Bulletin Board 24

Embracing your wrinkles (in linen that is), style tips from the founder of Junior's, and an unexpected Italian summer digestivo

Greetings from Colombia, where I’ve just finished several days of the most epic fishing of my life, which I’ll be sharing in next week’s post. This week our Wm Brown deputy editor Eric Twardzik takes over and talks to Glenn Au of Junior’s about his style, shares his own travel kit, and a surprise Italian dessert/digestif combo that I will for sure be doing my own version of this summer.

THE ENDORSEMENT

Earlier this week, I traveled to Italy to visit the Vitale Barberis Canonico fabric mill. It’d be a four-day whistle stop tour through Biella, Como and Milan, and would require nine hours’ worth of connecting flights from Boston each way. Needless to say, this would be capital—T travel.

Considering the company I'd be keeping, I knew that I was going to wear a suit each day. And because I adamantly refuse to check luggage (never mind that my ticket included two checked bags) I decided I’d travel in one and roll up the other on my S.C. Holdall from Bennett Winch.

The suit I chose to fly in was a tobacco-brown W. Bill Irish linen made by my friends at Cad & The Dandy. As it was brand new, I wasn’t certain how it would perform, but any doubts I had were quickly alleviated.

The first thing to note is that the suit isn’t actually lightweight. At 12/13 oz, it’s a pretty beefy cloth—which was great for a few reasons. It had enough heft that I wasn’t feeling chilly when I left Boston on a day in the mid-fifties, yet I didn’t overheat while lugging two heavy bags around the airport. And when I did overheat—an hour’s delay on my departing flight had me sprinting through Leonardo Da Vinci to make my connection to Milan—the sweat on my back was almost immediately wicked away.

Aside from linen’s natural breathability and capacity to absorb moisture and odors, the aforementioned weight of the W. Bill left it surprisingly crisp after an 8-hour flight. Sure, it rumpled—which I’d argue is among the fabric’s chief charms—but it never bent or buckled the way a less substantial linen might. The closest I got were two folds at the jacket’s bottom hem from sitting on it for hours, but these fell out fairly quickly after I hung it up at my hotel.

And of course, there is something just fun about wearing a suit in transit, particularly a suit that’s clearly being worn by choice and not to catch a board meeting upon my arrival. I got a few compliments, but the most memorable one occurred as I made my way through Italian passport check. As I approached the security booth in my linen suit, button-down shirt and silk repp tie, I momentarily removed my glasses so as to better resemble my passport photo. The booth’s occupant looked up at me with a smile— “Clark Kent?”

I may not have superpowers, but I do own a good linen suit—and its benefits for travel are not far off.  

– ERIC TWARDZIK

And now, a few co-signers:

I like the way that linen forms “ergonomic” wrinkles, which become a feature you want to maintain. It evolves in a very beautiful and organic way as it's worn, and that’s the true appeal of the fabric. When a linen suit is freshly pressed and perfectly crisp, it’s actually less attractive. – MH

While the wrinkling of a linen suit can be a bit of a pester, the beauty is its versatility of occasion and how one cares to wear it. If traveling with just a linen suit, it can be easily worn formally or casually. Linen typically breaks up quite easily and can be worn as a sport jacket or trousers as well.  – MATT WOODRUFF, Creative Director of J. Mueser

MY UNIFORM

Glenn Au came of age working in legendary American men’s stores like O’Connells and H. Stockton. In 2020 he founded Junior’s, a 21st century take on the classic haberdashery, which now has a storefront of its own in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square. While the Buffalo native’s background in the business is trad to the core, Au never seems bound to the rules of another era, and instead mixes them with his own preferences to form a unique and approachable way of dressing that any guy could learn from. 

What is your standard color palette, and does it change seasonally?

As I get older, I’ve scaled back the amount of color I use in my wardrobe. I keep things pretty simple now. I feel best in darker colors and earth tones. For tailoring, I wear a lot of navy, charcoal, mid-grey, brown, olive and tan. 

What works best for me is not changing colors seasonally but changing the cloth. I have a Hardy Minnis mock leno blazer that I would classify as a year-round weight but this summer I’ll be wearing a navy linen blazer with cloth from Maison Hellard and for the fall I plan on adding in a cashmere blazer. 

With shirts, I make smaller, maybe unnoticeable, changes too. Wearing pink shirts more in warm weather compared to the colder months or wider scale blue stripes like butcher stripe or awning stripe shirts. I feel like I am finally settling into what works for me and that is enjoyable.

When you think of your wardrobe, what are the basics that come to mind first?

I absolutely love to wear my navy fresco suit. Any morning I am tired, it is easy to reach for knowing it will pair easily with whatever shirt I have ironed the night before. 

