Hurrah! Working again!
Naturally, my mind turns to what I can spend my (temporarily) new-found wealth on. One of the things I’ve been wanting get for some time is a good work suit.
I do have a suit, an Austin Reed lounge suit bought for a Cadets-related dining event several years ago. It’s for special occasions such as weddings, interviews, trips to Westminster, that sort of thing. But I don’t have a suit for work, it’s always been a charcoal grey jacket and a pair of black-ish trousers. That jacket’s so old it says “C&A” on the label. True.
The suit is very handy for those Westminster trips as Westminster trips require negotiating the security arch. And that means taking your belt off. That means when you get through the arch you’re trying to pick up your bag, jacket, laptop and/or tablet device and clear the area while holding your trousers up with your other hand – or relying on friction to keep things in place while you re-belt. Not fun. So trousers with adjusters instead of loops are a Godsend.
There’s also the undeniable and inescapable fact that I have something of a paunch. I can either hoik my trousers so high that the belt goes around my middle, making me look like Humpty Dumpty; or I can wrap it around my waist like it should be, and try to ignore the overhang (easy for me, harder for you). So trousers with adjusters instead of loops are a Godsend.
Guess what I can’t find in the shops?
Separates, mix & match or complete sets; none of the main department stores have them. I can’t go back to Austin Reed, they went broke years ago. And anyway, I want a couple of pairs of trousers, they’re always the weak point in any suit purchase. Austin Reed sold you one, to go with your jacket, and that was that.
It can’t be that much of a niche market, can it?