Leather and brocade patchwork blazer with tailored shorts

The blazer is patchwork in the literal sense: panels of burgundy leather stitched against a red-on-black floral brocade, with notched lapels, a single button and slash cut-outs across the chest and upper arms that show the black top underneath. The hem is cut asymmetrically and flares at the back. The shorts are black, high-waisted and tailored, with a clean front and a short inseam.

It is a night-out jacket over daytime shorts, so it goes both ways: dinner in autumn with the sleeves down, a spring afternoon in a secondhand bookshop with the shorts doing the work. A black ankle boot or a pointed pump, no tights unless it is properly cold. Keep everything else black so the brocade is the only pattern in the room.

Spent the afternoon between the shelves. Did not read a word. The jacket kept interrupting.