Product Detail

I bought the ruff first. That is the honest order of events. It sat in a drawer for two months, because every jacket I owned had a collar, and a ruff over a collar looks like a costume. Then this denim jacket came into the shop, cut with no collar at all, and the ruff finally had somewhere to live.

The Denim Jacket

It is a light, almost powder-blue wash, cropped to the hip, with a round neckline and no collar. The front is double-breasted, with two rows of self-covered denim buttons, so there is no metal on the front at all. The shoulders are gathered into a small puff, which is the detail that turns it from a work jacket into something closer to a Chanel-style jacket cut in denim.

A few things that matter once it is on:

• The sleeve is set in with a gathered head, so it stands slightly off the shoulder. It is a jacket for standing up straight in.
• The cuffs are faced in a brown monogram cotton, and I wear them turned back once so a stripe of brown shows against the blue.
• The body is a mid-weight denim, softened, so it moves at the elbow from day one and does not need breaking in.
• Two side-seam pockets, no chest pockets, and nothing to break up the front.

The white ruff is a separate piece. It is a cartridge-pleated cotton organdie band with a hook and eye at the back, and it sits over a plain white mock-neck top. A customer told me it was very Tudor, and she was right. Starched linen ruffs were the everyday collar of the 1560s onwards, and the pleats were set with heated goffering irons, which is why the old portraits show them so stiff. Ours is a soft organdie and folds flat into a bag, which the originals never did.

The Jeans

The jeans are the piece that makes the whole outfit feel current rather than fancy dress. They are a very dark brown-black wash, high-waisted, with a wide barrel leg. The front has curved panel seams that run from the hip pocket down and around the thigh, which gives the leg a rounded shape at the knee. There is a lot of fabric here, and that is the point.

• Heavy rigid cotton, no stretch.
• The leg is long. On me, at 5’6″ in a low heel, the hem sits on the floor.
• Slash pockets at the front, patch pockets at the back, button fly.
• The wash is uneven on purpose, darker in the seams and lighter across the thigh.

The shoes are white pointed pumps with a low heel, and they are mine, not part of the set. So is the bag. With a leg this wide, the shoe has to be narrow and sharp, or the whole thing goes soft at the bottom. A round-toe flat would kill it. I made this argument at more length in Why Your Stilettos Hurt, and it holds here.

How I Wear It

• Jacket buttoned to the top with the ruff sitting just above the neckline, for photographs and for rooms where people are looking.
• Jacket open, ruff off, with the plain mock-neck top showing, for the rest of the day.
• Jeans with the waistband right at the natural waist. Worn lower, the panels sit wrong and the leg loses its shape.
• Hair up, always. A ruff with hair down is too much neck.

What’s In The Capsule

• Collarless denim jacket. Light wash, cropped, double-breasted, self-covered buttons, gathered puff shoulder, monogram-faced cuffs, mid-weight cotton denim
• Pleated ruff collar. Cotton organdie, cartridge pleated, hook and eye fastening, detachable
• White mock-neck top. Fitted, long sleeve, cotton and elastane jersey
• Panelled wide-leg jeans. High rise, barrel leg, curved front panel seams, button fly, rigid heavy cotton denim
• Imported

Care

• Jacket: cold wash, inside out, gentle cycle, and hang to dry. Do not tumble dry the jacket. The gathered shoulder shrinks unevenly in heat and the puff goes lopsided.
• Ruff: hand wash in cool water, press gently between two towels, and lay it flat with the pleats pushed back into place while it is still damp. It dries into whatever shape you leave it in.
• Mock-neck top: cold machine wash, dry flat.
• Jeans: wash as rarely as you can stand, cold, inside out, on their own. Line dry. A warm wash takes the depth out of the brown, and it does not come back.

Size & Fit

The jacket is cut close through the body and boxy through the shoulder. It is meant to sit at the hip with a small gap between the jacket and the top of the jeans. Take your normal size. If you have a wider back or want to layer a knit under it, go up one.

The ruff is one size and adjusts by about an inch at the hook.

The mock-neck top is fitted and true to size.

The jeans are the ones to measure for. They fit at the waist, and there is no stretch, so a snug reading on day one stays snug. The hip and thigh are cut very generously, so if your waist and hip fall into different sizes on the chart, buy for the waist. The leg length is cut long for a heel. If you are under 5’4″ or wear flats, plan on a hem, because a turn-up does not work on a barrel leg.

I am 5’6″ and wear a size S in the jacket and top, and a 26 in the jeans. On the S, the jacket body length is 20″ from the high shoulder point. On the 26, the jeans inseam is 32″ and the leg opening is 24″.

Shipping & Returns

Delivery estimates are for in-stock items only. Two Day and Next Day estimates are for orders placed by 10 AM EST.

Size Chart

Body measurements in inches.

How To Measure

• Bust. Around the fullest part of the chest, with the tape level under the arms.
• Waist. Around the narrowest part of the torso, usually just above the navel. These jeans sit right there, so measure where the waistband will actually land.
• Hip. Feet together, around the fullest part, roughly 8 inches below the waist.
• Inseam. From the crotch seam down the inside of the leg to the floor, in the shoes you plan to wear. There is no cuff on a barrel leg, so this number is the hem.
• Shoulder. Straight across the back, from seam to seam. Worth doing for the jacket, because a gathered sleeve head needs the seam to sit right on the bone.
• Neck. Around the base of the neck, where a collar would sit. The ruff fastens at 13 to 14 inches.

Rigid denim has no give. If a reading is between two sizes, take the larger one for the jeans and the smaller one for the jacket.

We offer easy online returns and exchanges within 30 days of the shipment date, excluding clearance items marked as Final Sale. Exchanges for like items (same style and colour in a different size) are free. For returns, a $6.95 return postage charge will be deducted from your refund.