When you discuss summer with men who are passionate about men's fashion, or even with store managers, they are unanimous on one point: dressing in summer is more complicated/less interesting than winter .
Why this statement?
Well because you often have to do without pieces that contribute a lot to your style in winter : your well-cut coat, your selvedge jeans, a beautiful masculine jacket, or some chunky, manly knitwear.
Dressing in summer means dressing in a more demanding context .
Exit multi-layered clothing, make way for real material that breathes, more under-the-radar creativity to compensate for the reduction in options in your wardrobe. I can already hear you from miles away whispering: but what should I do to look stylish in summer? What to wear to feel good in your clothes without going for the traditional shorts + shirt and going to a barbecue or a terrace with my friends?
Follow the leader !
Masculine elegance in summer: not easy
In winter, you arrive at a bar with a well-cut coat, beautiful Richelieu type shoes, sober raw jeans, a beautiful gray wool jacket, with a gingham shirt and why not a beautiful knitted tie. This is how to be easily stylish in winter.
But in summer, it's completely different. What to avoid: flannel pants with your Oxfords, a plain shirt tucked into the pants with the sleeves painfully rolled up. You would look like a salaryman surprised by the good weather and completely helpless in the heat...
On the other hand, having a 100% elegant look in summer is a vain search, it would be ridiculous to wear a linen suit to go to the beach in the evening! Style for style's sake is about feeding the ego, not your own pleasure.
Summer, like every year, is a little Paris-plage and its artificial sandboxes just like its Japanese tourists in increasingly short skirts.
The adage “ less is more ” has never taken on so much meaning both literally and figuratively. Whether you like it or not, in summer, you're going to have to be casual and subtle . And this is what will be most comfortable for you .
Pretty in a lookbook, but very complicated to reproduce in reality.
On the main lines...
But what is being casual in summer? Here are some ideas that I will detail throughout the article:
- wear patterned, plaid, chambray shirts casually (I'll get to that in a moment)
- have the right t-shirt (not the one that makes you look weird in photos)
- be comfortably and nicely shod
- wear something other than jeans (which in summer is an instrument of torture)
- and have fun with the accessories
Also remember that more than ever, the contrast in style that readers of BonneGueule Book know well is relevant today, namely:
“for a simple piece worn = I wear a strong piece in the outfit”
(or another sober, but very casual piece).
The ideas are numerous: sober chinos with beautiful high-top sneakers , or simple flip-flops and Bermuda shorts worn with a simple white shirt, but with one more button undone.
T-shirts
If it's hot, you'll have to wear a different one each day. It's time to stock up at Monoprix, and at €8 for a t-shirt, you're certainly not going to break the bank. Geoffrey has just scouted there and there are lots of pretty pastel colors again this season.
Have at least 5 or 6 in stock. Besides, I would like to emphasize their quality: I wear them quite regularly, I sometimes wash them at 40° and they hold up to washing without flinching. This is definitely the best value for money for V-neck or round-neck t-shirts .
Where it will get tricky is to have a more elaborate t-shirt:
- it's harder to find
- it's more expensive
- and above all, given that you will surely sweat a lot, you need a t-shirt that holds up well in the wash
It is for this last point that I recommend that you be vigilant with very high-end t-shirts with blends of cotton, silk and cashmere (which Rick Owens has made a specialty of). Preferably, for the high end, stick to cotton, and be very meticulous when washing: cold, on delicates, and in a specially made protective bag.
Oh I forgot, don't be afraid of modal , this artificial textile made from cellulose. Because it is a particularly soft fabric that holds up well to washing.
But what does a high-end designer t-shirt look like?
On this t-shirt
you can see the heavy work in level and color.
Here, you can see the work on the material, which looks silkier than simple cotton... It is also a blend with cashmere.
A lot of work on the material, the shoulders, the pattern
and the bottom of this Rick Owens t-shirt.
In a completely different genre, much more graphic: Kowtow and its soft prints...
and Passarella, with its prints that polarize opinions...
