For some reason, I’ve always thought of moleskins as being green. Perhaps it’s because when you see them modeled on British men for companies such as Hoggs of Fife or Cordings, they’re often in that dusty, slightly grey-ish shade of lovat, or something darker, such as olive. Well, either those or something obnoxiously loud such as red or yellow, but I could never see wearing such colors myself.
Recently, however, Yukio Akamine has been in the habit of posting photos of himself on his blog (in a charming series of posts he titles “Good Morning Akamine”), and I think he’s convinced me that the best moleskins are brown. Teamed with a brown country sport coat, cream crewneck sweater, striped shirt, and pair of brown shoes, the combination is at once sophisticated and pleasing. Much better, I think, than the tattersalls and brown tweeds that olive moleskins are typically shown with. And in this case, you get the advantage of being able to wear your moleskins more easily with green waxed-cotton Barbours. I don’t know why this didn’t occur to me before.
An online friend of mine recently lent me some shadecards from Brisbane Moss, and included in the bunch were some moleskin fabrics that I was thinking of choosing for trousers. I originally picked olive and didn’t think any more of it. Now I think I’ll have to revisit since the best moleskins are brown.
