This time of year, I am often asked what linen suit, jacket or pants a student should get. Their eyes turn to summer, and usually an event that will involve summer sewing.
We wrote aboutlinen charmusually before, and aboutdifferent linen bundlesin detail – both inTextile Guide. But the question people often ask is very simple: which color is right?
So here is my explanation of what colors to consider and why – for trousers, suits and jackets. Since this is PS, everything is done in a very logical order.
Light or dark?
The first question you have to ask yourself is, do you want light colored linen, because that’s part of the appeal, because it’s meant to be a bright reflection of the sun – or, is it about coolness and subtlety, and something darker would be better.
I find students often have one or the other on their mind, and it’s good to clarify. Both are very different, and isolating them is a quick way to narrow down the choices.
If it’s dark: start with brown and green
Linen, in general, is more suited to earthy colors like brown and green, rather than formal business colors like navy or gray. Linen is an absorbent fiber and takes color very well, and its natural texture and looseness (and, of course, creasing) give it a natural feel that’s perfect for these colors.
So if you’re looking for a black linen suit or pants, I’d start by looking at dark browns and olive greens. Above are two of my examples: a dark brown linen suit from Edward Sexton, whose trousers I also wear a lot in the summer; and green trousers from Whitcomb and Shaftesbury.
If it’s light: go with beige or taupe, not cream
I still hear that the cream-linen suit is the backbone of the wardrobe. Well,I’ve tried that twiceand a real cream suit is a difficult thing to wear. It is very bright and showy. If you want a linen suit along these lines, don’t get white or cream – go for off-white, beige or pale taupe. They are very simple.
Using W Bill ‘Fine Irish Linens’ as an example, you don’t want white (61370) as it will look cheap. Cream (61369) is better but quite rich, maybe OK for trousers but impressive as a suit. A slightly darker cream (61364) is still better, but my preference is a slightly gray biscuit linen like Mersolair pictured above, or Solbiati beige above.
Also, I once saw a beautiful suit by Anderson & Sheppard made for King Charles waiting to be replaced – and that was W Bill 61361, almost a pale grey. It’s been on my mind ever since.
You might call that color a light taupe, and taupe is a good color to consider in something between light and dark. My Armory suit shown above, for example, is a taupe, and it turned out to be very wearable.
Taupe is a combination of brown and gray, the brown itself varying slightly as does the brown. The important thing is that mixing with gray makes it a muted, neutral color – and avoiding strong color is the cornerstone of every first set of recommendations.
The fabric I used for my suit is no longer available, but W Bill 61360 looks pretty close to me. Manish’s beautiful ‘cappuccino’ color of Art du Lin fabric is also a good example here – one exclusive to the Anthology.
But what if it’s a coat?
These recommendations apply to all linen clothing, but especially to suits and pants. Like everything from tweeds to high-twists, jackets are a little different.
First, yellow linen jackets are much easier to pull off than suits. A cream linen coat can be worn in many ways, as shownhere. And as Manish has discussedherelight jackets with dark pants are generally easier for guys these days than a regular black jacket and light pants.
Jackets also benefit from a little texture, pattern or color. My Salino linen jacket (above) is more suited to a jacket than a suit or trousers, because of its texture (it’sMildmay linenfrom Hellard). Maison Hellard is very good at pattern making – as you can see from ittheir Heures Bleus collection.
Another advantage of a linen coat with a clear pattern or pronounced texture is that it makes it easy to wear plain linen pants with it – as I did in that outfit with the Hellard coat.
A solid color is good, sometimes
Because linen takes color well, you often see linen jackets in solid colors (theHolland & Sherrythe distance is very good for this). The problem with solid colors is two-fold: they look best in bright weather and are very memorable – you have to wear a bright green jacket two or three times and become the guy who wears ‘that’ jacket.
However, if you spend a lot of time in Palm Beach or already have other bases covered, bright colors can be fun. My orange jacket from Anderson & Sheppard above is adorable, even though it’s only worn two or three times a year. Manish has a beautiful dusty pink.
I would also include tobacco brown linens in this category. A tobacco linen suit is a great thing to wear, but it’s tough. I wear mine (also above) as a suit especially in places like Italy. In the UK I’m more likely to wear the two halves separately.
Blue is navy
The reason navy often doesn’t look good on linen is that it quickly looks dusty and old – very different from how the same color looks in a shabby business suit. There are exceptions, however.
One is the professional group Art du Lin from Solbiati, which has a matte texture, almost like suede. This looks best in navy I find, although it’s still good in bolder colors like beige ordark brown (see image at top of article).
Another difference is that if you push the navy over the blue, without being too bright, it can be just as versatile as denim. Above, in the first image Manish is wearing a cotton/linen blend jacket from Decorum, but a blue like W Bill 61380 is not far behind. This is more wearable than my light green, moreover.
Other colors: Black, green, gray
There’s a reason some of these other colors haven’t appeared yet, but they have their place. Black, for example, can be a great evening wear option in linen, and can work as another blazer when paired with other dark colors (above, by Cifonelli). It can also make a useful pair of pants if you wear a lot of neutral colors.
A solid green, as opposed to a muddy olive, can be just as fun as most linen colors can be, if you like a solid color and know how to combine it with things like cream and gray to tone it down, if you want. I would put my green scabal above and in that category, because it is an unusual color.
I also found the gray linen to be tricky. I have one pair and I think they look great in the summer with something like a black-navy knit shirt and a soft black loafer. But like these other colors, it is quite limiting.
