DESIGN 101: RECIPE FOR A SCOUT JACKET

Some things age like a fine wine and they improve, untouched, over the years. And some things stand the test of time because of their ability to adapt and evolve. The scout-style jacket is the latter, and it’s become part of the Double D DNA, with something to love about every version and variation, even if one will always be your favorite; it’s less like fine wine, and more like Grandmother’s cinnamon rolls.

“It’s akin to a recipe you pass down,” Cheryl said. “You tweak it, you adjust it to your tastes at the time. Everyone who makes a recipe puts their own slight spin on it, it’s a constantly evolving process towards perfection, ya know? You add nuts or your leave out raisins, you just experiment. The scout jackets have kind of been like that for us over the years, as we reinvent and reimagine. Each iteration of the scout jacket ages like a fine wine, because the core is classic, but it’s also an evolution, and the unique elements can kind of tell a story of what’s happening on the landscape of fashion at the time.”

While each version we design will always have an identity all its own, there is a basic recipe that makes a scout stand out.

One Part MILITARY COLLAR

Sometimes called a Mandarin Collar or even simply a standup collar, this is an identifiable attribute to a classic scout. It’s usually stiff (hence the standup) with no folds, notches, or in this case, button. It’s no more than 2-3 inches tall. It’s most commonly monochromatic with the jacket, but could be in a contrasting accent color or be trimmed with complementing embroidery.

One Part CAVALRY CUT

The structured silhouette is paramount to the scout jacket, it will always have crisp straight lines and be tapered at the waist, but the length can vary from cropped at the waist to a longer hip length.

Two Parts EPAULETS

Because the whole essence of a Scout Jacket is to emulate that of a soldier, we stay true to that style with different iterations of shoulder embellishments, whether we actually go with classic cording or something more assimilated to our aesthetic, like traditional or twisted fringe.

SOUTACHE BRAID and BULLION EMBELLISHMENTS To Taste

This is where you can plug in a little personality and we tend to take creative liberties. You can go more traditional and formal or lean towards twangy, heavy embellishment or just hints of accents. Sometimes we add studding sometimes we don’t, and for buttons we’ll usually either go with your basic brass or give it a Western vibe with classic concho (silver-ish), but because the overall aesthetic is traditional military, you’ll almost always find them in a uniform straight-line placket.

And what was the magic ingredient we opted to sprinkle in this season’s Scout? Well, plot twist: we were pulled in two different directions, aesthetically, between aged and elegant, so we made “a batch” of each.

“In a sense, the Buffalo Soldier Jacket was our ode to Thomas,” Cheryl said, referring to the character in 1883. “Even though the war was over, it was still his uniform, and it was an outward sign of his strategic skills and loyalty and experience on the front lines – symbolic of his survival, almost, and so it became an inspirational influence for me when I was concepting the collection and particularly this version of the Scout jacket. That’s where the patchwork and the mock-mending makes sense, you know? Its duty as a uniform was done, but its practicality soldiers on, pardon the pun, and the reality of the wagon trail is that it was going to get worn and rugged, so we played up the patchwork element. And we added some beading as a nod to the indigenous and the immigrants they encountered along their way.”

And if your palate is a little more ‘refined’, the Spotted Eagle Jacket is the beautiful, beaded star of the season.

“It’s authentic to the aesthetic of the collection with a distressed, faded out suede,” Cheryl explained. “But it’s elevated by the intricate and elegant floral beading on the front chest, which is where, in a lot of versions, we would put soutache. Also, the epaulettes, we did a blanket strip trimmed with beading and that soft suede twisted fringe to finish off what is a really clean, classic military silhouette. It’s just beautiful, almost a show jacket.”