The windowpane worsted has always featured low among the rank and file, while its standing with the well-starched set has never been higher

Rarely found hanging around average retail climes, the windowpane suit, when it did make one of its rare appearances on a selling floor, tended to overstay its welcome. As a result of its commercial disabilities, most men remain unfamiliar with the windowpane’s insider charisma.

For the initiated, the pattern’s individuality and popular neglect are two of its main attractions, the third being its salutary effect on the male figure. Longer in length than width, its upright rectangular formation subtly elongates, unlike the stripe, which works its magic in more conspicuous ways.

Another plus is its facility for harmoniously combining with a second or third pattern. The windowpane’s open-box setting encourages far more varied pattern mixes than the glen plaid’s multilinear ground. However, the windowpane’s clearly demarcated outline gives manufactures even less margin for error in matching.

Whether in a charcoal flannel enlivened with a chalk-toned windowpane or a tropical worsted embellished with a colored overcheck, this erudite pattern is, like Caesar’s wife, above suspicion.