A black or royal blue velvet blazer will look great with a pair of jeans and a black or navy turtleneck sweater - though it's a more casual look.

In burgundy, a well-cut and properly tailored velvet blazer looks dashing with gray flannels and a cashmere sweater or a sleek, solid velvet tie.

The proper navy blue blazer can be single or double-breasted and looks best in a three-button style. The proper blazer requires side-vents. Italian versions can have no vent at all, but I find this a bit fast.

A word about blue jeans, which, when I was growing up, were called dungarees, one of the more unfortunate marketing ideas of our time: Starting as a work garment for miners, the ubiquitous blue jeans became a staple of the counterculture starting when Brando wore them in 'On the Waterfront' and remained so through the anti-war protests of the '70s.

Plush velvet conjures up kings and opulence.

Nothing ruins the lines of a suit or blazer and makes you look more like a doofus than when your pockets are crammed with stuff - a wallet, a cell phone, keys, a calculator, a calendar, pens, etc.