It can be hard to believe today when all Italian mills have gone lightweight that Zegna, or Mario Zegna, more precisely, was once a weaver of flannel cloth. I have got hold of some houndstooth suiting lengths from the 1980s, really great cloth, which is not only substantial in the weave but lovely soft in the nap as well.
Read more about this cloth at the shop.
For inspiration, a photo of British actor Trevor Howard in a houndstooth suit.
And another one, of Earl Mountbatten of Burma.
Both portraits I found on Voxsartoria’s excellent blog.
I really like this cloth. I imaging the grey would be good for Morning trousers? At that weight I imagine it would drape well. On a different note, do you have any information on marengo cloth? I saw a picture of it on another site. It looks great, but I have done several exhaustive searches on the internet to no avail. I have learned that Napoleon had a horse named Marengo and that there are a number of towns in the United States named Marengo, but nothing about the cloth. All I know is that they used to use it to make Morning Coats in Germany some decades ago, I believe it comes from a town in Italy named Marengo and I guess it might be considered a “melange” cloth, but that’s all I have been able to find out. I would be highly appreciative of any information you can provide. Thank you.
I’ve checked a couple of textiles books, which both describe marengo as a black overcoating slightly shot with white yarns. One states it is of French origin, although the name refers to the city of Marengo in Italy. For Morning trousers, shepherd’s check might be better than houndstooth.
Thank you so much for your reply, It has been so difficult to find out about this fabric that I assume it wasn’t used a lot, or at least, not for very long. That fact that you of all people, had to look it up confirms this. Hopefully someday you’ll come across some of it, as it looks quite attractive in my opinion. I am a dedicated follower of your site and read every article. Keep up the good work! JC in New York City.