A beautiful pattern on a well-chosen tee / support, it already changes a lot of things
Shirts: use and abuse them
Shirts are going to be an important part of your summer wardrobe, as they can very easily be casual but also elegant pieces . I can only advise you to wear them with your sleeves rolled up, it's much more casual ! If the shirt is not too long, that is to say it does not go lower than mid-buttocks, take it out of the pants. Get dressed
From there, the possibilities are immense, here are the main ones:
Chambray shirts
- The mid-range offering is plentiful : Dockers, Balibaris, Our Legacy, April 77, APC, etc. But for smaller budgets, gems are hidden at Asos or even sometimes at the large low-cost ready-to-wear chains, like Jules, Brice, Celio or H&M. Wear them with chinos or faded jeans! (Still stay vigilant: you'll have to do some digging) Don't hesitate to layer by wearing a t-shirt underneath with a flared collar:
Chambray shirt at April 77 . Obviously, you are probably not
you don't have to wear it with the buttoned collar!
A checked shirt
- Checked shirts: here too the offer is very vast, with all price ranges ... Go for madras or gingham type shirts. There are a multitude of types of checks and colors, which prevents me to give you more precise advice, but for the less confident, know that Balibaris offers shirts with a very accurate design , without risks to start with, with an excellent quality/price ratio. For the rest, try in store! Every year I see very honest checked shirts at Jules or Brice for example. If you move upmarket, you will have no trouble finding extremely nice pieces . And as usual, we remain uncompromising on the cut, even if - comfort requires - you can afford slightly more fullness in the cut.
A beautiful checked shirt starts with checks small enough to play on contrasts + the right color combination
A beautiful, well-worn patterned shirt, that’s it
Summer shirts
- We attack the heart of the subject. A summer shirt is simply a shirt with a material that you could never wear with a suit, such as linen, cotton voile, Japanese cotton , etc. Brands like Gitman Bros, Gantt Rugger, Dockers and Melinda Gloss have made a specialty of exploring this type of fabric in summer collections. Problem: you will automatically have to type in the mid-range/high-end category to have access to interesting subjects. In other words: wait for the sales!
Summer shirts in special fabrics. It’s above all comfort and an almost no-fail choice (focus on the materials)
The case of the linen shirt
- I'll be honest with you: it's very complicated to find a beautiful, well-cut linen shirt, except at the high end . The Mao Mao brand also makes very nice pieces, which I was able to test with pleasure. But otherwise don't waste time looking at H&M or Celio: you're not going to come out alive. Personally, I do not recommend linen . It's certainly light, it absorbs water like a sponge and unless you have a revolutionary deodorant, you will spend the day with marks under your arms from the slightest run...
But Benoit, what do I wear all these shirts with?
Chino or raw or faded jeans, quite simply! Remember, summer is the time to be relaxed, so don't try to make it complicated. Believe me, a checked shirt with the sleeves rolled up will go very well with chinos or jeans, don't worry.
The case of polo shirts...
I already had the opportunity to talk about men's polo shirts in one of my last articles: basically, it's a piece that I don't particularly appreciate, because it's really difficult to find nice ones, which make you think of something other than yet another imitation of a Lacoste or a Ralph Lauren (which is far from flattering, you will agree).
The polo shirt is a hybrid piece that oscillates between casual casual and dressy. A bit like if you crossed a t-shirt and a shirt, and they made little ones. There are no universal rules (cuts and materials will of course be your criteria of choice) but avoid falling into the cliché of the rugby man polo shirt with raised collar and douchebag attitude. Polo shirts are certainly elegant, but they're like muscle: show what's needed and don't overplay it because it loses a lot of elegance and naturalness.
This is why I would advise you not to make polo your priority .
For me, a good polo shirt is either this:
Without a logo, it remains simple and effective. Polo M.Studio .
Either this:
The knitted polo shirt gives a retro effect for more dressy outfits. MELINDAGLOSS polo shirt
Next episode: we attack the bottom of the outfit!
