Tweed Plus Fours

Northhampton Ad from Spoke Sniffer

Here is the story on how I became the proud owner for Harris Tweed Breeks. What do breeks have to do with plus fours, well...

If anyone has been looking at my Pintrest boards lately, they will be aware that I have been a wee obsessed with Plus Fours. First, lets talk about what the heck Plus Fours are:

First introduced during the 1920s, plus fours were a variation on the traditional knee pants called knickers, which had been worn by men, boys, and, occasionally, women, since the late 1800s. Plus fours received their name because they were made four inches longer than ordinary knickers.
 - Fashion Encyclopedia

So, after collecting a mass of plus fours images, I decided to start shopping for a pair. To my utter sadness, they do not make plus fours for ladies. OK, I thought, I'll just get a man size. Well, every place I saw started their sizing at a 32 waist, which would not fit me. So I researched and found that breeches and breeks are a similar cut to plus twos (similar to plus fours and plus eights, just with less fabric bagging at the knee).

I went on a search for those and found that they indeed made ladies sizes in breeks. Problem was: the price. Holy crap are breeks expensive! They are considered "country wear," which I suppose means you have enough money to own a country home and therefore are willing to spend $200 on a pair of half pants. I was determined to find a pair on sale.

Left:My Harris Tweed breeks | Right: Section from a mail order catalog circa 1920 for ladies' plus fours.

After some more searching I found the Harris Tweed Shop. Lo and behold they have Breeks on sale. Now, the site looks a bit low tech, so I did some research to check their validity and found that a few of the men on The Fedora Lounge have ordered custom suits from the shop and were really please with the product. So, I bit the bullet and bought the sale tweed breeches as a Xmas present to myself.

I'm really glad I took this chance. The craftsmanship of this pants is outstanding. Each seam is encased in cotton so the seams don't itch you. There is also an all-over lining that further stops the itchies and keeps me warm in this awful Chicago winter. The fit is great and I may just have to save up my pennies to buy another pair in a different tweed sometime next year. Or perhaps a matching vest? Oh dear, I think I'm addicted to Harris Tweed.

 

Comments

[ana]

Oh, those are fantastic! I am having serious breeks envy.

[Elide]

Splendid!

[Elizabeth]

Wow, these are great!