’t spending money on advertising in every fashion magazine, on catwalks or on a big marketing department. Margins really don’t vary that much between companies; but their costs do.
Really usefull article for those who buy online, thank you Simon.
I like the idea of casual unstructured jackets, but upon trying all of the above mentioned brands found them too tight and even more problematically too short. this fashion of making a jacket which is the length of a blouson just doesn’t look right to my eye, it is of course very much the current zeitgeist which means you cant avoid it easily at all. therefore im stuck buying bespoke jackets for £2.5k a pop. ouch.
Some of them can be a little short, I agree Andy. I wear them very differently – with jeans etc – which I suppose puts them in a different category for me. Nothing aside from the softest of Neapolitan tailoring looks right with jeans for me. Presumably if you just want longer jackets you can find good RTW for a lot less than 2.5k though? You can even have them altered easily, which isn’t the case with garment-dyed things (makes the seams look weird where they have faded)
Hi Simon,
Great article!
Which one do you think is better construction wise boglioli or Caruso (full canvas) if money is not a concern? I want to pair it with jeans for casual look.
Cheers Jordi. They are very different, but neither necessarily ‘better’. Boglioli basically has no structure, where Caruso definitely does. Both could work well with jeans, but Boglioli is definitely the most casual
Simon
Hi Simon. Is it still possible to have alterations done on something like the Boglioli without it visible? Or are they meant to be just ‘ready to wear’?
It depends on how the garment has been washed – some have effects at the seams, particularly the more casual cottons, which mean the seam will look a little odd when altered – others do not, and so can be altered easily