Are Sweater Blazers Timeless, or Just a Trend? (Review)

Sweater blazers or sweater jackets seem to have surged in popularity in recent years. This versatile piece combines the comfort of knitwear with the structure of a blazer, making it a standout in modern wardrobes. But are we witnessing a timeless style, or is this just another trend?

What is a Sweater Blazer?

Simply put, sweater blazers are an item of knitwear cut to look like a traditional blazer but with the soft and comfortable structural benefits of a sweater.

This jacket is typically single-breasted, has two buttons, and notched lapels, but there are other configurations out there. It is essentially an in-between point of a shawl collar cardigan and a sport coat and will have no, or sometimes very little, padding structure in the shoulders and chest and will usually be made from luxurious wool or cashmere and higher-end models with more accessibly priced wool, cotton, acrylics, and even other synthetics in cheaper models.

We’ve seen this new style of jacket from brands like Banana Republic, Charles Tyrwhitt, and even Loro Piana, making the sweater blazer a bit of a staple in the “quiet luxury” trend that we’ve seen pop up in recent years on TV shows like Succession. This leads us to the question: “Will the sweater blazer last or not?”.

We mean this both literally and figuratively: Is it constructed well enough to endure as long as a traditional sport coat? Or is this a trend that will fade in a few years, leaving the sweater blazer as merely a temporary substitute for traditional jackets?

Material

When addressing how practical a sweater blazer is as outerwear, we will say that knitwear has some great uses, having either warming or cooling properties depending on the fiber it’s made out of, and some styles are great as a lightweight layering piece that have great uses during transition seasons.

Knitted garments are usually softer, more forgiving pieces. They’re typically unconstructed and worn loosely on the body. These garments can be made with easier movement and comfort as well. This helps them to become a comfortable layering piece that doesn’t restrict your movement in the process.

Despite the perks, there are definite downsides to using knitwear instead of garments that usually have more structure, such as the previously mentioned sports coat or blazer. Keep in mind we’ll revisit this point in more detail later.

When Should You Wear a Sweater Blazer?

The sweater blazer can be an excellent choice as a house coat, especially if the TV jacket is a little too vintage-inspired for your liking. It’s definitely a lot more refined than a hoodie or an old T-shirt when around the house but can also come across as less “affected” than a smoking jacket or a dressing gown.

Trust us, we love these full-on classic style items, but we get it, it’s not for everyone. A sweater blazer is also comfortable enough to sit around and lounge in without worrying about zippers getting snagged or caught on different things. In other words, it’s putting the “lounge” in the term “lounge suit.”

A sweater blazer is also easier to put on and take off than a pullover, which, you know, has to be pulled over to take off. It’s also a great gateway into Classic Style if you’re not used to wearing structured and tailored garments.

Perhaps you work in a casual office, or you want to get into Classic Style, but without jumping from 0 to 100, or maybe you’re concerned about alienating your colleagues, family, and friends with such a severe change since, let’s face it, it takes a lot of courage to be able to make such a drastic change all at once.

Sweater blazers are a great, and literal, soft entry point into the world of Classic Style, and if you later decide you don’t want to wear it out and about anymore, maybe because you’ve upgraded to tailored suits and sport coats, you can easily keep your sweater blazer in the car or at home, as previously mentioned. It’s much easier to move a sweater blazer into “comfort wear” than it will be for the suit.

How to Style a Sweater Blazer

What Shirts and Pants to Wear

If you want to dress it up more, look at chinos, flannels, corduroys, and other odd pants and a dress shirt, all as base items for this outfit. These pants are great as separates but also help to create that “tailored aesthetic.” These pants were traditional choices when wearing something like a sport coat. This is almost like a traditional jacket and odd trouser combo, but a sweater blazer helps to relax it and offer a more contemporary edge. As far as formality goes, it’s more like wearing it with a shawl collar cardigan than with a jacket.

One of the easiest ways to pair a sweater blazer is with an Oxford shirt and jeans. A casual shirt and jeans can serve as a great neutral base that everyone can understand and probably has, and the sweater blazer serves as more of a layering piece, more than anything else.

Footwear with Sweater Blazers

Your footwear can also help elevate or relax the look even more, with dress sneakers being the more casual option for this look, loafers being the more formal, and Chukka boots serving as a great middle ground between the two.

How to Accessorize a Sweater Blazer

When adding accessories to a sweater-blazer combination, it pays to keep everything light, even if your sweater blazer has a breast pocket (although most don’t). Avoid adding a pocket square; it will bulge in the pocket, as knitwear is less forgiving than a structured jacket. Go for softer neckwear such as knit ties, shantung silk, and other similarly casual neckwear items, which are great options.

Opting for a lighter lining on a tie will be a good thing to consider, too, and if you do like wearing headwear, something like a flat cap might blend more seamlessly than a fedora as a flat cap’s less structured function is more in line with the sweater blazer in terms of aesthetic.