Shirts are just variations of blue and white solids and then stripes. I double up on having multiples of blue and white oxford cloth button downs and wear them weekly. When I am not in the shop I am in denim or Orslow fatigues. When I leave the shop for the day, and on most off days, I always have some variation of “dad” cap on. I have too many but it is fun to collect them from places I have fished or from gift shops.

Share your favorites for the following categories…

Trousers

I just got back from the tailor a new pair of MTM trousers in charcoal grey Fresco from Hardy Minnis. I will wear those non-stop this summer. Casually, I have been liking a pair of single pleated trousers in Brisbane Moss cotton. Those will pair easily with tailoring for work days in the shop but I’ll also wear them with a tee and sneakers. On the most casual end of my spectrum are a pair of Orslow fatigues and Levi’s 501s in white that I wear year-round.

Knitwear
I love my Scottish shetland sweaters. Each fall when the new colors arrive at the shop I have to restrain myself from taking another one home. Now that it’s slowly warming up, I’ll wear a merino polo knit both in shop and casually and I have a hoard of old Lacoste polos that I wear like tee shirts.

Hard to leave out a grey crewneck cotton sweatshirt too. On an easy going day or after getting home from the shop I know it’s comfortable and simple. I am also a sucker for vintage graphic tees and sweatshirts. Mostly Buffalo sports teams. Go Bills.

Footwear

During the cold months I am always wearing some type of boot when I am not in the shop; Blundstones and Sanders chukkas top that list. Brown suede is 90% of my shoe wardrobe and that is anything from the Sanders chukka, Alden loafers & Belgian loafers. In the spring & summer I wear sneakers more. The first time I went to Pitti I was in a vintage shop and found a pair of vintage Italian army sneakers aka Superga.

Neckwear 

I used to wear neckwear with a lot more color than I do now. I’ve become more conservative in my neckwear choices and wear a lot of darker ties in navy, burgundy, green & brown. English Regimental stripes are my go-to most days but to tone down a wide stripe shirt I will wear grenadines or knit ties a lot. While most of my neckwear is from the shop, of course, I have a special place in my heart for Atkinson’s and still have a handful from my days working at O’Connell’s.

Outerwear

Anyone who knows how much I love my Barbour Beaufort knows that if my house were on fire, after the kids and wife, I would make sure I grabbed that jacket. I put too much work in to get those patches and patina to leave it behind! I recently found a vintage Burberry mac that I have really enjoyed wearing. It’s so simple and functional. I also always need a top layer, no matter how hot, and for that I have a vintage jungle jacket.

What's your travel kit?

I am big on keeping this simple and versatile. I bring the basics because I know I love them all and feel great wearing them. This includes my navy blazer (if needed), a navy sweater, white and blue Oxford cloth shirts, one pair of denim, loafers and sneakers. I like having options when I get somewhere, not pre-planned outfits for each day. I make sure 90% of it can mix and match easily.

What’s your style advice when traveling across different climates?

I’m big on checking weather forecasts before I travel somewhere. I know I don't like to be cold so if I think that can be a concern, I’ll make sure to have a sweater or jacket. I’d rather have the problem of needing to shed layers than not having enough, resulting in being uncomfortable or making a purchase of something spontaneously. I don’t want to own something I don’t love to wear.

HAPPY HOUR

After a mill tour in the afternoon, I reconvened with the VBC team for dinner at a wonderful seafood restaurant in Biella called Ristorante Il Saraceno. I almost never order dessert, but I can’t end the night without a digestif. So, once my plate of simple and delicious grilled sea bass with potatoes and homemade mayonnaise was cleared away, I ordered a local grappa and felt content with my choice.

Until I noticed what Francesco Barberis, the current creative director of VBC who’d been seated directly across from me, had ordered. It was a bright green, semi-liquid concoction in a giant Martini glass. Francesco told me that it was a green apple sorbet drowned in Calvados, and promptly ordered one for me.

Sure, it was a fun dessert to look at, but more importantly, it just worked: the fresh, bright sorbet bursting with tart green apple flavors was an excellent match for the rich, boozy fruitiness of the Calvados. And as I continued to spoon away the sorbet’s melt accelerated, merging the two into a sort of delicious syrup that was simultaneously dessert and digestif (relatedly, it’s a combo Matt rates highly as a “one-stop-shop” for this precise reason).  

It’s to my shame that I didn’t finish it, but I was double fisting with a local aged grappa this entire time. I’m no lightweight, but three-quarters of the way through the room began to gently spin, and I wisely pushed the remainder of the dessert away. When I returned to our hotel, I fell to sleep like a stone.

– ERIC TWARDZIK