Here we round up five ways to spend your money this week, including a new collaboration, some summer tailoring and more. First up, a brand with a knack for designing clothes that can be worn as easily behind the scenes as they can front of house. Enjoy.
After Tom Chudley made the move from working in kitchens to fashion, he realised that the staid uniforms in which he had spent years cooking had been researched for a brand idea.
Launched in 2020, Service Works makes organic cotton workwear that’s breathable for hot kitchens and able to withstand countless washes. Its checkered chef trousers, designed to conceal stains, pay playful homage to the traditional version, while the seersucker suit jacket recalls traditional waiters’ tailoring. “It was never about making fashion inspired by kitchens – it was about making better products for the people working in them,” says Chudley. “A uniform doesn’t need to look intimidating. Comfort, personality and practicality can all exist together.”
Seals of approval from the likes of London restaurants Impala, St John and Wildflowers are a compelling sales pitch, while Service Works also weaves its utilitarian aesthetic into everyday wear. “Good uniforms shouldn’t just look good on opening day,” says Chudley. “They should work for their lifespan.”
serviceworks.xyz
Now for something of a reality check: autumn is coming. Here’s how you can prepare for it in style. Before starting his label in 2024, US menswear designer Aaron Levine created high-quality, ready-to-wear collections for multi-billion-dollar brands such as Abercrombie & Fitch, reviving their creative fortunes in the process. His latest collaboration – and his third with Inditex’s Zara – is yet another success.
The autumn/winter collection references vintage workwear and preppy styles. Items such as leather loafers with Vibram soles, checked trench coats, wool-silk ties and waxed-effect jackets make up a fraction of a capsule that could quite easily fill your entire wardrobe. Whether you’re in need of extra base layers or new staples, it’s all effortlessly wearable.
zara.com; aaronlevineny.com
Unless you have access to a resident’s key, London’s Barbican Estate can feel impenetrable. Its light-sapping concrete and labyrinth-like pedestrian system might feel disorientating but its verdant balconies, tranquil pockets and modernist forms offer captivating spaces to live and work, especially for the design-minded. Now, thanks to a collaboration between the Barbican and London-based interiors brand Made, you can purchase sculptural interior pieces for your own home.
The new range includes smaller furnishings from table lamps, rugs and plates to pieces that can elevate an entire room, including chairs, sideboards and sofas. If you want to take a closer look, the wares will be displayed in and around the Barbican during the London Design Festival from 12 to 20 September.
made.com; barbican.org.uk
Such-and-such’s wedding is just around the corner. You have worn the same seersucker number to your past two summer soirées and you don’t have long to come up with a new ensemble. So, what are you wearing? Here’s a tip: Mohawk General Store, Los Angeles’s best spot for menswear, has a peerless in-house line called Smock.
The shop’s founders, Bo and Kevin Carney, have a good eye for buying great pieces but Smock is their more hands-on approach to showing their keen sense of style. We particularly like the brand’s Sun Dried Linen suiting in ivory. There are other options in silk or wool gabardine, as well hues such as tobacco, navy, black and emerald green.
mohawkgeneralstore.com
A day at the beach calls for a sunscreen that protects both your skin and the sea. Sol de Ibiza was co-founded by Linda Maroli after she struggled to find a product free from harsh chemicals, sticky formulas and plastic packaging – the sort of thing that picky porpoises tend to dislike.
The result is a sunscreen made from organic oils and non-nano zinc oxide (a mineral, reef-safe powder) that’s produced in Spain and Italy and packaged using sustainable materials. It’s a smart companion for long days in the sun, wherever the final days of summer take you. Your skin, as well as those porpoises, will thank you.
soldeibiza.com
