Devoted to summer travel, Nick Ashley set Private White V.C.’s spring presentation in an upscale departure lounge. “No one travels with checked luggage anymore,” he scoffed. “Even if you’re going to a smart wedding you just FedEx your luggage ahead.”
To pack? Chic, multifunctional pieces that were both transseasonal and transgender, like vests in basket-weave linen, he said, noting that other garments with shoulders — traditionally more complicated to render unisex — have a set-in front and raglan back to easily conform to all shapes.
“There’s a lot of ‘trans’ going on,” he said. “We really need a trans model wearing it.” There wasn’t, but a co-ed cast showcased a white safari jacket in a ventilated fabric and city shorts in curtain weave linen (it creases less) while linen granddad-style shirts and relaxed high-waist pants completed the cool, androgynous lineup.
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Ashley is a serious fabric geek who can talk for hours about the technical Ventile fabric of his trenchcoat— a nod to Private White’s roots as a raincoat factory — and military specification “three-triple-one” cotton drill of his pants. “They couldn’t produce enough of it in the Second World War so they got China to do it and that’s where the word chinos comes from.” Fancy that.