If further proof was needed that gaudy, knee-length board shorts and a tatty old singlet were no longer acceptable holiday attire for gentlemen then the invitation for Australian resort wear label Commas to show at Milan Fashion Week in July ought to provide it.
The brand was founded by creative director Richard Jarman in 2016 with the intention of offering stylish swim trunks, linen robes and silk shirts to take you from poolside to cocktails.
For Jarman, showing during Milan’s first digital fashion week is a significant milestone.
“When I first started, my dream was to create the perfect pair of swim shorts and clothes to travel in. A few years later, for Commas to resonate with the fashion industry on this level is beyond what I had ever imagined,” he says.
The brand’s new collection is inspired by the places Jarman has been and would like to go – something that, especially in these somewhat grounded times, is likely to resonate with many.
“The collection is brighter than usual, very textured, and it’s our largest collection to date, with new silhouettes and prints. I like to think of it as our most optimistic collection,” he says.
The success of the brand, now stocked on Mytheresa and Matches Fashion among others, speaks to a shift toward elegance in holiday attire for men. It reflects a wider change in how men, and indeed women, are dressing now, too: our lives and leisures have become more entwined, and aren’t we all in pursuit of the perfect capsule wardrobe, anyway?
Sam Kershaw, buying director at luxury men’s retailer Mr Porter, says men’s resort and holiday offerings have become more refined partly because many brands have expanded their ranges into more casual styles in recent years.
“You can now seek that perfect summer T-shirt or a reliable tailored short from across a variety of brands, price points and quality of make,” he says. “What remains consistent across all categories, however, is the availability of these classic tropes of summer clothing – the T-shirt, the polo, the tailored short, the swim trunk, the leather slide, and so on and so forth.”
This month Mr Porter launched an exclusive capsule collection with the Loewe x Paula Ibiza boutique, as well as a new high summer collection from in-house label Mr P. (which includes the brand’s introduction to swimwear) and surf-culture-inspired capsule Gone Surfin’, featuring over 17 brands including The Elder Statesman and James Perse.
Other brands with summer-ready pieces on the site include the super luxe Tom Ford, Loro Piana and Brunello Cucinelli.
Kershaw says the luxury category is seeing growth across the entire Mr Porter catalogue.
“Much of its growth comes from the interest of our customers … In response to years of more casual and hype-driven menswear trends, we’re also seeing a return to a classic and more traditional approach to dress,” he says.
Kershaw also believes that holiday dressing is infiltrating the 9-5 wardrobe because of less delineation between work and play, with many wanting versatile pieces that suit different occasions.
“With the blending of work and personal life, [which is] very much tied to the emergence of a work-from-home culture, the term ‘business casual’ has never been more alive,” he says.
“These classic, versatile pieces that can be dressed up and down easily are becoming the everyday workhorses within a man’s wardrobe.
“A luxury T-shirt that stands alone in the summer months is also the ultimate, effortless layering piece under an unstructured blazer. A leather sneaker makes a pair of shorts look smart but also a suit modern. The key is investing in the right ones and the right colourways so they have versatility in your wardrobe.”
The idea of holiday wardrobes working harder is reflected in other popular luxury resort wear labels right now, including British brands Orlebar Brown (famously worn by the one of the most stylish men to ever holiday, Daniel Craig as James Bond) and Frescobol Carioca.
Frescobol Carioca co-founders Harry Brantly and Max Leese, whose brand is inspired by the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, say the growth in the men’s resort wear category speaks to the versatility and smartness men are now seeking.
“At the time we launched, the men’s resort wear market was small – we found that all of our friends had swim shorts from the same brand and there wasn’t really anyone else tapping into the demand,” Brantly says.
“Our collections are designed to take you from the water to the bar, whether you’re by the pool or the sea, so we already have versatility in mind when we create. Because of our mission to offer styles that are casual enough for the beach, yet smart enough for the evening, our collections can be worn outside of the holiday environment with ease.”
Adam Brown, co-founder of Orlebar Brown (he sold the company to Chanel in 2018 but remains creative director), says there is a joy in dressing up for holidays too, especially because it allows for a little more experimentation and playfulness.
“I think we all now understand that holidays are an occasion worth dressing for … the other thing about a holiday wardrobe is it’s an occasion that you can really celebrate colour, you can really celebrate print, and [it’s also a] moment in most men’s lives when you can maybe just be somebody a little bit more exciting than you normally are in the way you would normally dress.
“[It involves] really thinking about fabrics or thinking about colour [and] being slightly braver with your palette,” he says.
Perhaps, then, the real appeal of holiday dressing is that it’s less about a destination and more of an aesthetic and mood. For Richard Jarman, this means making the most of every day.
“My wife and I try to bring holiday into our everyday lives; the ‘Commas mantra’ was originally a design goal, but it’s really transformed the way we live and approach each day. We wake up at first light most mornings to watch the sunrise, go for a swim, enjoy coffee in the sun and then head to work,” he says.
“It’s moments like that every day that make life feel like some kind of a holiday. You don’t have to live by the beach to find it, either. There’s beauty everywhere if you take the time to visit it.”
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