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Are you proud of yourself for not having splurged too much this season? Well reward yourself by spending all of your savings on these mid-season sales. At least that’s what I did last night, picking up an RRL t-shirt, some Lemaire trousers, and a few bags of coffee beans (had to re-up). There are some really good mid-season sales right now, ranging from Edward Green shoes to Pure Blue Japan flannels to Eidos suits. Some notables:

Brooks Brothers: Extra 25% off Clearance Items

Take an additional 25% off already-discounted items in the sale section. I mostly shop here just for the shoes nowadays, many of which are made by Allen Edmonds, Alden, Crockett & Jones, and Alfred Sargent (just look for descriptions that say made-in-USA or made-in-England). With the discount, you can snag these suede wingtips for $149; penny loafers for $239; and Red Wing chukkas for $183. Solid deals. 

I’ve been really into bolder shirts lately, which I think of as a spring equivalent of textured knitwear. Menswear writers often list your basic, plainly colored v-necks as wardrobe staples, but I find they only work well under suits and sport coats. On their own, they’re a bit too bland, a bit too business casual. So I prefer things that are more textured, such as spongey lambswools, twisted cables, or flecked Donegals. I find them more versatile. And infinitely better looking. They add visual interest to a simple sweater-and-jeans outfit and can be layered under casual outerwear. 

It’s harder to wear textured knitwear this time of year, but the same idea applies to shirts. A bolder shirt pushes an outfit away from business casual territory; it adds visual interest. And while I still like crisp white linens and light-blue oxford-cloth button-downs – even on their own with tailored trousers or jeans – it helps to have some bolder prints for casual situations. They’re not as versatile as textured knitwear, but still useful when you want to make a spring outfit more stylish. The best ones I’ve found this season:

I’m convinced that no one who likes clothes can possibly like spring. The clothes are often less interesting; there’s less opportunity for layering. The cuts reveal more than conceal, and few of us look good naked. Whereas dressing for winter can be something of a paint-by-numbers exercise, dressing for spring is more like trying to solve a puzzle. How do you dress well, but also comfortably? 

It always takes me a while to switch wardrobes this time of year, but I often go back to the same things – breathable tailoring, button-down shirts, and loafers. For casualwear, it’s usually a field jacket or chore coat, then some raw denim jeans (gotta get those fades). I also like bolder shirts nowadays with unusual collars. If you’re looking for some style inspiration this spring, here are three things I’m really into at the moment. 

Some Spring Tailoring

Unionmade is a great shop for workwear, heritage brands, and hard-to-find Japanese imports. They carry everything from Levi’s to Kapital, but the clothes come together in a way that can be roughly described as a classic, casual West Coast aesthetic. There are slim-straight jeans for guys who normally wear sport coats, as well as a huge selection of casualwear drawing militaria, workwear, and neo-retro outdoor gear. 

From now until Monday, they’re also having an early spring sale. Take 25% off all orders with the checkout code -25FINALSALE (be sure to include the minus sign, which is easy to miss if you copy-and-paste). As the code suggests, all purchases made with the code are final sale, so be sure to check measurements. The code does stack, however, on already discounted items in the sale section, although it excludes anything from Alden and Birkenstock. Some highlights I think are worth a look: 

In their guide Perfumes, widely considered the bible on the subject, Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez answer some commonly asked questions about fragrances. One was whether scents change according to the wearer’s personal chemistry. “For a long time, Luca believed the answer to be absolutely no,” writes Sanchez. “And that all assertions to the contrary were marketing ploys designed to make the average person feel uniquely addressed and bonded to the product, as if perfume were like a mood ring or shrink-to-fit jeans, sensitive to the wearer’s medical history, soul, or waistline. There’s something to that; undoubtedly it makes us feel special to sigh and say, ‘I love this perfume because it works fantastically with my chemistry.’” 

Their full answer is a bit more complicated than that – scents do change a little with the wearer’s chemistry, but not really – which is how I feel about the neverending debate about whether you should consider your skin tone when choosing colors. You hear this all the time, especially among men who use bespoke tailors. They, after all, have an infinite number of choices between the different shades of blue. Supposedly, earthy hues work on some men, while others are better off with something warmer. 

Much of this actually comes from Carol Jackson’s 1987 book, Color for Men, which transported 1970s make-up theory for women into men’s wardrobes. For Jackson, people came in four seasonal colors. Wintery men are defined by their olive complexions, dark brown hair, and brown eyes. She said they should avoid lighter colored jackets, such as those in natural camelhair, since they give their skin a yellow cast. Instead, she encouraged them to wear dark suits, white shirts, and dark ties, which she claimed enliven their natural look. 

One of the things I love about Drake’s is how they’re able to present classic clothes in a way that feels a bit fresher, a bit newer, without veering off into the bushes. This season, the company shot their spring/ summer lookbook in Charleston, South Carolina, where they’ve mixed their English ties and Italian tailoring with some of their favorite pieces from the heydays of American style. And at a time when prep feels beleaguered – sometimes dated, sometimes lacking in self awareness – Drake’s presentation makes me think, “oh yea, this stuff is pretty good.”

