Put This On

Cool-Wearing Shirt Fabrics for Summer

Warmer temperatures call for open weave shirtings - those lightweight, airy fabrics that allow your skin to breathe and body heat escape. My favorite summer shirting is linen. It’s so gauzy and open that it allows you to feel every gentle breeze passing through, but it’s also quite prone to wrinkling. Personally, I find a lot of charm in that, but it’s not to everyone’s taste. Additionally, depending on the quality of the linen, you may find that new linen can feel a bit rough. You can trust, however, that it will soften considerably over time.

In addition to pure linen, there are all of its variations. Linen-cotton blends, for example, will give you some of the benefits of linen but look less messy. I also recently came across a pure cotton that’s woven to feel and look just like linen. You can find any of these - pure linen, linen-cotton blends, and pure cotton woven to feel like linen - from a variety of makers. Brooks Brothers, J. Crew, and Howard Yount are good starts. Brooks’ shirts are better in their slim to extra-slim fit cuts, depending on your size. For more affordable options, you can check Uniqlo (which you can shop at through Suddenlee) and TM Lewin. For higher-end models, browse the stock at Ledbury, Mr. Porter, and Barney’s. The latter two are holding sales right now, which means you can get particularly nice ones at a more affordable price. 

I’m also a fan of pure-cotton oxford cloth (the stuff used to make OCBDs), but not everyone thinks they’re well suited for summer. For example, Michael Anton, author of The Suit, has written that he thinks they’re too warm for high temperatures. On the other hand, Alex Kabbaz, arguably the best custom shirtmaker in America, has recommended them. Personally, I find that my OCDBs wear cooler than many of my other dress shirts, but you should try wearing some for yourself and seeing how you fare.   

For those who have shirts custom-made, I also recommend cotton-batiste, cotton voile, and chambray. The first two are rather popular in Southern Italy, where the weather can get quite warm, but they have the problem of often being too translucent. Fortunately, A Suitable Wardrobe has some cotton voile shirting that’s very wearable, as well as a very nice, fine chambray. I would heartily recommend either of those if you can afford them. If you’d like to find other sources, check with your shirtmaker. He or she should have some from a variety of makers such as Thomas Mason.

And last, but not least, there’s madras, which we’ve already talked about here.

Of course, being that the world of shirting is wide and varied, it’s best for you to always check for yourself whether a particular fabric is good for hot weather. One trick you can employ is holding the cloth up to the light. If the fabric is lightweight and you see a lot of light passing through, it’s more than likely perfect for summer. 

(Pictured above: Bolts of fine chambray shirting at A Suitable Wardrobe. Photo taken from StyleForum.)

Online Discount Shopping

Since writing at Put This On, I’ve made an effort to talk about how men can build wardrobes on tight budgets. My posts on strategic spending and affordable basics, for example, were written in that spirit. With so many blogs and magazines focusing on outrageously expensive items, I think it’s important to talk about more realistic acquisitions. Men can still look well dressed without spending thousands of dollars a year on clothes. 

If you want the most affordable deals, companies such as Land’s End and J. Crew are probably good places to start. J. Crew is a bit expensive at full retail, but much of their company branded inventory (i.e. non-third party stock) is discounted by 50% or so at the end of the season. 

For something a bit better, you’ll have to turn to online discount houses. This is where higher-end brands tend to be sold for 10-40% of their retail value. Granted, given that these items are extremely expensive in the first place, the sale prices can still be somewhat hefty. However, if you’re looking for high quality items at a better price, these are the places to search.

• Flash sites: This model is perhaps the most well known - discounted items are offered at some site for a limited time only. The biggest flash site is Gilt Groupe, but there are many others. Check MyHabit, Jack Threads, Belle & Clive, Ru La La, Ideeli, and HauteLook. The stock at these places really range. There’s a lot of junk, but also everything from Jack Spade to Finamore. If you sign up for an account, some sites give you the option of receiving emails from them, which means you can more easily stay on top of their sales each week. 
• Clearance houses: Things that couldn’t sell at retail are often sent here for clearance. Yoox and Three Different are two of the bigger online clearance houses. Again, there’s a lot of junk, and they apparently style their models blindly, but if you know your brands, you can pick up some very good deals. If you don’t, do a little research on StyleForum. 
• Online discount boutiques: In addition to the big clearance houses, there are smaller boutiques that acquire their stock through a variety of different means. Malford of London, Virtual Clothes Horse, Shop the Finest, and eHaberdasher are very good ones. There’s also Exquisite Trimmings, which focuses on neckties, pocket squares, and scarves. The inventory at these places tend to be better selected than the big discount houses.
• Discounted footwear: A Fine Pair of Shoes and eBay seller sausages234 are two very good sources for discounted shoes. Grapevinehill is mostly unremarkable, but they carry Ralph Lauren footwear, some of which is decent. Finally, there’s Classic Shoes for Men. The photos there aren’t as nice as the ones at the aforementioned sites, but the stock is just as good (if not better). The proprietor, Mr. Sevan Minasian, noted that he’ll throw in a free gift with your order if you mention our site. 
• Us: Kind of goes without saying, but there’s also our eBay roundups and Inside Track newsletter. The first includes customized search links to help you find deals on eBay and the second has sales announcements every week. But you already knew that. 