The Challenges of Sweater Blazers

Opt for Superior Materials

Like with everything, there are pros and cons of the sweater blazer that need to be addressed. As we were talking about knitted garments earlier, the material it’s made from has to be of good quality and can really make or break the sweater blazer concept as a whole. Woolens, cashmere, and other natural fibers are going to be much better options aesthetically and tactilely than other synthetics and even other natural fibers like cotton, as the hair fibers help create that luxurious sheen and quiet luxury finish that sweater blazers are known for.

Sweater Blazers Are Not as Durable

But, even then, odds are that a knitted jacket might snag and break down much faster than a traditional jacket would. You have to be okay with this reality going into it since nothing breaks your heart faster than an investment piece in your wardrobe getting snagged. With this in mind, you probably shouldn’t count on one sweater blazer as a daily wear piece.

Traditional Jackets Have Superior Drape

It’s also worth noting that the cut of a sweater blazer isn’t always as flattering as that of a traditional jacket. One of the biggest perks of structure jackets is how they enhance your physique. The silhouette achieved from a well-fitting jacket happens after the consideration of the golden ratio when fabric that is woven instead of knitted better suits the goals of helping to structure a silhouette much more than a knitted fabric can handle.

So, if your goal is to appear trimmer and more athletic than you would be otherwise, a sweater blazer isn’t going to have the same effect. In fact, sweater blazers are usually shorter than a sport coat or blazer, and the buttoning point on a sweater blazer that is too small will make you look larger than you are as the elastic nature of knitwear causes the buttoning point to pull unattractively, creating the “dreaded X-pull.”

Consider the Weight and Construction of the Fabric

The composition of the knitwear itself is also quite important, as being too heavy or too thin can have a great impact on its overall appearance. A sweater blazer that is too heavy and chunky can look a bit too much, like runway fashion, as opposed to something stylish and elegant, and one that’s too thin can look a bit anemic and barren in the process. The devil’s truly in the details with a sweater blazer, even more so than it’d be with other garments.

Blazers and sport coats are made of multiple pieces of cloth that are sewn together to create shape and structure and give canvassing between the fabrics that give extra attention to areas that help you look your best. Sweater blazers are usually a single layer of knitted fabric, usually with no folded seams or edges, even if one is relatively well constructed. This lack of consideration can lead to saggy spots and poor draping, especially after repeated use once the seams start to sag over time. And this often becomes more noticeable if you’re using the pockets, making it obvious where your phone, wallet, and keys are.

How to Care for a Sweater Blazer

When it comes to maintaining the sweater blazer, it may also become confusing whether or not you should treat this as a sweater or more as a blazer. Not all sweater blazers have garment care instructions for knitwear or are washer-friendly, but some of these garments will need to be taken to dry cleaners for their structure. Even though we’ve shown you how easy it is to take care of knitwear while at home, sweater blazers introduce the problem of trying to press lapels back into shape, and knitwear’s stretchy nature can make ironing a bit of a challenge.

Are there Alternatives?

Cashmere blazers can be an excellent alternative to a sweater blazer. This helps you to firmly make a decision on how formal your outfit will be. You can get extra points if it’s cut in a relaxed shape, perhaps something like a Neapolitan jacket from Kiton, so you get all the perks that come from a sweater blazer with none of the downfalls.

Casual wool-based jackets can also be extremely soft and can be made to have a fuzzier, coarser texture—things like this will help to casualize the jacket. It’s also important to remember that wool can be made into different types of base fabrics. Coarser fabrics like tweed can also relax the jacket in a different way. Helping to relax the jacket and help reinforce that it’s not trying to replicate something like a worsted suit.

If you want to take a step down in formality, cashmere sweaters have always been the answer to what sweater blazers are trying to accomplish. These sweaters are extremely soft and comfortable but have the added benefit of doubling up as a layering element under the jacket, giving it an extra element of versatility that a sweater blazer could never replicate.

Our verdict

Whether sweater blazers are timeless or a trend is a little difficult to determine at this point. Are they as formal as a blazer? No. But are they as casual as a cardigan? Again, no. Let’s put sweater blazers into an odd spot of “no man’s land,” at least in terms of Classic Style.

We could easily define them as something as a bit of a modern trend as opposed to Classic Style; however, there’s no denying that there’s a certain nuance to wearing a sweater blazer. When done properly, you can really toe the line between stuffy and casual in a really refined way. Plus, if having a sweater blazer in the wardrobe is someone’s first step into Classic Style, well, we’re happy to hear that. Everyone has to start somewhere, after all!

This may be a rare occurrence where the answer is neither timeless nor trend. In the realm of Classic Style, it’s simply newer than other items, so they are currently a trend that has the potential to be timeless. Remember, all Classic Styles were a trend to begin with.

Do you agree with our verdict? And how would you incorporate a sweater blazer into your classic wardrobe? Join the discussion in the comments below!