Textured Menswear in Retro Fashion: Knits, Weaves and Finishing Touches

Two men can wear the same outfit, and one of them looks twice as expensive. The difference is what the cloth's doing when you get closer to it, and it's the thing most people never think about when they're buying.

Why Texture Does More Than Colour Ever Will

Texture's what stops a wardrobe from looking like a uniform, and it works even when you've kept everything to two or three shades. A flecked jumper over a plain shirt feels richer than a bright jumper over the same shirt, and it'll go with far more of what you already own.

There's a practical bit too. Textured cloth hides creases, and smooth cotton shows every fold from the train seat, whereas a weave with any depth to it forgives you completely.

What Is Tonic Fabric, and Why Does It Change Colour?

This is the one everyone asks about.

Tonic is a two-tone cloth, usually a wool-and-mohair blend, woven with one colour running one way and a second colour running the other way. Look at it straight on, and you get one shade. Move, or let the light hit it from the side, and you get the other. Blue turns green. Burgundy turns gold.

Mods went mad for it in the mid-60s for exactly that reason. A tonic suit under the lights in a club looked like nothing else in the room. It's still the most dapper thing you can put on, and it needs no pattern at all to do it.

Worth knowing: tonic doesn't like heat. Keep the iron low and use a cloth between.

Houndstooth vs Dogtooth: What's the Difference?

Honestly? Not much, and half the trade uses them interchangeably.

Both describe the same broken check, that jagged four-pointed shape that looks a bit like a tooth. The difference is scale. 

Dogtooth is the smaller version you'd wear as a shirt or a slim pair of trousers. Houndstooth is the larger, bolder version that works better on a jacket. There's a third size called puppytooth, which is smaller again and reads almost as a solid from across a room.

Dogtooth is the British term. Houndstooth's the American one. Which is why you'll see the same jacket listed two different ways depending on who's selling it.

Related and worth a look while you're there is the Prince of Wales check, which layers a fine check over a larger one.

Types of Tweed Worth Knowing

Tweed is often treated as a single fabric when it's a whole category, and knowing the difference helps you avoid buying the wrong weight.

• Herringbone is the broken zigzag, the most recognisable of the lot. It's the safest tweed to start with because the pattern's small enough to behave like a plain colour at any distance.

• Barleycorn has a tiny speckled kernel effect. Warmer-looking than herringbone, and better in browns and rusts than in greys.

• Flecked tweed carries little dots of contrasting colour spun through the yarn. That's where tweed gets its reputation for looking alive rather than flat.

• Estate check and overcheck put a bold windowpane over a base weave. Loud and brilliant on a jacket.

Anything above 14oz is a winter fabric, and you'll cook in it indoors. Lighter tweeds work year-round in this country, which is most of the year, given how the weather behaves.

Knits Are Texture You Can Feel

Weave is a texture you look at. Knitwear is a texture you notice with your hands, and it does more for an outfit than its woven equivalent. Cable knits the obvious one: all rope and depth. Waffle knit gives you a grid that catches shadows. Ribbed knitting reads almost like vertical stripes and has the useful side effect of making you look taller.

Then there's pique, which is what a proper knitted polo is made from. That fine waffle texture is why a pique polo looks smart and a plain jersey one looks like a T-shirt with a collar.

A textured-knit tank top over a plain shirt is the cheapest way to add flair to an outfit you already own. Cardigans do the same job with more coverage.

Getting Two Textures in One Outfit

The rule's simpler than people make it out to be. Vary the scale.

A big weave wants a small one next to it. Estate check tweed over a fine gauge knit works. Estate check tweed over cable knit is two loud things arguing, and neither wins.

The same goes for the pattern. Dogtooth trousers with a textured but plain-coloured shirt is right. Dogtooth trousers with a paisley shirt is a lot, and you'd need to be very confident to pull it off.