Now, I’m sure few people will remember all those sites next time they’re shopping for something specific, so I suggest you bookmark them somewhere and save them for later. You could save yourself some considerable money if you do. 

(Photo above: An inside look at Gilt Groupe’s warehouse, taken by Notcot)

Inspiration and Emulation

Will at A Suitable Wardrobe once commented that when he first started learning about clothing, he learned by observing others. Which is exactly how I’ve learned as well. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to find stylish men these days, both in our daily lives and among celebrities. 

One of the best sources for inspiration, I’ve found, is online at sites such as StyleForum, where menswear enthusiasts post pictures of their daily ensembles. There are three main threads for such activity – one for traditional men’s clothing (suits and the like), casual clothing for men who typically wear suits on weekdays, and streetwear for those who don’t work in traditional business environments. All three are pretty active, so unless you’re checking them often, you can easily miss some of the better posts (such as yesterday’s post by member maomao).

If you’re just a casual observer, you can view some of the “best of” threads that people have put together. These are typically put compiled by highly active posters, and are of course subject to their taste. Still, they’re pretty good for the most part. The most celebrated of these is a digest by member Voxsartoria. Unfortunately, it’s no longer active, but the digest is still very fun to review. There have also been “best of” threads started by members gdl203 and Trini at the traditional side of the forum, as well as one by Lel on the streetwear side. Lastly, some of my favorites have been collected at the blog Stulen stil. Not every picture on there is from StyleForum, but many of them are. Comb through these threads to find what you like. 

Learning how to dress well typically starts by figuring out who inspires you. Ignore fashion street style shots that seem to focus more on products than ensembles. Once you find a few inspirational figures, pay attention to how their clothes fit and how they coordinate and harmonize the pieces they wear. Emulate them until you can confidently do the same with your own sense of style. This may take a few years’ time, and perhaps a few rounds of clothing purges and acquisitions (good fits are hard to achieve), but you’ll get the hang of it soon enough. 

StyleForum member maomao demonstrates how great high-waisted trousers with pleats can look on a slim build. Style is obviously a matter of taste, but I find this cut to be much more masculine, classic, and elegant than the low-waisted, tight-fitting pants that many men wear today. The torso is in proportion to the legs, the legs don’t look like stilts, and the longer leg line looks striking. Well done!

StyleForum just opened a “menswear primer” section on their website. The content is very, very good, and it covers many of the basic questions that men often ask when they first become interested in this subject. Note that in each article, there are really good links that will help direct you to threads and/ or articles that will discuss various topics in great detail. I’m not saying that, by the way, because whoever wrote these primers happened to link Put This On a bunch of times. They are legitimately really good links in there. 

Incidentally, while I didn’t write any of the primers, I do write for their blog. You can read what I’ve written so far here. 

A StyleForum member named fullb built this shoe cabinet for himself. I have to say, I’m rather impressed. Check out this thread to read more about it. 

A few more photos from the StyleForum 10th Anniversary - including me with the fine gentlemen from On the Fly and The Hanger Project, and our friend Gianluca Migliarotti (the producer of our upcoming Milan episodes and director of O’Mast), and one of me with my mom. (Hi, mom!)

The group shot is the rare group photograph in which I appear to be under-dressed.

You can check out some more over at The Rake.

thisfits:

Here’s the fam, pre-O’Mast screening.

I’ve got a new favorite photo from the StyleForum 10th Anniversary Celebration!

thesilentist:

This is the only photo I took during the StyleForum 10th Anniversary Celebration. 

That’s right! I’m wearing blue jeans!

abitofcolor:

Jesse from Put This On, Bill Charman and guest heading out to the Styleforum dinner at Credo