Dreaming of Fits ðŸ’
My Attempt to Assemble What's Been on My Mind
Hi All, been a minute.
A couple nights ago, I dreamt of a fit (yes I dream about clothes sometimes, sue me).
It wasn’t quite my usual style — in truth it’s more of a neo-hipster-but-for-2022 fit. Type of guy who was an aspiring art director and really into the Dimes Square scene-ass fit if you know what I mean.
The fit itself is nothing special — just a french chore coat, black jeans, and black sneakers. Regardless, I can’t get it out of my head. It’s to the point where it’s gumming up my brain and I can’t get a fit off until this is resolved.
I figured maybe if I got it down onto paper, I could get around shelling out the money to buy a bunch of new stuff (this is Frayed Collar after all, we’re supposed to be taking pride in wearing our clothes into the ground).
Including a couple of iterations of each piece so you guys have a little more to chew on than just a basic fit. I’ll list them out in order of my own personal preference for each article of clothing going forward:
French Chore Coat
I’ve wanted a real one for a pretty long time now. I picked one up from J. Crew’s Wallace & Barnes line a few years back, but it is unfortunately a little too small in the chest for me, and also too dark (more of a navy) for what the heavens unveiled to me during my slumber.
Color actually has been a bit of a pain point while trying to find what I wanted here. The traditional French chore coat is this almost cerulean hue — very bright and very saturated. Most of the suitable chore jackets that I’ve found have leaned towards a darker navy color, which isn’t quite what I want here.
Le Labourer - $158
Made in France in a “French blue“, Le Labourer’s chore coats have been produced by the same family since the mid-1950s. As authentic as it gets.
This is the exact color I want, and also happens to be the real deal when it comes to chore coats — three exterior pockets (more on pockets later) and one interior pocket. The prototype.
Le Mont St Michel Genuine Work Jacket - ~$275
This is the original French work jacket. The OG that everyone else who has ever made a chore jacket has copied. Le Mont St Michel has been making these jackets in France for over 100 years at this point, all of the same French moleskine cloth. This is legit as it gets.
If money isn’t an issue, I’d probably opt for this one. Their site lists it for $319, but after the 20% VAT discount, it should come out to somewhere around $275 all-in.
Uskees drill overshirt - $139
Disclaimer: I know nothing about this brand and this jacket only has 1 review for the “ultra blue“ color. The company itself is based out of the UK and seems committed to making hard-wearing garments though. Seems like a good, slightly cheaper option compared to the others on this list.
Also has a lot of extra pockets. While I think more pockets is a good thing in general here, the symmetry of this jacket is throwing me off a little bit. Might have looked better if there were no right chest pocket IMO. Still, that’s a nitpick and it looks like a perfectly nice jacket.
Tellason Coverall Jacket - $198
I really love the pocket positioning on this one — a little functional, with a little artistic flair to it. Riveted buttons and its MiUSA status are some big bonuses too.
This has a massive drawback to it though, as it’s only available in various denims (decidedly not what I’m envisioning here, but it’s a cool jacket so I wanted to include it anyway). The one listed above is a 13.5 oz. bull denim in a garment-dyed “chambray“ color.
Black Jeans
Historically, I haven’t really been a black jeans guy — they can be pretty jarring and hard to match with, unless you go for the all-black art school burnout-type fits. In that case though, you really have to commit to the all black everything bit, which I’m really not about.
Regardless, they come in handy sometimes.
Jack Donnelly Nihon Menpu Selvedge - $225
I already own these, so they’re an easy #1 for me lol. If you’re a denim head, these have all the right details: Made in the USA, drill cloth pockets, a chain stitched hem, and copper YKK buttons (keep away from meth heads).
Obviously very expensive, but well worth the price.
Madewell 1991 Loose Straight Jean - $139
Madewell makes fantastic pants honestly. They seem to get basically no hype or recognition whatsoever, but their denim lines are really fantastic. I own a few pairs of pants from them and I like them all. This pair is only 96% cotton though, so something to keep in mind if you hate stretch fabrics.
Big disclaimer though: Their stuff runs extremely slim. This “loose straight“ jean is more of a slim-straight in reality. Don’t know what’s going on with their fits, but I personally would only buy “relaxed“ or “loose“ fits from them. Madewell is also owned by J. Crew, so I would wait for these to inevitably go on sale before purchasing.
Madewell Relaxed Straight Workwear Pants - $128
Pretty much same as above. I really like double-knee stuff, so it’s a good alternative to jeans, without having to make the mistake of buying black chinos.
Levis 501 - $98
Gonna be honest I fucking hate Levis and have never had a good experience buying from them. Just including them here because the 501s and 550s are kind of on-trend at the moment.
T-Shirt
Honestly any gray or white t-shirt is gonna work here. Probably the more plain the better.
Polo Sport Classic Fit Jersey T - $65
These are my favorite t-shirts. Something about Polo Sport hits that perfect classic-but-elevated feel.
Lady White Co. - $65
This color is called Grindle. Curious…
People rave about these Ts, so I thought I’d include them. Made in the USA, using an interesting tubular cut, so that there’s no side seams on the shirt. I don’t own them myself, but these appear to be peak t-shirt if that’s what you’re looking for. Their models creep me out.
Sneakers
Always contentious. Footwear can make or break a fit, and with the extremely aggressive trend timelines it can be hard to get it right.
As always, I think it’s generally a bad thing to make yourself beholden to trends, but they are good for re-discovering a classic model that has largely been forgotten about (the Adidas Samba is a perfect example of this). That said, once a trend is over, it’s hard not to feel like a goober for continuing to wear that item, even if you’d been wearing it way before the trend began. That, or maybe I’m just chronically online and oversocialized.
Anyway, I’m looking for a somewhat low-profile, mostly black sneaker here. Black sneakers pose their own problems — you’re stuck between looking like a waiter (again) or running up against the stigma of the black air force 1. It’s a very fine line between looking cool and having that equivalent of a swag black hole on your feet.
Salomon XT-6 $220
I’ll preface this by saying that I think GORPcore-adjacent stuff is going to stick around for a long time. It’s too practical. These shoes basically achieved meme status around 2022, but I still think they’re really cool. I was particularly envisioning a black pair with white triangle lace holder things. Surprisingly hard to find for whatever reason.
Adidas Samba OG - $100
Le current meme shoe, but fits the bill perfectly. Low-profile with a little something to make them less waiter-y. I’d be wary about buying at the tail end of a trend though.
Accessories
This fit just calls for a pair of slightly obnoxious, high-contrast glasses, IMO. Including the Oliver Peoples Gregory Pecks ($391) here to cover that base.
If you’re going to take anything away from this newsletter, let it be this: I really want a French chore coat right now, to the point where I’m dreaming about it. I’ll probably buy that one from Le Labourer. That particular shade of blue is very appealing to me.
Thanks for reading as always!
done got me to wear this fit yesterday.
Own 75% of this fit. Just need some XT-6s. Hopefully can snag some on black friday.