Ah, spring... The time when the beauty of nature comes alive again in blooming flowers and green returning to the trees. The air warms up again and the wind stops stinging our faces. Breathe deeply and enjoy the fresh air. But if there’s one downside to those warmer temperatures (besides the pollen), it’s how much harder it is to put together a killer outfit. When it’s warm and even the thought of wearing any type of outer layer like a jacket sounds uncomfortable, how do you bring your A-game? Here are a few tips to help you stay stylish.


Neapolitan-style soft tailoring is a must

The reason tailored clothing wears warm isn’t necessarily because it’s typically made of wool. It’s actually because of the layers of relatively stiff canvas cloth hidden underneath the outer fabric, which gives it shape. Without those layers, the fabric would simply hang limp on your body. Yet not all tailored garments are made the same.

Within the last century or so, tailors from Napoli who trained under the best British cutters brought their skills back home to the warm southern clime under the shadow of Vesuvius and began to experiment. ‘What if we rip out all these extra layers of padding in the shoulders and remove a layer or two of canvas in the body?’, they asked. What resulted and evolved over the decades has become the de facto favorite for many who wear tailoring.

The Neapolitan style of using little to no shoulder padding, and of using fewer and lighter layers of canvas in the body for shape is a boon in the warmer months. For one, that lighter construction allows summer fabrics like linen blends or high-twist wools to breathe better, while still creating the shape a tailored jacket needs. And it weighs less, so it will hang lighter off your shoulders, too.

Some take that de-construction all the way and forego any inner canvassing altogether. That can work with fabrics that have their own structure—think heavier twills, stiffer cottons, spongy tweeds— but with the types of fabrics you want in warmer months, I do not recommend going totally unstructured on a tailored jacket. If it’s too hot to wear a jacket with any structure at all, I prefer to explore other styles, such as utility jackets or safari jackets, which look great with flowy summer fabrics.

Use complementary textures in your outfits

A major portion of my love for clothes derives from the tactile enjoyment of fabric. Combining textures to complement each other is a source of personal satisfaction for me, and it can also take an outfit up a level as well. Once again, the fabrics we wear in the colder months usually get the most attention for their gratifying texture. The plush softness of cashmere knitwear, the scratchy feel of tweed, the iron drape of a heavy wool twill. These are perennial favorites.

However, warm-weather fabrics have plenty going for them as well. One of my favorite fabrics is some form of a cotton-linen blend. Shirts in particular can benefit from that little bit of linen: it adds visual texture to the shirt, it can make the shirt wear a bit cooler in the heat, and it injects a bit of a nonchalant attitude to your look.

Pure linen is a glorious fabric, particularly when it’s on the heavier side. Heavy linen sounds almost like an oxymoron, but that’s really the good stuff. It rumples more than it wrinkles and drapes beautifully. Put on a smooth broadcloth shirt under a rumpled linen jacket and you’ve got a fantastic contrast in textures.

Embrace looser silhouettes—they wear cooler!

Slim fit has been the default for over a decade. As a child of the late ‘80s, I understood why that happened—it was a correction to the loose, baggy clothing of the ‘90s and early 2000s. Three pleats on a sloppy pair of khaki pants with a button-up shirt approximately 2 sizes too big was the business attire I witnessed when I’d visit my dad at work. I grew up and hated it. Slim fit was a godsend.

But of course, the correction became an overcorrection and we saw the introduction of skinny jeans, ultra-low-rise pants, and tailored jackets that fit like they were from grade school.

I’ve learned to embrace looser silhouettes, particularly in tailoring, for two main reasons. First, it’s more practical and comfortable. Every fabric mill had to add artificial stretch to their cloth just to let you sit down properly in pants so slim. Loosen up that trouser leg with some extra room in the thigh and knee, and now that’s not such a problem. Plus, in the warmer temperatures, looser silhouettes wear cooler. Let yourself breathe, man!

