If it makes you happy

It, apparently, can't be that bad.

Guilt was a driving force in starting this newsletter.

I hadn’t done anything wrong, not exactly. But over the last few years, as the media industry has continued to contract, I’ve found myself becoming a requested voice for quotes, opinions, and recommendations in major publications, often on the subject of which clothes are worth spending money on. This is when the guilt kicks in.

Because while, sure, I’m consistent with what I like, have good relationships, and put in the miles every month to learn as much as I can in person, I have no formal fashion, design, or textile training. I hear enough terms every day—felled seams, end-on-end, lateral gusset—to know how much there is that I don’t know. As I wrote when I launched, I plan to use this newsletter to, in a way, reverse-engineer that formal education.

So it’s a relief to be here, just three weeks in, with an unexpected early-stage lesson in how to think about the fabrics in your wardrobe…

You just need to like them.

So far, a number of the designers, buyers, and thoughtful dressers I’ve spoken to—either in the interviews I’ve already published, or the ones I’ll be sharing over the coming weeks—have almost bristled at my probes into why they chose this or that fabric exactly. Instead, they tend to just say they loved how it felt. Of course, they check what its contents are after the fact, just to make sure it isn’t full of synthetics that’ll lose their shape, but on the whole, they’re going by whether it feels nice in their hands. The same way you or I would when shopping by ourselves.

To explain, I made my first Midwit meme…

This isn’t to say that learning everything you can about the fabrics you love isn’t one of the most enjoyable things about having nice clothes. MAN-TLE’s fabric histories (here are three great ones) are some of my favourite corners of the internet, and you truly feel the difference in their textures. Take the brand’s light and crinkled Cordlane cotton, conjured from two different weights of yarn which combine to practically float on your skin. (I have a black shirt made from it, and it’s one of the nicest things I own.)

It’s just to say that you don’t need to second-guess yourself if you love how something feels. Most of the time, that’s reason enough to stick with it, and to look for the exact same fabric again, if and when you need to.

In that spirit, I thought I’d go into my closet and pull out a few of the fabrics I like most in my wardrobe right now. Below, ten pulls that feel really great to wear. Simple as that.

I bought this Kapital Drizzler jacket at Blue in Green six or seven years ago. I wear it throughout every summer, which is why the original olive shade you can still see on the inside has faded so much, but I like how it just makes the herringbone twill texture more pronounced. It’s no longer available, but other versions are. Thankfully, Sid Mashburn still makes my light, soft PJ set, from the same fine Italian fabric he uses for his shirts.