I Choose Madras for the Heat

August 10, 2018

2 minute read

In the extreme heat, I prefer madras over linen. It’s probably just as cool-wearing, but it doesn’t start off scratchy and it doesn’t droop like linen. Of course, madras isn’t a type of fabric per se, but a type of plaid in an open-weave cotton. Originally made by people in India reproducing Scottish tartans of the occupying British forces in more colorful local color ways from dyes that would bleed, I feel madras looks best when using colors not normally associated with “classic menswear”: oranges, yellows, turquoise/aqua, red. Made up in more typical colors, it often just looks like a generic plaid shirt to me.

I enjoy putting on a blazer over my madras when it’s not too hot. Pictured here is a madras popover from Sid Mashburn, worn with chinos in a British Khaki color, one-eyelet canoe moccasins and my navy raw silk Eidos blazer. I love how the turquoise and red contrasted with the navy jacket. The chinos help make the outfit less dandy.

Sid makes some of the best madras shirts each season (pricey though they are), and Drake’s offerings are often really great, too. Brooks Brothers also does a pretty good job—though sometimes my favorite plaids they produce are for the Red Fleece line, which has a smaller collar that I don’t like; I just go for their traditional sport shirts with the classic button-down collar. J.Press, Polo, Orvis, Land’s End, J.Crew and O’Connell’s also all make madras each season, though I’m a bit late in the season to be linking to anything as the sales season is past and everybody beginning to stock fall stuff. You’ll find them in short-sleeve often, which I personally have never owned or worn, but is a classic way to wear it.

The crushing heat calls for something cool—and madras fits the bill in more ways than one.