Embrace the Suck

When I was bicycle racer, the time trial discipline was my bread and butter. I owe most of my top results and GC placings to my skill at that individual event. Time trialing is as much a race against the clock as it is against yourself. During the course of a 40km time trial, you are all alone and putting your body through all sorts of physical pain and hell. The thoughts that go through your head run the gamut, but the one I always came back to was, “Why am I doing this to myself?!” But to be a good time trialist, you need to be able to dig deep and go there. My coach had a tried and true method for coping with the hurt: embrace the suck.

What does this have to do with menswear and style? Well, now that summer is in full swing lighter and breathable fabrics, like cotton and linen, should start to make regular, if not daily, appearances in your dress. And though these are great warm weather fabrics there’s an element of embracing the suck with them. I’m talking, of course, about wrinkles.

I’ve got good news and bad news for you. Actually, only bad news. And the bad news is that there is absolutely no way around this. A cotton suit will wrinkle. A linen shirt will wrinkle. The best you can do is to start the day wrinkle free and the best method to refresh these garments is with a garment steamer. It may seem more cumbersome than an iron, but once you get the hang of using one, it’s a much quicker method for getting wrinkles out. More on that soon.

| WEARING | Brooks Brothers suit and tie, Reiss shirt (old, similar HERE), Nordstrom pocket square, Ray-Ban sunglasses, Timex watch, To Boot New York loafers | PHOTOGRAPHY | by Rob McIver Photo

Thanks for reading.

Stylishly Yours,

Brian
He Spoke Style