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Cricket in summer is a sweaty affair. Four hours in front of the TV watching an Indian Premier League (IPL) match can be quite energy sapping, despite all the snacks and the beverages you have at your side. And then you see Ravi Shastri and company in Nehru jackets, all buttoned up too, pleasantly interviewing the men of the match as if they were in Alaska handing out hand warmers. Jackets in a hot and sultry stadium? Well, yes. And if you must know, these jackets were not specially made for the IPL commentators; you can have them too.
Raised eyebrow: wear a jacket in 40 degrees Celsius? This seems like a wardrobe malfunction in the truest sense of the word. Even if these are no regular jackets, why would you want to wear a jacket when the Gemini sun is beating down hard on India? "A jacket always gives a man a certain style and elegance," begins Vito Dell'erba, creative director, Raymond, the man behind the innovation. "Be it a dinner, a meeting or any occasion, a jacket is an important part of a man's attire. Today we live in air-conditioned environment. Therefore, a jacket is an all-weather wear."
I had to try this summer jacket. I got one called the Flexi jacket from Raymond Ready To Wear, one of the company's lines. It was light blue linen with herringbone weave. What I noticed immediately was its weight, or the lack of it. This is because the jacket did not have the full regular inner lining, neither the buckram boosters for the shoulders. The lining for the sleeves was of fine, light material. It was sharply cut, and I couldn't help admire how the 95 cm Slim Fit sat on my small frame quite snugly.
I wore the jacket and kept myself confined to my home, afraid that those who saw me would think I had delusions of grandeur. After all, without the air conditioner on, anybody else would have stripped down to shorts and a light T-shirt. And yet there I was, after an hour of formal strutting around, no worse for the wear, for the jacket proved light and comfortable. In an air-conditioned ambience - a banquet perhaps or a corporate convention - you wouldn't even know you had a jacket on during an Indian summer.
The Flexi jacket I wore was 100 per cent linen, but I noticed that Raymond also offers a wool-linen blend. Another raised eyebrow: wool in summer? Dell'erba reassures me: "In India, wool is perceived to be for winters only. However, globally wool is an all-weather wear. Wool has in-built thermal properties that maintain the body temperature, keeping you cool and fresh in summers and warm in winters." That explains why Gaurav Kapoor and Sameer Kochhar in the IPL studio look so chipper in their Cool Wool suits.
The jackets are, as their names suggest, very flexible. You can pair them with chinos and jeans, roll up the sleeves and appear youthful and informal. Equally, you can wear them as formal attire with a pinstriped shirt and sharply ironed trousers. "We also have the tuxedo Flexi jacket that makes anyone look cool, modern and elegant," interjects Dell'erba.
The flexible nature of the jackets, however, I felt, can be a drawback. As everyone knows, it is tough to keep linenwear unrumpled through the day. The jacket I was wearing, and whose sleeves I had rolled up in a spirit of experimentation, looked wrinkled after an hour. I also decided the jacket would require regular cleaning, for it was almost like a shirt and clung to the neck - and everyone knows a shirt collar is a dirt magnet. Besides, I was a tad disappointed with the light beige piping used on the pockets. It might be a style statement, but it left me hoping I wasn't looking like someone on a restaurant staff.
There is, however, no doubt that the Flexi jacket is stylish and comfortable. It comes in different styles: checkered and seer sucker, in bright colours in the wool blends and in nice pastels in the linen versions. The cost of appearing cool in summer? The range starts from Rs 8,999.