In an old post at Put This On, my friend Pete once wrote a great essay on what’s happened to prep. In the mid-2000s, “J. Crew sales were booming – critter shorts and tiny collared OCBDs abounded. Grosgrain enthusiast Thom Browne won a CFDA award and got his own line at Brooks Brothers. Ralph Lauren launched an over-the-top youthful prep brand allegedly named after Ralph’s dog, Rugby. Old prep labels such as Gant were resurrected, and Barneys stocked new, prep-riffing labels like Band of Outsiders and Benjamin Bixby. The author of the Official Preppy Handbook was writing a sequel.” 

Now in 2018, Rugby and Bixby have shuttered, Thom Browne is no longer at Brooks Brothers, and J. Crew and Ralph Lauren are struggling to find their footing. Even the term preppy feels pejorative again. It’s sticky and gross, referencing a sense of smugness, as well as the squeamishly elitist things we blissfully ignored ten years ago. Pete writes: “Prep implies privilege and inherited money; some of prep’s charm comes from the unquestioning self-confidence bestowed only by independent wealth. Today we still like our wealth obnoxious. But not smug or entitled.” To the degree prep feels relevant, it’s often through generic things that have simply become “clothes.” Flat front used to be preppy, but now they’re just common attire for everyday office workers. 

There’s this old episode of Seinfeld I love. George becomes smitten with a charming brunette named Nina, who he meets for the first time while wearing Timberland boots. Convinced his thick soles hide the fact that he’s short, he commits himself to wearing the same Timbs every time he sees her – any situation, every situation, no matter how absurd. By the end of the episode, the two travel together to India to attend a mutual friend’s wedding. George, still committed to his ruse, paints his wheat Timbs black in a desperate attempt to make them look like dress shoes. And when Nina finally snaps, she spins around and dryly tells him: “You can take off those boots – everyone knows you’re five foot six.“

That’s how I feel about all these rules surrounding how you should dress for your body type. The pseudo-scientific ones about how shorter men shouldn’t wear such-and-such; heavier men should avoid these other things. Most seem like they’re about assuaging our insecurities, rather than having an effect on how we’re perceived.

If there’s any country that knows how to make cold-weather clothes, it’s Scotland. Heavy tweeds, cabled sweaters, and what I think is the best cashmere in the world. Recently, David Marx – the author behind Ametora – wrote a great essay on how Japan has become an important export market for traditional Scottish clothes and textiles. The article was first published in Vanguards Magazine, a bi-annual publication celebrating design and products. 

Marx’s essay starts with how traditional Scottish goods landed in Japan in the first place. Mid-century American clothes, marketed as Ivy Style, originally brought things such as Harris Tweed to the island. Pictured above, for example, is Tailor Caid’s Yuhei Yamamoto (photo by Mark Cho), wearing a classic, soft-shouldered, American-style overcoat. It’s this sort of tweedy look that would later open up the Japanese market to other Scottish specialities, such as fisherman knits and teaseled scarves. Marx’s essay is republished in full here with permission, but if you like it, check out Vanguards’ second issue, from which this is taken (there’s a graphic novel in there about Aero Leathers). Vanguards is also selling a specially designed bandana that accompanies this story.

Each autumn in Tokyo, there are a series of annual rituals which alert shoppers that crisp weather and burgundy maple leaves are just around the corner. First, traditional menswear retailer Beams Plus covers an entire wall with stacks of fluffy Jamieson-made sweaters in a crayon’s box worth of color variations. Next, stores such as United Arrows, Tomorrowland, and Ships join Beams in bringing out piles of thick wool shawl cardigans from Inverallan, each with a tag certifying the sweater’s hand-knit origin. In November, men celebrate the bountiful harvest of late summer trunk shows: their made-to-measure Harris Tweed sports coats have arrived. They match their herringbone and dogtooth jackets with explosions of fair isle patterns and tartan scarves to scatter festive color across the Tokyo streets.

Even with the explosion of online media nowadays for men’s clothing, it can be a challenge to find good, relatable content for how to wear a coat-and-tie. Much of what’s celebrated online is too aggressively styled for most offices – tightly cut suits, heavily patterned fabrics, and unusual accessories. Great for Instagram and menswear blogs, but less so for the day-to-day grind of most people’s lives. 

Which is why it was such a pleasure for me to talk with Mr. Kazuto Yamaki. He’s the CEO of Sigma, a Japanese manufacturer of camera lenses, flashes, and other photographic accessories. He’s also an exceptionally well-dressed public figure, but so far removed from the world of menswear blogs that I had to try a few times to convince him that I was not, in fact, joking when I said I wanted to interview him about how he dresses. 

Much of what Mr. Yamaki wears will be familiar to anyone who reads this site – softly tailored Italian-influenced suits and sport coats, paired with tastefully designed ties and solid colored dress shirts. Where I think he makes a distinction is that everything looks relatable, something you can wear to most offices today. It’s thoughtfully considered without being obsessive; informed without nit picking. And in being so, it looks more naturally put together. 

Black Friday sales are upon us. Every year, I roundup some of my favorites both here and at Put This On (we’ll have a comprehensive list of every worthwhile sale later this week, on Friday). Some of my favorite stores, however, are getting a jump on things. Many have started their Black Friday promotions already, with discounts going as deep as 50% off. From Mr. Porter to No Man Walks Alone to East Dane, here are eight early-bird sales I think are pretty great. 

Mr. Porter: Up to 30% Off Select Items

Mr. Porter’s massive selection has put them in everyone’s orbit. Whether you favor classic tailored clothing, Japanese workwear, or oversized, minimalist contemporary garb, Mr. Porter likely carries more than a handful of brands for you.