Searching for Summer With Buck Mason

Finding the perfect shirt and jacket combination from a Buck Mason, a young American brand with a whole lot of heritage.

The best summer outfit is the one you’ll feel as comfortable in at 8 AM as you will at 1 AM. Think breathable fabrics, relaxed silhouettes, light outerwear, and palpable joie de vivre. On this particular summer weekend, you could feel the sun’s heartbeat in the San Francisco streets, with high temperatures that got people outside and into restaurants, parks, and farmers markets. San Francisco steadily trends at 55-65 degrees all year round, so you’d be hard-pressed to find us wearing short shorts, sandals, and open short-sleeve camp collar shirts on the Solstice like our East Coast counterparts. We’re a “pants year-round” crowd who wouldn’t be caught dead in public without a light jacket within arms reach. Even so, San Francisco summers call for breezy new threads.

I hadn’t purchased new summer clothes in some time and my wardrobe was beginning to feel stale. Luckily for me, my friends over at Buck Mason sent over two of my favorite pieces from their latest summer collection to help me start the season on the right foot.

Buck Mason was founded by Erik Allen Ford and Sasha Koehn in 2013 in Venice, California, with the mission to create the perfect made-in-America jeans and t-shirts. It has since branched out over the last decade and change, becoming a full-fledged apparel and lifestyle brand. The founders took inspiration from classic American staples and sought to build their versions at the intersection of style and durability. The clothing is currently manufactured in Pennsylvania, staying true to the brand’s core value of domestic production. While the brand does the majority of its business online, there are 27 retail locations - one of which recently opened in San Francisco’s chic Hayes Valley neighborhood, an area I frequent. Safe to say when they offered to send me over a couple of pieces, I was over the moon.

The first piece is this Golden Walnut Craftsman Corduroy Sportsman Jacket, a beautiful and versatile chore coat for all summer activities. Inspired by a vintage World War II jacket, the lightweight, all-occasions piece is, in my opinion, the best shade of brown: walnut. I find the vibrant shade to be striking and elegant –a jacket that doesn’t need to distinguish day from night. It perfectly fits my criteria for a perfect summer piece –throw it on in the morning for work and wear it until the wee hours of the next day. 

I needed a jacket that could do it all on this particular Sunday morning. I was off to shoot content for my brother’s production company –he had a big deliverable coming up and had recruited me to star in a product video and some stills. San Francisco mornings are usually cool and overcast, but by the late morning, the sun peeks through the fog and many of the city’s microclimates turn sunny and warm. I found the chore coat the perfect layer to take me from the gray morning fog to the midday sun.

I prefer all my clothing to fit relaxed, so I chose an XL in the jacket and the second piece: the Brown Cinder Draped Linen Camp Shirt (but more on that coming up). I styled the outfit with Uniqlo wide-legged trousers and Adidas x Wales Bonner sneakers with an exaggerated tongue. I accessorized lightly with a gold chain, a gold ring, a gold Casio watch, and a hat I purchased from a souvenir shop in Austin, Texas. All of the silhouettes I wore were light and roomy, yet elevated enough to make me confident to face the day. A lot of folks will tell you that brown and black are not a viable color combination – of course, the same people a few years ago would have said you couldn’t wear black and navy together, and now that combo is seen as chic and tasteful. Black and brown may not be in vogue yet, but worn the correct way these hues can make for a great outfit.

I love the other piece that my friends at Buck Mason sent over: the Draped Linen Camp Shirt - a subtle long-sleeve camp collar shirt in a colorway called Brown Cinder. I wore the shirt throughout our photo/video shoot feeling like a million dollars. The shirt drapes my torso well thanks to its relaxed cut. It’s subtle and lush with sex appeal – think Cary Grant along the French Riviera in the middle of summer, James Bond hanging out in Monaco – except it’s affordable enough for the everyman. 

I find the shirt goes well with any style of pants, from jeans to trousers to chinos. It’s good for most hours of the day, but I love the way that it looks at night. After wrapping the shoot, we went out for drinks that night and the linen shirt made me feel my best. A lot of us dress too casually for a night out, opting for skin-tight jeans and a loose-fitting t-shirt with sneakers. The linen shirt gave me that much-needed added elevation to my outfit to make me feel extra luxe drinking an Old Fashioned at the Ferry Building with views of The Bay Bridge and Treasure Island lingering in this distance.

Together, these pieces create a perfect summer outfit that transitions effortlessly from day to night no matter where the City takes you. The Corduroy Sportsman Jacket provided ample warmth for those cool San Francisco summer nights, while the Linen Camp Shirt ensured I stayed comfortable and relaxed in the sun. A combination like this embodies the spirit of summer fashion.

Buck Mason’s summer collection is impressive. The pieces feel amazing to wear and are sturdy enough for all that life can throw at them, while still achieving a level of levity and freedom. They have breathed new life into my summer wardrobe, offering me exactly what I was missing. If you’re looking to elevate your summer style, I recommend checking out these pieces, as well as the rest of the summer collection from Buck Mason. They’ve helped me start the season with a bang, and I’m sure they’ll do the same for you.

Peace and Love