A Turn-up for the Books

So summer is once upon us again, however briefly, and I’ve cracked out my shorts. Once again, the intellectuels at APC have seemingly infiltrated my brain and created precisely the garment I was looking for, supplied by the buying genius at Selfridges. But I think I have eulogised enough about APC of late. This week’s Staple concerns a styling detail, which has also been pointed out recently by both The Sartorialist and Style Salvage, and is particularly important where shorts are concerned. With these shorts, and indeed my cuffed 501 cut-offs, the length of fabric on the leg is crucial. While the rolling-up of sleeves on T-shirts has been commonplace for a few years now, on trousers and shorts it is a little more directional.
On T-shirts, it makes the fit a little snugger, especially on baggier Ts, and somehow updates an old T. As for shirts, sleeve lengths have varied, but I am currently wearing my sleeves cuffed to half-way up my biceps. Again, this has the pleasing quality of modernising an old shirt - where an elbow-length could look a little office-y - as well as falling at the most aesthetically pleasing part of a man’s arm.
I have just begun to cuff (NB: cuffing is the folding or turning-up of a garment; as opposed to rolling, which is literally rolling the cloth) my jeans to a couple of inches above my shoes. This has both a pleasingly modern effect as with shirts, but also makes for a much cooler (in temperature terms) outfit. In addition, it demonstrates a personal adaptation of an item of clothing, a more daring approach to dressing. Especially important on dress-down Fridays in a no-shorts office.
As the acceptable length of casual, and indeed tailored shorts gets shorter, turn-up lengths become more important – I have been experimenting with various lengths, but I have found that I can comfortable cuff as high as 3 inches above the knee. This does need a smart(ish) pair of shorts though, and I have only paired it so far with polo shirts and cuffed shirts –with T-shirts, some of the impact is lost. Anyway, the Staple here is to be a little more daring with shorts, especially while the sun is out. Oh, and by the way, flip-flops are for Australians or the beach only. The rest of this week’s Staples:
Cuffing of shorts and trousers
Drinking cava in Regent’s Park
Gilles Peterson’s fantastically summery ‘Back in Brazil’ compilations
Pre-Festival excitement & the return of summer
Cocteau’s ‘Maalesh’ – diaries of his theatrical tour to the Middle East
Bangface Festival at Camber Sands
Soulwax’s documentary ‘Part of the Weekend Never Dies’