For this edition, Fujita-san asked me to suggest a few nice Spring looks for Tokyo. Since he specifically said the stylish city of Tokyo, I used it as an excuse to be more liberal with colour.
#1
Ring Jacket Blue Herringbone Jacket
Drake’s White Oxford buttondown Shirt
Ring Jacket Pale Blue Cotton Trousers
Drake’s Kelly Green Grenadine Tie
Drake’s White Cotton Pocket Square
Drake’s Lapis Lazuli Cufflink
Saint Crispin’s Medium Brown Split Toe Derby
Everyone knows and loves navy jackets with grey, cream and white trousers but there is also the possibility of using pastel blue, especially with a jacket that is closer to medium blue than to navy. The problem with wearing pastel blue, is it’s easy to look like an ice cream salesman. I tried to use colours that have distinct contrast from one another and without going back into pastel shades. Hence, a white oxford shirt and a strong green tie, a favourite of Michael Hill and myself. I really like how it turned out but because of the colour of the trousers, I find it difficult to add or substitute other colours into the palette without it becoming overly playful. I thought about using a yellow tie but since I wanted to use a very saturated colour, green worked better. I added an old cufflink I had as a lapel decoration for a bit of extra interest.
#2
Ring Jacket Navy Tropical 4-Ply Suit
Drake’s Shantung Silk Block Stripe Tie
Koji Suzuki Dark Brown Oxfords
The Tropical 4-Ply is one of my favourite fabrics in the world, perfect for spring/summer use. It has a matte texture that sits well alongside other textured items, so I put together a look that could also have been made in finer cloths and silks but instead has all been translated into softer, more casual fabrics. This was one of the earliest Drake’s shirts made, with the original label we designed when we started manufacturing our own shirts. It is made of denim chambray that used to be light blue but I’ve washed it and worn it so many times, it’s faded to a pale, ice blue. It is one of my favourite shirts. The block stripe has been a Drake’s standard for years but this year we issued it in raw, shantung silk, with imperfect slubbiness for additional texture. Since the whole look is a little off-beat, I skipped using a pocket square and just used our signature lapel chain as the pocket decoration.