The Superfine Lambswool Tennis Cardigan
Transitional seasons are notoriously difficult to dress for. Some parts of the world may well be cold enough to warrant chunkier knitwear for large parts of the year; many parts of the world tend to experience a few months when it might be a little too warm to be taking out the heavy duty knits, but still too chilly for full summer kit.
In these circumstances, our all season 12 gauge knitwear is the perfect choice, and you would be hard pressed to find a layering piece as versatile and stylish as our superfine lambswool tennis cardigan.
Made in Scotland using the world’s finest lambswool spun by renowned mill Todd & Duncan, our tennis cardigan is the perfect weight as a light layering piece, whether you want to use it as a mid layer underneath beefy coats, or as an outer layer.
It comes in oatmeal, burgundy and navy, three carefully selected shades that are designed to provide as much flexibility as possible. In this style journal, we provide some inspiration on how to style this piece.
Outfit 1.
Superfine lambswool tennis cardigan in oatmeal
Oxford cloth button down shirt (white, ivy stripe or chambray)
High waisted beige chinos
Brown check sport coat
Brown loafers
The oatmeal version of this cardigan is designed to go with a wide range of shirt colours, as shown here, equally at home with a white Oxford button down, blue and white ivy striped shirt, and chambray shirt.
Given the woolly texture of tennis cardigan, we find that it is best accompanied by the more casual texture of an Oxford shirt or chambray shirt.
We’ve chosen a pair of vintage high-waisted beige trousers to give the look a 50s feel. The brown shoes, beige trousers and oatmeal cardigan belong in the beige/brown palette so they work well together to create a harmonious look through the outfit from top to bottom.
If you are up for some more layering, complete the look with a brown check sport coat over the top - the check on the coat contrasts with the plain block colours on the other items of clothing, but the mid brown is in keeping with the whole colour palette.
In this example, it also goes to show why we have chosen the dark brown horn buttons to furnish the oatmeal cardigan as opposed to white mother of pearl - we think it gives the cardigan a more earthy look and works better as part of a beige/brown outfit, as shown here:
Outfit 2.
Superfine lambswool tennis cardigan in oatmeal
Cashmere silk tennis polo in dark brown
Cream coloured trousers
Swapping the shirt out and replacing it with our own cashmere silk polo creates a more casual look and might be just what you need on a relaxed Friday work day.
Here we’ve paired the oatmeal cardigan with dark brown - the two colours working well together as they are from the same palette.
We’ve finished the look with cream trousers for a more weekend feel and as they go well with the oatmeal and dark brown colours, but you can always stick to jeans or chinos to keep things more understated.
Outfit 3.
Superfine lambswool tennis cardigan in oatmeal
Cashmere silk tennis polo in cream
White shorts
Beige trench coat
Swapping the dark brown cashmere silk polo out for our cream version - we’ve gone from a high contrast combination to a tonal combination - with the cream complementing the oatmeal colour.
The white shorts and beige trench are also in different shades but all of the colours are kept to the same palette. For this outfit we’ve gone for a sporty tennis look - but again, you can easily swap the white shorts out for a pair of jeans or chinos - the cream polo and oatmeal cardigan work with a variety of bottoms.
Taking the outer layer off, you are left with a light, tonal spring look:
Outfit 4.
Superfine lambswool tennis cardigan in oatmeal
Extra fine merino henley shirt in brown
White jeans
Same principle as outfit 2 - here we paired our brown extrafine merino henley with our oatmeal cardigan. Instead of tailored trousers, we chose a pair of white jeans for a more casual look.
Outfit 5.
Superfine lambswool tennis cardigan in burgundy
White tee-shirt
Brown check trousers
Vintage brown leather bomber
White sneakers
The burgundy cardigan might not instinctively be a colour one would choose but we love the deep burgundy - whilst an unusual colour, given how muted and elegant it is, we find it works with a lot of brown tones, as demonstrated in this outfit here.
If you are worried the burgundy tennis cardigan may come across a little too old fashioned worn with a shirt and tie, we suggest swapping those for simply a white t-shirt underneath, and accompanied by a pair of brown check trousers and white sneakers - this makes the outfit a lot more casual.
To illustrate how well this burgundy goes with brown, we finished the look with a vintage brown leather bomber jacket, deliberately choosing a more casual / rugged piece like this, over say, a tailored sport coat, which would have made the look more old fashioned.
We hope this demonstrates how a piece that might come across quite traditional on first view, such as our burgundy tennis cardigan, can be worn as part of a much more contemporary / casual outfit.
Outfit 6.
Superfine lambswool tennis cardigan in burgundy
White spread collar shirt
Grey flannel trousers
For those who lean more towards formal outfits than casual,
this would be a nice “in-between” outfit to go for. A spread collar shirt in place of a formal dress shirt and tie makes the whole outfit less formal but still dressed up. The grey flannel trousers have a nice woolly texture which goes well with the cardigan.
Flannel works well we find in general with our superfine lambswool as it is on the slightly more “casual” end of the formal to casual spectrum when it comes to tailoring. So if you cannot part with tailoring then an outfit like this could work well.
Outfit 7.
Superfine lambswool tennis cardigan in navy
Chambray shirt
High waisted pleated beige chinos
Brown loafers
Our navy cardigan is perhaps the most versatile colour of the cardigans - it will go with just about anything so we wanted to style it in a slightly unusual way here. We’ve styled it with a chambray shirt, but also, as an undergarment, our extrafine merino sport shirt in cream mélange. The extra merino sport shirt works as a wonderful under layer given how soft it is against the skin, and the texture of the sport shirt showing up underneath the shirt makes the look more dressed up, as opposed to a t-shirt. The extramerino is knitted so it also goes well with the navy superfine lambswool tennis cardigan.
High waisted pleated beige chinos chosen here for a retro look. We think the warm colour of the chinos works well with the navy.
Outfit 8.
Superfine lambswool tennis cardigan in navy
Chambray shirt
White t-shirt
White trousers
Brown houndstooth check blazer
The combination here is similar to the one above in its components, but instead of the warmer tones of the beige chinos and our cream extrafine merino sport shirt, we swapped these out for colder pieces, in the white trousers and white t-shirt, to demonstrate that the navy cardigan works well with cold tones as much as warm.
We opted to complete this look with a brown check sport coat - the cream and brown of the houndstooth check to complete the white trousers and white tee.
Outfit 9.
Superfine lambswool tennis cardigan in navy
Cashmere cotton breton stripe in ecru/navy or cashmere cotton breton stripe in dark olive/navy
Dark jeans
If you don't want to wear a shirt, this is a great way to dress down the tennis cardigan. The cashmere cotton breton stripe is in ecru and navy, so the navy stripes complement the navy of the tennis cardigan. The dark jeans are also in the blue colour palette allowing it to tie in with the whole outfit.
If you prefer darker colours, you can swap out the ecru/navy breton stripe for the dark olive/navy colourway instead:
Outfit 10.
Superfine lambswool tennis cardigan in oatmeal
White shirt
Grey flannel trousers
Superfine lambswool shawl collar cardigan in dark brown
Another one of our favourite “knit on knit” combinations and another example of an oatmeal and brown combination. When the weather isn't quite warm enough to throw caution to the wind and just don the oatmeal cardigan as an outer layer, this combination will bring warmth and comfort without looking too dressed down or casual.
We’ve still opted for a button down shirt and grey flannels to keep things quite formal - but because of this we can balance that out with the more casual shawl collar cardigan. The cardigan, being in plain stitch, contrasts well against the rib-stitch construction of the shawl collar cardigan.
