HTSI Editor’s Letter: The Queen of the Boxwoods, and Other Stories

Something sexy is happening to men’s fashion. Having seen the rise of “office sneakers,” cashmere sweatpants, and those other stealthy luxury casual totems that have taken off lately, I began to wonder if we had witnessed the death of dressing up.

Stupid of me. As soon as one trend seems to have captured the popular imagination, another appears. Our cover story, photographed by Kyle Weeks and styled by Esther Matilla, looks at the tailoring and manufacturing innovations that have allowed designers to eliminate the rigid architecture of the suit. This season it is softer, lighter and comes in pale sherbet colors; it is worn with large statement jewelery and a silky supple scarf. The atmosphere is languid, relaxed and subversive, reminiscent of Yves Saint Laurent from the 1970s.

In fact, Saint Laurent is very much at the forefront of this new state of mind in tailoring. Under the creative direction of Anthony Vaccarello, the brand’s menswear collections in recent seasons have been tighter, silkier, and far more seductive than we’ve ever seen before. Vaccarello has brought a welcome touch of glamor to a moment that could be smothered in tasteful swathes.

Aleks Cvetkovic talks to designers about new soft tailoring and how to dress smart in the summer while staying cool. Would you consider, as we are seeing more and more on the red carpet, going without your T-shirt? No, I suspected not, but maybe you’ll undo a few buttons this season; now it is de rigueur to show your chest again.

Unbutton a few buttons this season – now it’s de rigueur to show your chest again

Something of an antidote to the vagaries of fashion, gardener Charlotte Molesworth couldn’t be less interested in trends. For the past 40 years, the artist and plant breeder has been working at Balmoral Cottage in Kent, transforming a dilapidated gardener’s dwelling into a pilgrimage site for scholars and horticulturists, who come to study her world-famous collection of plant crops. box and extraordinary topiary. As Clare Coulson observes on a visit, Molesworth’s efforts are the antithesis of the instant garden where things are pre-grown and ready for immediate effect. The Molesworth garden has taken decades to reach full maturity, and what a magnificent wonderland it is.

A more immediate question: where to find the perfect t-shirt? Mark C O’Flaherty has provided the answer on this issue, and I am fully in favor of your choice. Like him, I vacillated between the prohibitively expensive, but utterly perfect James Perse T-shirts (worth every penny, trust me) and the US drugstore-bought white “vests” by Hanes. Mark has more suggestions that should suit most tastes and styles. we have also met the man behind the renaissance of japanese watches in Grand Seiko and made a summary of the best “demi” reds of the summer.

@jellison22

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