There are right and wrong choices when it comes to wearing linen. Some weaves are too stiff for a poolside shirt. Other weaves are too slouchy and create those ridiculously creased Bible salesman-esque suits. To get it right takes some thinking, some planning; luckily Jonathan Evans, our style director, did that for you. —Luke Guillory, commerce editor
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It’s not as simple as it seems. Here’s how to make the quintessential warm-weather fabric work for you.
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It’s officially that time of year. The days are long, the sun is beating down, and a giant segment of the male population has become obsessed with wearing linen.
This is understandable. For decades, linen has been held up as the one warm-weather fabric that really matters, the only way to keep cool and breezy when the dog days arrive. If you believe the lore, once you put on a linen, well, anything, you’ll be transformed into an unfussed paragon of summer style. No sweat.
There’s a lot of truth to that, but it’s not the whole story. While linen absolutely has advantages come summertime—it wicks moisture, helps regulate temperature, dries faster than cotton, and looks better than synthetics—it has its limitations too. So instead of simply saying you should wear linen, let’s get into the finer points of the fiber.
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The Chateau Marmont first opened as a luxury apartment building in 1929 but sold after the stock-market crash and became a hotel in 1932. It grew into a pied-Ã -terre for actors, writers, and directors; a clubhouse for industry insiders; a singular place in Hollywood history. The cast of Rebel Without a Cause rehearsed in a Chateau bungalow. Writers Joan Didion and Eve Babitz chronicled its cultural significance. Rock legends like Robert Plant and Jim Morrison held lengthy residencies. John Belushi famously died there in the early eighties. To this day, no hotel in Hollywood, in the world, can surpass the Chateau’s if-these-walls-could-talk aura.
But as I stood poolside on the night of Thursday, May 2, 2002, I wondered if this was still the nexus of Hollywood. Clearly I had not yet learned the first rule of Los Angeles nightlife: The cooler you are, the later you show up.
First came the sound of slamming car doors on Marmont Lane, then the blitzkrieg of flashing cameras from shouting photographers. Within ten minutes, I was in the middle of the hottest party in the world that night: “Tell No One.”
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If there is one quick way to waste a whole lot of money when decorating your home, it’s rushing a room’s completion by buying a matching set of furniture from one brand. A desk, wall cabinet, and accent table all from the same line. A bed with a matching dresser and nightstands. Same colors, same curves—Same! Same! Same! Unfortunately, it feels like men fall into this trap most often. They want their space finished, so they walk into a store they like, buy a coordinating bedroom, living-room, or home-office set, and bam. A lot of money down the drain for your home to look like a showroom.
Well-designed spaces take time. You want pieces to coordinate but not match, feel collected, and layer your textiles, woods, and stones. Some tension between stylistic eras goes a long way in keeping things interesting—it’s a process. One that has been radically improved, though, by one brand that suddenly has us breaking all our own rules.
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