---

Some Interesting Articles On Fashion

​

---

​

AN INTERN’S TAKE ON FASHION

​

How Decades-Old Linen Solves Modern Summer Style Dilemmas

​

By Aalyah De Leon

​

When summer arrives, the city reaches 90°F (32°C) and Manhattan sidewalks shimmer with the heat. You step out of your air-conditioned apartment and, two blocks away, your crisp shirt is already plastered to your back. The subway

platform feels like a sauna, and by the time you get to Midtown, you're questioning every fabric you've chosen.

​

Most men reach for whatever promises to keep them coolest, like synthetic blends, athletic wear, or the latest "performance" fabrics marketed as summer solutions.

What many overlook is the most reliable heat-beating option hiding in plain sight: vintage linen. It's about understanding that vintage linen offers the perfect combination of style, comfort, and climate-appropriate functionality.

​

Those vintage linen shirts you see hanging in SoHo thrift stores. They were made back when people cared about making functional clothing. Those old Brooks Brothers shirts and Italian garments weren't made for show; they were made by men who had to wear suits in the summer and didn't want to die of heatstroke. Looser cuts to allow air to circulate. Higher-quality fabrics that soften over time instead of falling apart. Simple pieces that kept you cool without looking

disheveled.

​

Vintage linen isn't a garment that's fooled like all those modern fabrics that promise everything: "stays dry", "never wrinkles", "high-tech". But hop on the 6 train at rush hour, and you'll see it's just marketing hype. Vintage linen does exactly what it's supposed to do on a hot day. The fabric allows your skin to breathe, moves with you, and yes, it wrinkles. But those wrinkles look like they belong there, not like you picked your shirt up off the bedroom floor.

​

Timeless design vintage linen pieces represent a higher initial investment but prove economical over years of summer wear. These classics, like perfect linen trousers or well-cut linen blazers, maintain their relevance season after season, immune to the whims of fast fashion.

​

Beyond economics, timeless vintage linen pieces offer unmatched versatility. They transition seamlessly from air-conditioned offices to rooftop gatherings, require no

seasonal replacement to stay current, and provide that effortlessly refined aesthetic that signals discerning taste in an age of synthetic shortcuts. That vintage Irish linen shirt. It pairs perfectly with your morning coffee in the Village and with your

clients on a Tribeca rooftop. The vintage linen and silk blazer? Perfect for those peculiar New York summer dress codes, where you need to look professional but without suffering from heat exhaustion or heat stroke while walking to lunch.

​

When you know you're wearing a shirt that's survived decades of summers just like this one with proven performance and authentic character, you carry yourself differently through the city's heat. Building a summer wardrobe anchored in

vintage linen means starting each sweltering day knowing your clothes can handle whatever Manhattan throws at you, because you've invested in pieces that align with your authentic style, not what's trending in this season's heat-wave marketing campaigns.

​

When the city heats up, put your best foot forward. Make something lasting of it.

---

Wardrobe Wisdom Sale of the Week

​

​

​ Up To 60% Off Check Out The Sale

---

A SINGULAR TAKE ON FASHION

A Selection of Summer Shirts

​

By Eric Langlois

​

​

​

Autumn is the classic menswear season. Every year, clothing guys wait with bated breath for the temperature to hit the low sixties so they can layer up sweaters and tweed jackets. Every October, people post memes of frogs in cardigans or Snoopy in a parka with the text “finally Fall so I can really start dressing.” And as much as I love wearing a button-down

Under a rugby shirt, under a sports coat, or the classic September morning “big sweatshirt and shorts with loafers” look, I think we have a tendency to overlook the clothing options that warm weather gives us. With that in mind, I’d like to celebrate a handful of my shirts that make summer worth enjoying.

​

​

​

​

​

The Batik Shirt

Batik was once a mainstay of summer clothing, in the same way as Madras. A colorful, patterned cotton material with tropical origins. Batik was used for shirts, jackets, trousers,

shorts, and neckties in the Ivy Style heyday of the 1960s. These days it’s much harder to find than Madras, which has eclipsed it in the public’s mind, but Batik shirts can still be found from vintage sellers or vintage-minded retailers.

Batik originated in Java, as a dyeing technique that uses wax resist to create patterns on cotton material. By stamping or painting wax onto the cloth before dyeing, the pattern is retained after the wax is removed, resulting in a complex-patterned lightweight material. The technique was spread by Dutch colonialists to sub-Saharan Africa, where the patterns and colors were adapted and expanded into the well-known African Wax Prints that are particularly common to West Africa.

​

In the post-war era, Javanese Batik was adopted en-masse by American clothiers, and was very common in summer clothing for a time. It turned out not to have the staying power of Madras or seersucker, but the dense patterns and rich colors really pop in vintage photos. This shirt is made by Kamakura, a contemporary Japanese brand that bases its design on the ones worn by college students, astronauts, and jazz musicians in the 60s.

​

​

​

​

The Safari Shirt

​

I’ve previously written at length about the safari jacket and its origins in tropical exploration. They started as rugged field wear intended to hold up to days or weeks in the

African bush, and became casual summer business attire by the 1960s. Professionals wore them in hot countries like India and Australia, and I think they’re due for a comeback today.

I bought this one because it reminded me of a famous picture of photojournalist Larry Burrows in Vietnam, with four cameras slung around his neck and a fifth one in his hand. It’s

dressier than a blousy, belted khaki bush jacket, but there’s still a ruggedness inherent to it. It’s exotic, it’s laid-back, it’s a bit reminiscent of the 60s and 70s, and it’s got plenty of pockets for a busy day out.

​

The Long-Sleeve Resort Shirt

​

A long-sleeve shirt might seem like a strange choice for the Summer, but it’s important to remember that you’re dealing not only with the heat, but with the sun. People from desert cultures have traditionally covered as much of the body as possible, counterintuitively wrapping themselves in cloth not to lock in warmth, but to shield themselves from direct sunlight. I was just driving to the Jersey Shore for the Fourth of July, and the constant summer sun on my left arm for hours on the highway made me wish I’d worn long sleeves.

​

Resort shirts have a camp collar and a straight, notched hem, allowing for plenty of airflow at the top and bottom. They also usually have short sleeves, but long, wide sleeves allow for air flow, for stylishly casual rolling, and they protect your forearms from the sun. This shirt is made of Oxford cloth, which might usually be too dense a material for hot summer days except for its hemp-and-cotton makeup. I like to wear it with faded jeans or worn-in fatigue trousers, and to me it captures the unhurried feel of cool summer evenings by the sea.

​

​

​

Do You Need My Help?

​

​

​

• Have you ever found yourself staring at the closet, not knowing what to wear?
• Do you need help with coordinating pieces?
• Do you constantly struggle putting an outfit together and want to turn that confusion into confidence?

​

Then let's talk about how we can improve your look.

​

---

Reginald V. Ferguson

Follow me on LinkedIn, YouTube or my Podcast​

​

​