Secondly, I have come to appreciate the different ways that fabric drapes when it’s given the chance. Every kind of clothing has some kind of drape to it—even something as simple as a T-shirt can vary wildly depending on how heavy the fabric is and how it fits you. Tailored clothing is engineered specifically to drape over the body in a way that emphasizes certain features while visually diminishing others.

That’s the reason I love tailoring so much—it’s flattering. A tailored jacket gives the shoulders and upper chest prominence while helping diminish the waist. The length of the jacket magnifies the effect. Tailored trousers make the legs look longer by creating that long vertical line with the ironed-in crease leading all the way up into the jacket’s hem.

But half of the equation is how the fabric hangs. When the cloth has room to drape, not only do you feel more comfortable because you have room to breathe, it looks more comfortable because that sense of comfort is palpable. Look at most photos of iconic men wearing tailoring in the past century, and they all look at ease for this very reason.

So add some extra room in the hip, thigh, and knee of your trousers, and with the help of a style advisor, add some room in your jacket’s sleeves, chest, and waist. A little bit can go a long way towards not only wearing cooler but giving your clothing a sense of panache.

Try tonal dressing, rather than always going high-contrast

Combining colors can be daunting, which is why it’s usually the safest route to go for high-contrast combinations. White jeans with a navy blazer; light gray trousers with a dark jacket over a light blue shirt. Those are great-looking, works-every-time combos. But when it comes to the spring and summer season especially, I like to go lower-contrast in lighter tones to mix things up.

There’s something about lighter colors that work well in the warmer months. Maybe it’s the fact that there’s literally more daylight, so there’s an emotional appeal in reflecting the colors we see in the world around us in what we wear. I suppose it’s also true that lighter colors reflect more light, wearing cooler when the sun is blazing.

Whatever the reasons, wearing lower contrast looks is an elegant move. Of course, the trick is mixing colors in a way that they don’t clash. The color tips I gave before help with this, as well as training your eye to see the undertones in colors.

So, swap out that navy blazer for a tan jacket with your white or light gray trousers (keep the light blue shirt). The result is a look that feels fresh and has more subtlety, without losing any of the elegance.

Though there are plenty of brisk winds and rumbling skies, winter isn’t all bad. There are upsides that come with those dropping temperatures. When we’re adding layer upon layer to keep from shivering, there’s ample opportunity to add texture, variety, and color to your look. Since Atelier Munro can clothe you head to toe, here are some more insights for creating outfits that will look put-together, while still giving you space to express yourself in the cold.


Pick one bold item and make the rest of your outfit subdued

Coco Chanel once said that before heading out the door, look in the mirror and remove one accessory. In that same spirit of restraint, consider how busy an outfit is and let one bold piece of clothing take the lead.

Let’s say you want to wear a traditional suit-and-tie outfit, but you find the normal solid gray suit or blue blazer boring. Wearing brighter colors or bolder patterns is great, but it can also easily veer into being garish. To avoid that, there are a couple of ways to do it tastefully, which we can learn from the example of tasteful dressers in Naples and the U.K.

Neapolitans favor boldly patterned jackets—big patterns in louder colors—which they tone down by wearing a plain blue shirt and dark tie (usually navy). If it’s a blazer they’re wearing, their trousers would be plain as well (in a neutral like gray, cream or stone). The Brits reverse that formula, sticking with sober jackets and suits in colors like navy blue and charcoal gray, then adding panache with bolder shirts in bright colors, more complex patterns, and/or louder ties.

Either method allows you to make a little bit of a statement with your outfit in a way that remains tastefully restrained. There are more good rules of thumb for how to combine more than one pattern in one outfit, but you don’t have to worry about all that if you simply pick one and go plain with everything else.

Upgrade how you think about color

Everybody knows the color wheel and the concept of complementary colors from grade school. When you’re putting together an outfit, choose colors that complement each other and you’re already ahead of the game. But consider these two additional factors when thinking about color.

