Written by Ethan Newton
I have always found some romance in the hardy utilitarian aspect of clothing, be it a pair of denims, a horsehide coat, a tweed odd jacket or a pair of flannels. There is a uniformity to it, a classicism that is beyond reproach, they are all pieces as familiar to us as a chesterfield sofa or a glass coke bottle. Even those of us who have never owned or worn any of these garments, they are such staple pieces of a wardrobe, so often seen in media from film to literature, that they sit comfortably in our minds evoking solidity and function in dress. I have always thought that a basic wardrobe needed pieces that would not be the worse off should they find themselves serving as a blanket should we end up sleeping on a bus stop bench or, more likely, airport lounge.
While it bucks the trend of most modern clothing, I am not one for superfine wools and luxury cloth. Give me a 320 grams of worsted loveliness to drape like chain mail, and I will be a happy man. I know I won’t be as concerned sitting on a park bench, or a stone staircase, and should it gets a mark or rub or stain, all the better, cloth that hefty deserves a few battle wounds. Going from wet climates to dry, air conditioning to humidity, or wet cold climates into warm interiors, full cloth is less likely to show the effects, while the sub 250 gram wools seem to lose their moisture all to quickly as the ambient humidity changes, puckering tight seams and sending creased trouser fronts and full rolling lapels in to a wilted, flat mess.
540gr Fox Flannel by Patrick Chu