Cream linen suits can make for a bit of a statement, but if you find the right occasion and the weather is hot enough, they can also look pretty great. Roberto in Madrid shows how to wear one well. The jacket fits him across the shoulders and chest, is long enough to not look boyish, and the area below the buttoning point (which online clothing enthusiasts like to call “quarters”) opens out towards his hips, giving him a nice sweeping line from the top of his lapels down to his hem.
The shirt underneath (made by Mirto) is finely striped, but the color resolves to a solid light blue when viewed from a distance. The suede tassel loafers are from the newly revived Spanish brand Yanko, the tie is an old silk knit with a unique diagonal weaving pattern, and the colorful madras hank is from Jesse’s own pocket square shop (I swear I didn’t know this until Roberto told me). Lastly, the well-proportioned straw Panama is from a generic Spanish department store. I like how the brim isn’t too skimpy.
The upside to a cream linen suit is that you can wear the jacket and pants separately. The jacket, for example, can be worn with grey tropical wool trousers, and the pants can be paired with a mid-blue sport coat. The downside is that cream can show dirt a bit easily, and thus will see more trips to the dry cleaners. Perhaps that’s why our friend Roberto here is carefully leaning against a (seemingly) clean metal pole.