Black Lapel Review: The Fresco Edition

For years I have begged and pleaded with many, if not all of the custom suit brands you have read about here on The Fine Young Gentleman, to offer their suits in a fresco fabric.  In the past I have waxed poetic on the virtues of fresco so I won’t bore you with that again.  As that is not the most important matter at hand.  What is important is that my calls have been heeded.  And Black Lapel has answered with action.  I am not saying they are offering fresco solely because of me, just that there’s a substantial chance my persistent requests had something to do with it.  Let’s get into it a little more on this combination look guide and review for Black Lapel’s light blue fine line fresco suit ($549).

As I discussed in last year’s review, Black Lapel has been consistently good with their fit, construction and customer service (probably on average the best).  The latter judged mostly on what I hear back from readers and friends.

To my knowledge there have not been a lot of changes made to Black Lapel’s production and construction methods over the past year, which is fine because they make a very solid suit for the price they charge.  However, what they have done is add a few things to the line; including the aforementioned fresco.  They have also added a Savoy line which is now their highest level of offering.  Of particular interest to me is the unlined and unstructured navy hopsack blazer.  But for the purposes of this post, we will stick to the fresco.

The details of the suit are as follows; for the jacket: wide peak lapels, 1 button, unlined, slanted flapped pocket, 2 vents, functional sleeve buttons, functional boutonniere, light blue lining.  And for the pants: no cuffs, no belt loops, suspender buttons, 2 rear pockets, side tabs.

In short, the quality of the make of the suit is solid.  As has been in the past.  The fit is also quite good, as you can likely tell from the photos.  You may notice that this suit is a little more form fitting than many other suits I’ve reviewed or been photographed in.  For this suit we went with Black Lapel’s slimmest fit, the slim fit, as opposed to the tailored fit as in past reviews.  The fit is tighter than I am used to, at first it felt a little weird, but I’ve since gotten used to it and it also looks quite nice.

Fresco is a great fabric, no way around that.  It has all the breathable qualities of linen but without the wrinkles and with a more formal appearance.  The light blue that Black Lapel has on offer is a moderately conservative color, although obviously not as formal as a dark grey or navy blue.  It can switch between work and play when it needs to.  The three looks featured in this post are more on the ‘play’ side of things, however, I could easily add a solid navy tie and socks to the white shirt look (above) to dress the suit up.

For a tied look I kept things on the more casual side, with a pink gingham shirt and light blue knit tie.  Accompanied by my beloved Lilly Pulitzer suspenders.  This look would be great for a summer wedding or for a day when you don’t want to take wearing a suit too seriously.

In the third and final look is the most casual.  I ditched the jacket and went with a heavy chunky linen button down.  The wheat color of the shirt plays off of the caramel of the bit loafers and the blondness of the hair well.

–JLJ

Photography by Gina Palermo Photography.  Many thanks Gina!

Note:  FYGblog received compensation in the form of clothes or other material instrument for the production of this post.  As always, the utmost effort was taken to maintain an unbiased stance on the items at hand.  Additionally, affiliate links are included in this post.  Please help support the production by clicking on said links if interested in purchasing a suit from Black Lapel, it will not cost you anything extra.

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