FASHIONS Professor finds functional tweed practical for college

Comfortable tweed blazer looks dressy and won't wrinkle.
SCRIPPS HOWARD
Dr. Philip Carter doesn't care that he's a fashion stereotype. As with no-nonsense folks -- scholarly and otherwise -- functionality is his style rule.
So the professor of microbiology and immunology at North Carolina State University's veterinary school wears tweed. Not only tweed jackets, but also Irish tweed caps.
"Most faculty members don't really have an eye for fashion," says Carter, 58. "I don't think I do, so I don't have to worry what color my tie is, because tweed has so many colors in it."
Tweed, like the quest for knowledge itself, is classic and enduring. It is above the fray of modern times -- though we should note that college campuses are also known for experimental, avant-garde looks. But tweed, practical and always in style, is the perfect fabric for people with other things on their minds.
The fabric has its genesis in a far colder clime: the British Isles.
"The tweed suit as we know it today has its origins in hunting clothes," says Kevin Jones, museum curator at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles.
Perfect blend
The hardy fabric was adapted to city wear. In 18th-century England, a court suit was blended with tweed to produce, in the early 19th century, the first modern men's suit, Jones says.
Tweed first became associated with professors of "classic" subjects, such as Latin, says Diane Ellis, professor of fashion at Meredith College, in Raleigh, N.C. "These were not people who were interested in anything other than functional clothes that would last a long time."
The term "tweed" actually refers to the way a fabric is put together. The process involves dying and then weaving different colored threads into yarn, which is then turned into fabric.
Carter began wearing tweed during his own student days at Notre Dame, in South Bend, Ind. "The warm wool was the thing to go with," he says.
Then he discovered the fabric's durability, later confirmed during a trip to England. "You'll see men (in England) doing repairs on the railroad in tweed jackets. They just wear like iron."
Although he tends to remove his jacket in the classroom, to appear less formal and more approachable to students, Carter likes the instant dressy air the blazer adds when he walks across campus. Plus it's comfortable and doesn't wrinkle.
Timeless elements
Although tweed suits -- jacket, vest and pants -- are somewhat unusual today, the separate elements have proven timeless, not always the case with "period" fashions. Tweed has also translated across gender lines; Jones points out that the fabric has graced both women's ready-to-wear and couture styles.
Carter, for now, is sticking with his caps and jackets.
And to the old stereotypical riddle, he responds: "Is it an image thing, or do professors really like tweed? Well, this professor really likes tweed."