Summer Style Part ii : Linen Jacket

The most sought-after Jacket that I ever made and/or owned was an unlined indigo navy Linen Jacket with bright yellow-taped inlay: I sold it and have missed it ever since.

I shouldn’t have been surprised by its desirability. The popularity of linen never fades, returning like a swallow, summer after summer. Why so? Well, linen is evocative: a fabric fairly woven from associations of life between the wars. It conjures up images of undergraduates pedalling through the streets of Oxford, of picnics and punting on the Cherwell, of Jay Gatsby’s inimitable pink linen double-breasted three-piece.

And then there’s that feel. Inherent creasing quickly gives a linen garment a kind of lived-in charm. Linen has a very particular natural palette – creams, beiges, olives and tobacco-browns, reminiscent of the same period. For the gent stylish enough to keep a row of such pieces hanging up, his wardrobe will begin to resemble a bookshelf of faded cloth-bound classics. And, of course, linen ages quickly and beautifully: wear it a half-dozen times and it’san old friend – a baker’s dozen and it’s as familiar as a favourite uncle.

Linen is cool, in more ways than one. It can absorb 20% of its own weight in moisture, and, being traditionally a loose weave, allows air to filter through. Add wooland silk into the mix and you will be ready for trips to warmer climes – or, at least, balmy days self-isolating in the garden.

Summer is a time to relax, expose Vitamin D-starved bodies to the elements and basically spend as much time al fresco as possible – for who knows when it might all end? To keep our cool, we tend to adopt what the French refer to as ‘laissez-faire’ and the Italians ‘sprezzatura’ – an altogether much more relaxed approach to dressing. Our clothes must accommodate this by being lightweight and comfortable. Linen achieves this perfectly.

Brown in Town is a master of the art of linen. Our Fatto-in-Italia Jackets come unlined in order to reduce insulation but also benefit from a full canvas which has a soft-handle. Linen is also a cloth oft-selected for Summer Jackets – pieces which lend themselves particularly well to the modus operandi of ‘just chilling’.

As Hardy Amies once said “a man should choose his clothes with intelligence, put them on with care and then forget all about them”. This has inspired our entire Custom Collection this Summer – of which linen is the undisputed hero.