Issue #33 | White Hot Linen
A white linen suit (oh my), a couple photo shoots, Buck Mason at the beach, odds & ends, and a note from my dad
Greetings Front of Book readers and fans of The American Psychoanalyst who accidentally subscribed to this newsletter. If that’s you, fear not, for Freud himself was a student of fashion and was know to spend a lot of time and money on finely tailored English suits. In fact, a few years ago to the National Arts Club held a lecture called “Freud and Fashion” that delved into his impact on the world of fashion. Hopefully you’ll find something of use here too.
So without further ado, here’s this week’s newsletter…
1. Styling a White Linen Suit
Last week I mentioned that I’d recently stopped by Suitsupply and was pleasantly surprised with what I found there. The suits were stylish, interesting, and the guys working there looked great wearing them. The prices were also decent and the fabrics were from reputable mills in Italy and elsewhere.
The Off-White Relaxed Fit Roma Suit stood out. I’ve wanted a linen suit for ages but have never found anything off the rack that looked good enough or fit well enough, and it wasn’t the kind of thing I wanted to spend a ton of money on to have made bespoke. But the Roma suit looked nice, and so I ordered it to my apartment to try on.
I had a blast styling this thing. The great thing about linen suits is that they’re on the far end of suiting’s casual spectrum and so they can be worn a bunch of different ways or broken up into individual pieces. Recently I’ve been inspired by what you might call a “louche” style that The Armoury’s Kamau Hosten introduced me to back in Issue #13. We’re talking relaxed tailoring, deep Vs, flowing pants—think Lenny Kravitz or Serge Gainsbourg. Perhaps the best expression of that style today is Husbands Paris, which I’ve written about before. When I tried on the Roma, it reminded me of a Husbands suit with its wide lapels and relaxed fit.
As much as I like this louche style we’re seeing a lot recently, I thought it wasn’t for me. I just didn’t think I could pull it off. But when I started mixing and matching the white linen, it’s was… transformative. It felt great. It felt new. It felt… surprisingly me.
Here’s what I wore it with:
Top: Navy J. Mueser knit polo and Todd Snyder’s Tuscan Leather Knit Sandals. Below (from left): Dress shirt from J. Mueser; the knit polo, Outlier’s Injex Linear pleated pants, and sunglasses from Monokel Eyewear; the Outlier pants and a beautiful Italian dress shirt I’ve had for years but for some reason never wear from a brand whose name escapes me right now.
A couple notes on these fits. One thing I’ve learned since launching this newsletter and diving more into how clothes should fit is that most suit jackets are too short. This is a result of menswear trends in the early 2010s, and although most good brands have gone back to more relaxed fit tailoring, you still see a lot of places doing the small/slim look.
Some basic rules of thumb for jackets: No part of the shirt should be visible below the button when the jacket is buttoned up; you should be able to just cup your fingers around the bottom of the jacket when your arm is fully extended; and the back of the jacket should fully cover the seat.
Of course, personal preference plays a part here, but I agree with menswear experts like Simon Crompton of Permanent Style and Die Workwear’s Derek Guy when they say that longer jackets are more flattering, since they give the impression of height and proper proportions. And that’s one of the reasons I love this Suitsupply jacket. (The size is 42L.)
The other thing, and this takes a bit of getting used to, is that these pants—both the suit pants and the Outlier pants—are meant to be worn at the natural waist, that is, above the hip bones. That feels really high at first; it’s basically at or above your bellybutton. But I think it undeniably makes the outfit look better, giving the body and hourglass shape with a longer legs and a shorter upper body.
(I want to quickly thank the folks at Outlier for sending me the navy trousers. They are so sharp, so comfortable, and my new favorite summer pant.)
That night, Ms. Front of Book and I went out for a drink. It wasn’t for any special occasion, but I decided to dress up anyway. That’s the great thing about wearing tailoring these days. Because you don’t have to dress up for anything anymore, dressing up is the occasion. Cheers to that.
2. Buck Mason at the Beach
A few weeks ago the folks of Buck Mason reached out to ask if I wanted to try out any garments. As readers of the newsletter know, I’m a fan of Buck Mason—I just don’t think there’s anyone doing basics for a fair price better.
