Reiss Spring/Summer

Learning stuff the hard way first can reap huge benefits: great jazz musicians study form and technique for years to ease their progression into free-form jamming, and your mastery of wrecking stick shifts made it a snap to total automatics. For a clothing line that nailed formal tailoring before crafting casual, check the new drop from Reiss

Reiss started as a London tailored suit operation in '71 before -- inverse to most companies' paths -- eventually growing down into "everyday wear", using a tailor's eye to streamline design and tweak sartorial classics with subtly abnormal details. The spring collection's offering buttondowns like the Townsend, made of slightly stretchy cotton w/ unusually prominent vertical seams on front and sleeves; the Cambridge in Miami-friendly linen, with small collar, vertical chest seams, and chest pockets with a unique inward pleat; and the Maple, with lumberjack plaid printed on who-saw-it-coming linen, and whose slim fit defies you to subsist solely on flapjacks and thick-cut Canadian bacon. Polos include the long sleeve Bronte in delicate thin cotton, w/ button-able sleeve tabs, streamlined slit pockets, and cool shoulder detailing; the cotton Hunter w/ a contrasting collar, and internal five-button placket that goes way down the chest; and the Leon, with clean-lined internal breast pocket, slick sheen, and ribbed collar so short it always stays popped, for when you need to look priestly/Priestly

Reiss also does plenty of other stuff, like dress slacks, caps, crocheted silk skinny ties, and of course, their foundation, tailored suits -- so you can look your best as you pop 'er in "D" and expertly pull out against traffic.