As it goes with fashion, everything old is new again. This time literally and figuratively, as I’ve come around to being less apprehensive about pre-distressed clothes. Pre-washed denim, for example, has a nice sky blue that’s difficult to achieve with raw denim, and the lighter color goes excellently with canvas sneakers in the summertime. I’ve also recently been wearing this heavily washed chambray shirt from Chimala. The problem with most chambrays is that they’re too much of a mid-blue, like this, which makes wearing them with jeans difficult. This chambray, on the other hand, goes great with jeans and a field jacket when the weather gets cold, and can be worn alone with a t-shirt and denim when the temperatures near 90, like they did yesterday.
Strangely, heavily washed chambray shirts don’t seem to be easy to find. There’s this Chimala (which is available at J. Crew and Unionmade), an RRL, and a slightly dressier version by Acne. If you’re willing to go a bit darker, however, the world of options opens up. Barney’s has an especially large range this season. There’s also this heavily washed denim shirt from The Jean Shop. It’s too thick to wear as anything but a shirt jacket, but it works well as one if you size down.
In the above, the boots are from Oak Street Bootmaker, the t-shirt from Barns, the jeans from 3sixteen, the wallet from Flat Head, the belt from Don’t Mourn Organize, and the field coat from Aspesi. The field coat is about five years old now, and no longer available in Aspesi’s collections, but they make similar ones every season. APC also has a really nice field jacket with a detachable lining, and if money were no object, I like these by Visvim, The Real McCoys, and Ten C. For a budget friendly option, J. Crew’s Garrison is a great value. It’s a touch overpriced at full retail, but there’s rarely a week when J. Crew’s mainline isn’t put on sale in some way.