Well-Groomed Featherweights for Spring

playboy's apparel editor

We don't know how boxing champ Sandy Saddler will do if he decides to move up into the lightweight division this summer, but we can forecast how several other notable featherweights are shaping up.

In men's suits, for instance, the current vogue enjoyed by the darker colors shows no signs of abating with warmer weather. Handsomely indispensable all winter long, your black, charcoal grey and dark brown flannels are going to be repeated--in lightweight, wrinkle-shedding fabrics that tip the scales at 9 to 14 ounces. Any man who works in a midtown steam cabinet and battles his way to and from his office should certainly appreciate this happy trend toward sensible, feather-light fabrics that retain their good looks in any kind of weather. But it hasn't been easy.

Clothing manufacturers and their publicists have been fighting what has come to be known as the War of the Fibers--rivaling in sheer ferocity anything that took place around the Hurtgen Forest in 1944. In the current Gargantuan struggle the "naturals" (wool, cotton, linen and silk) are pitted against their deadly enemies the "miracles" or "synthetics" (orlon, dacron, nylon, ad nauseam) and both are shouting whoops of victory that would rattle even such astute analysts as the Alsops or Walter Lippmann.

Our interest in the bloody mess is limited to practical considerations. Being realists, we want to know several important things about any fabric being foisted on us. Will it hold up in a sudden Spring thundershower, or dissolve like Alec Guinness' brainchild in "The Man in the White Suit"? Will it take a spilled martini with good grace? Is it crisp and resilient enough to shed most of its wrinkles overnight? Is it both attractive and comfortable?

Really spectacular progress has been made in answering these questions affirmatively through the successful, if hesitant, marriage of the "natural" with the "synthetic," each for its own good features. The offspring augur well toward supplying fabrics that are cool, good-looking solutions to your business and casual needs.

Tropical worsted blends of wool and dacron, or wool and orlon, in all sorts of ratios, produce a suiting which has claimed many staunch adherents. The coupling of mohair to silk creates a fabric that adds luxury to warm-weather living--if your wallet can stand the pain. Indeed, cross-pollination has now extended into practically every species of fiber, whether it be a product of nature or conceived by man in his laboratories, and we're exhausted just thinking about it.

Whichever one you choose, be sure that it's a dark, solid color, a quiet check or a glen plaid, the jacket cut in the three-button natural shoulder model, with welt seams, flap pockets, straight-hanging natural sides and deep center vent; the trousers should have a plain front and a slender line.

If you happen to be the kind of a fellow who's searching for interesting, lightweight clothes at reasonable cost, there is a classic warm-weather suit that sets you back only $26.50, including jacket and trousers, barely the price of four good bottles of Cognac. The guy paying off the cab is wearing one, so you can see for yourself. We think it's an outstanding example of good taste and low price.

It's a washable cotton cord suit that stands up well under the martini test, and certainly should be the basic item in your warm-weather wardrobe. Equally effective for business, casual or after-six wear, the suit is an outgrowth of the traditional "seersucker," that baggy, wrinkled, slightly puckered reprobate that was for many years the constant favorite of Ivy League undergraduates as well as Madison Avenue advertising executives. Now you can buy it in frosty cotton--given greater wrinkle-recovery through chemical finishes--in narrow stripings of blue, tan, or grey against a white background. We know of nothing, at any price, that's better looking.

The jacket alone serves perfectly as the companion to a pair of 9 ounce tropical slacks--in black--straight cut with back buckle strap, without pleats. Or for relaxation try the jacket with a pair of natural (light tan) cotton poplin slacks--called "Khakis" by your supply sergeant--but this time make sure they have cuffs on the bottom. Other tested favorites, though not so anti-wrinkle, are the Irish linen or denim jacket--loaded with rugged character and good taste.

Whichever combination appeals to you, wear it with a pair of scuffed white buckskins for summer gin-and-tonic drinking, or cordovan bluchers for more formal wear. We can't see those two-toned absurdities of leather and mesh, in contrasting colors, that are currently passing for hot-weather shoes. If your feet get that warm in summer why not bare your toes like Huckleberry Finn?

Not much sense in wearing a hat if the day is really hot, but if business commitments force you to, or the sun makes you groggy, try a lightweight felt with contrasting band, narrow brim and tapered crown. We have mixed feelings about straws--even the ones with such exotic names as Indio Panquin, Balibuntal and Baku--but if you like them, be sure to get a mesh that's both porous and light; then wrap it up with a colorful puggree band.