My Beef With: The Shacket

For the first article in the My Beef With series I will be dissecting the role of the shacket in fashion, and how I believe it serves wardrobes with no purpose. This is not written with malicious intent, it is simply an explanation as to why I have had a long-held beef with The Shacket and why I think it should be ditched. No, I have not been smothered by a shacket in a past life, and no I have never been shunned by a shacket-wearing individual. This is a long-held resentment that comes from a place of cheugy dislike

Versatility is often regarded as a useful trait to be in possession of. If you describe yourself as versatile in a job interview or within a cover letter, you are most likely to find the ears of your interviewer pricking up and thinking of all the tasks you can juggle at once. A ‘versatile’ approach is one that is successful, well-measured and flexible. A versatile fashion choice on the other hand is one that saves pennies and can be paired with a wide variety of outfits. Some historical ‘versatile’ items of clothing include a good quality denim jean, or a long trench that can be layered during the winter time and chucked on as a protective just in case during the summer. Being versatile when it comes to fashion has triggered the creation and the rise of the Shacket- the hybrid shirt jacket. Now just a disclaimer for any shacket wearers and lovers before I get into my beef, you are not wrong for wearing this extremely useful and versatile piece of clothing, but my anger stems from the depths of cheugy-ness and the simple belief that we have come leaps and bounds in the fashion world to be wearing shackets. One day the shirt and the jacket met and it wasn’t a happy matrimony. A spawn of the two, this clothing item has been disrupting trends and hijacking trendy bottom halves ever since.

The Shacket 

The shackets I have encountered in stores (usually Zara, they seem to be a big shacket contributor) usually come in varying shades of plaid or in iterations of thick leather bringing on a sweaty, clinging sensation in the middle of the day. The plaid iteration of a shacket practically makes the plaid shirts of 2016 look runway worthy, but it seemed the fashion industry didn’t know when to stop at the trendy farmer look a while back. Many like to style their shacket with a shirt underneath, whilst others choose to opt for the shacket as the centre piece of the look. Shackets exude an indecision which usually involve slinging a coat in your bag for safe keeping because who has ever relied on a shacket for warmth? A shacket is the equivalent of standing in front of the fridge for ten minutes and still not knowing what to eat, it’s the equivalent of going to Nando’s just to end up choosing the spicy rice bowl, and it’s like deciding to do dry January but still allowing yourself to have one pint every time you meet up with your friends because ‘who orders a diet coke on a Saturday night?’. It’s the ‘cool’ dad who decides to post a meme in the group chat and simply ends up offending grandma. In fact, Shackets are no better than those straw-like blankets they give you on long-haul flights (who ever looked at one of those and thought you know what, that exudes real comfort and warmth). Shackets hold such a shameful power over any outfit that they can never be uplifted by a promising bottom half. In fact, the minute you press ‘add to cart’ on Zara’s latest line of pastel plaid shackets, every piece of clothing in you wardrobe lets out a collective sigh. I was once at a bonfire and I spotted a shacket-wearer through the smoky haze shivering aggressively and looking rather sorry for themselves amongst individuals standing like emperor penguins, all puffed up in their Helly Hansen or Jack Wolfskin. In that moment, I could tell they were sold the false dream of shacket warmth.

So you’ve finally chucked out your shacket and your thinking now what? am I destined to wander the earth in a freezing cold shacket stupor? Have no fear- better trends are here. Quilted jackets are currently all the rage and this makes for a more sleek and put together look than the incongruous shacket, which lacks in structure and can never give you that guaranteed warmth you require in the winter. Amongst the shackets of the world, a thick blazer is a lifeboat that you can cling onto and not drown in unfashionable deep waters. If you are looking for a thick blazer, charity shops are a great place to go searching, Not only are they are a sustainable alternative, but they also come loaded with history. Whether it’s a blazer that has seen one too many business meetings and is now ready to party partnered with a pair of stiletto’s, or one coming in the tweed kind (because you still cannot get rid of your tweed obsession after ditching your tweed shacket), and is your new answer to race day.

Do I really need to list anymore clothing items to distract you from anything else shacket related? Head to your nearest charity shop now to pick up your blazer and say bye to your shacket.