First, brightness: colors, of course, have more than one shade— brighter and darker. So, think about pairing colors with a contrast between light and dark. For instance, take the classic American Ivy outfit of a navy blazer with khaki pants. It works at the basic color- chart level—blue is complementary to yellow/brown. But in addition to that, it works because the contrast between the blazer is dark and the pants are light. blazer outfit, it works on this level, too. Navy blue is a saturated, rich color, while khaki is a faded, lower-saturation color.

None of this is to say that every outfit you wear has to have high contrast between dark/light, saturated and faded, and complementary colors. But these are shortcuts to a visually appealing combination. As you get better at choosing pieces to wear together, you can begin experimenting with lower-contrast, tonal outfits that use different shades of the same or more closely related colors to create a subtler look.

But when building an outfit, it’s always good to start by thinking about how the colors go together at the basic color-chart level, then consider the other two dimensions of brightness and saturation to elevate it higher.

Layering is the shortcut to looking “put together”

A coworker recently complimented me on how put-together I looked, and she specifically made mention of how I wear layers. In the colder months of fall and winter, layering up is particularly appealing. At the most basic level, even just wearing a jacket of some kind instantly adds style. In fact, my coworker made her comment to me during the hottest part of summer, when the only layer I was wearing to the office each day was a blazer. Yet in comparison to the typical office wear of a simple button-up shirt and chinos, it came across to her as a major upgrade.

When it’s cooler and wearing more than just the jacket/blazer is doable, the simplest step up is to add a lightweight sweater. Atelier Munro’s single-ply cashmere sweaters are outstanding for this— they’re so thin that they add almost zero additional bulk underneath a blazer. And while they do add a little bit of warmth, it’s not so much that you’ll be sweating once you’re in an office environment if you choose to keep your jacket on. My suggestions for colors are navy and medium gray—they go with everything.

Another idea if you want to channel a bit of European continental panache is a scarf made from ultra-lightweight wool. Don’t tie it around your neck like you’re bundling up to go on an Alaskan expedition but wrap it loosely. It works kind of like a necktie alternative since it covers your neck and adds some visual interest.

And, of course, don’t forget about the top-most layer: the coat you wear over it all. While you won’t be wearing that indoors for very long, when you’re out and about it’s an indispensable style piece. I particularly vouch for long coats that hit at the knee or below. The extra length allows for the fabric to flow and drape when you’re walking in a way that I think is wonderful.

When in doubt: a navy blazer and off-white pants

If a navy blazer worn with off-white denim were a personality type, that would be mine. They are two core staples I could not live without. The thing about a navy blazer is that you can get the one year-round version in hopsack wool and be done...or you can expand into variations for different occasions. For instance, you could get a flannel or tonal herringbone in a winter weight for the colder months and a lightweight, high-twist wool or great linen/wool/silk fabric with an interesting texture for the warmer ones. These are perfect in lighter shades of navy for a more festive color palette for summer. And just when you feel you have too many navy blazers, you’ll want all of the above, but this time double-breasted.

My advice is this: Get a year-round navy blazer made in either hopsack or a high-twist wool like Fresco with dark brown horn buttons, patch pockets, and a soft shoulder construction. You can wear that every day in any season, dressed up with a tie or down with jeans, and look great every single time.

The other core staple for me is a pair of off-white pants. I go for off- white jeans, specifically. Many people are uneasy about white pants. I think they’re worried that if their car breaks down and they have to change a tire, they’ll be permanently stained. In my experience, minor stains you acquire throughout the day are unnoticeable by anybody else, and being machine washable makes any stains you do pick up manageable.

But if there is a mental block, go for stone-colored chinos. They give a bit more of an Ivy vibe—stone is a bedrock Ralph Lauren color, and chinos are inextricably intertwined with Ivy League history. If that bothers you, swap the Oxford shirt with a tall-collared cutaway in broadcloth and wear a Belgian loafer instead of a Penny loafer.

And one last thing: for jeans to work with the blazer, they need to be a medium or medium-high rise. Low-rise denim is great by itself, but with a blazer it looks strange because the waistband is too far below the jacket’s buttoning point.