It’s harder to dress well in when it’s hot out. It’s harder to layer (some people get very angry when I suggest that). You have a smaller selection of comfortable fabrics that work, and you’re missing out on some of menswear’s favorite fabrics: drapey flannels; deep, complex tweeds; heavy denim shirting; shetland wool.
But no matter the heat, you can always revert to this one weird trick: accessories. And while I can always tell you how good accessories are myself—they’re very good—I thought it would be nicer to get a diverse range of perspectives.
So I asked a few of my buddies. Let’s see what they said.
Elias was one of the first people I thought to ask. He’s constantly decked out in watches, rings, necklaces… But here’s the thing: he does that year-round. So when I asked about the summer, he gave me some surprising answers.
He started off by describing his base summer style, his holistic approach. He loves wearing color in the summer. He talks about his “Carribean glow,” which he says looks best in pastels, and he believes everything looks best on him in the summer. He wears linen and cotton, relaxed tailoring, terry cloth polos…
So how does he accessorize on top of that base? Hats, of course—and the occasional neckerchief, although he doesn’t like when they compete with his jewelry. The hats, in turn, inform his hairstyle; he switches to braids in the summer, partly because they’re lower maintenance, and partly because they make room for hats. That’s how it all comes together.
He also skips socks from about June to September. I’m going to remember that in case he ever tries to sell me some shoes…
We all know Denny likes to wear a Stetson hat, but when I asked, he felt the urge to highlight vintage brooches. That stirred something up in me, since I’ve been looking for a great one, myself, since well before they had a moment on the Met Gala carpet.
Unfortunately, when I asked him for photos of him wearing a brooch, he just sent me photos of his wife, instead. Ugh, he’s so in love, it’s kind of annoying.
Again, Wes started by describing his general approach to summer. “I run hot, so being comfortable is a priority.” so he goes with “bigger silhouettes, and more interesting shirts—not just the stripes you see above, but the guayabera, as well.
His go-to pieces are sunglasses from Jacques Marie-Magevintage rings, and a vintage seiko watch “that I haven’t repaired yet.” You’ll do it eventually, Wes. Until then, you have your phone.
He also has two hats. One is a nylon hat from Blackstock & Weber‘s collaboration with ’47 Brand and a vintage Yankees hat from American Needle.
I asked him if he was really a Yankee fan. He is, “by way of my grandmother. [W]hen she migrated here from the Philippines, she became a fan.”
Simon gave a very specific answer: he loves bright orange socks. He’ll wear them with beat up suede loafers, or with the pair above. They’re surprisingly versatile in terms of colors, and function as a signature touch.
He mostly gets them from Front General (they have orange socks in three different colors). I haven’t tried those personally, but I’d add American Trench to the list of recommendations. And obviously, you don’t have to pick orange to get a similar effect. I need to get some new purple socks…
As an added bonus, Simon also loves an unbuttoned shirt showing off a cool necklace. So do I; one of the nice little perks of summer.
Jian is not a minimalist. He wears bold sunglasses, and funky mules. But when I reached out to him, he said he was most excited to wear these Capital Bandanas. You can wear them in a dozen ways, of course—around your head, around your neck, hanging out of any pocket—but here, he just chose to bundle them into a pocket square.that bit of yellow against the yellow western shirt, that bit of black against the black canvas sneakers… this is a fun way to dress a suit down. Good stuff, J.
When I first asked Haran for his insights, he gave some self-conscious rambling response about simplicity having one watch, and only sunglasses from Warby Parker… exactly which kinds of hats he did and didn’t have…
I had to remind him that he also had some dope-ass scarves.
While he feels like he’s been “lavish” with some items, like knitwear and footwear, he didn’t really think of his accessories in the same way.
Nat likes to dress up, and has a fairly high heat tolerance—he only loses the tie at about 90°F. “But going completely open,” he says, “always feels a bit bare, like there is too much empty space around the neck.” So what does he use to fill in that space? “colorful silk or linen neckerchiefs, or sometimes a necklace to keep things intentional.” He clearly has fun with the neckerchiefs, most of which come from Maximillian Mogg. They still have two styles in stock!
“It is a simple way to avoid looking like one of those finance types trying to pass off tielessness as rebellion.” Amen—removing elements of business formal doesn’t make perfect business casual, it just makes incomplete business formal.
… is going behind the paywall, because I think that’s funny.
#Asked #Guys #Accessorize #Summer,