So I had a deep dive on the site and selected a top to bottom outfit:
Avalon Knit Polo in dress navy
Draped Twill One Pocket Shirt in natural
Diver Cloth Swim Short, brown/navy diamond
I’ve been getting a lot of wear out of all of these items. I picked them to fit seamlessly into my wardrobe as workhorse items that would go with pretty much everything. Then I took them out to the Rockaways for a little photo shoot. (Although I truly hate having my photo taken, I must admit I’ve having a fun with these photo shoots.)
The draped twill shirt is great. It’s a perfect fit, soft, tuckable or untuckable, a real winner. I’ve been wearing the officer pant (not pictured here) often. They’re made of a sturdy 9.5 oz cotton twill and have a vintage fit and look that will only look better with more wear. The shorts are a classy color and pattern and have a great cut; they’re nice enough to wear around town as well as to the beach. The indigo sweatshirt is just a no-brainer, and I’ll be getting a lot of use out of that as the weather dips.
The only garment I wouldn’t recommend so highly is the Avalon knit polo. It’s not that I don’t like it, but the cotton is quite thin and, in general, I find cotton knits don’t last long. It’s also very dark, almost black to the eye. I love knit polos, but if you’re looking for something that’s going to last, I would splurge on a nicer light wool or linen blend at a place like Drake’s.
3. A Few Odds & Ends
FOB reader (and my former neighbor in Beijing) Jonah Kessel asked for a belt-centric post on options other than black leather. Jonah, I haven’t had time to do that yet, but I did come across these funky options from Sid Mashburn, which I though would a little flare to jeans and khakis:
Ciele Athletics has a cool line of marathon inspired performance hats. The N.Y. one—superb.
Speaking of running, a while back (before I fractured my foot playing tennis), On sent me a pair of Cloudmonster 2s in Undyed | Frost. This is my first pair of Ons and I can highly recommend these for a daily trainer. I wouldn’t want to run a marathon in these—they have a lot of cushioning, more than I’m used to, so your legs have to really work—but as a tempo or training shoe, these are great. Interestingly, I’ve found myself wearing them out and about when I know I’ll be doing a lot of walking, because they’re super comfortable and I just like the look of them.
The Substack newsletter The Bengal Stripe had a story the other day on an interesting loafer brand out of Pennsylvania called August Special. Love, love, the leopard prints.
4. A Note From My Dad: Farm Style
Front of Book’s #1 reader wanted to share some thoughts on the farm style in rural Saskatchewan when he was growing up. It turns out, some things change, some things say the same.
That man in the photo, is, of course, your father, circa l966. It’s been a good many years since I’ve given much thought to my farming days, and it got me thinking about how vast is the gap between the two of us when it comes to style. But is it?
You, as the creator of Front of Book, spend a good deal of time thinking about how men, young men, think of themselves and whether they feel good about looking good. Seeing me, in the photo, leaning rather fondly on my tractor and looking ever so slightly smug, got me thinking that there are significant similarities that stay firmly in place over the decades.
Whereas a young man today in NYC might feel good about the kind of car he drives, a vintage Saab (ed. note: I drive a vintage Saab), for example, way back then I felt damn fine about the kind of tractor I rode. Still, you might think that the comparison ends there, and the farmer might just pick whatever clothes lay on the floor on the morning of his day of work. Not at all. Let’s take a closer look. Although he spends a good part of his day in the outdoors, he wears no hat. That’s in contrast to what a farmer of the previous generation did, which is to wear a hat whether he’s going out to climb aboard that gorgeous Massey Ferguson tractor or make the weekly trek to church.
The pants, in the fashion of that time, were blue jeans, and not just any blue jeans. No, they had to be GWG made in Alberta (ed. note: I had to look this up, but Great Western Garment Company was a Canadian clothing brand founded in Edmonton in 1911 and acquired by Levi’s in 1961. Its motto was “They wear longer because they’re made stronger,” and the last factory closed in 2004). The shirt is an ordinary work shirt, but look at the sleeves. They are rolled up, carefully in a certain way. Fashion, my boy, fashion.
I have to admit that I was a little taken aback by the shoes. This is a man who works in a dusty field, or stands in grain as it is being pored into the bin. How practical were the almost dressy ‘step in loafers‘ I had on, in that environment? I have no answer, except to say, no sacrifice is too great if the result is to look good and feel good. Perhaps one of the Ahrens girls from the farm a mile down the road, gorgeous as they all four were, was on the other side of the camera. Ya gotta look good if you possibly can. And I did.
Love, Dad
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.
Mitch
Question? Comment? Suggestion? Caught a typo? Email me at mitch.moxley@gmail.com