A nice little break from runway shows and shooting street style all day during the tail end of New York Fashion Week, I headed over to Brooks Brothers’ Madison Avenue flagship store for a showroom tour of their Spring/Summer 2014 line, and that of the Thom Browne designed label, Black Fleece by Brooks Brothers.

Brooks Brothers SS14

Sea, surf and sun are the theme, and the line is filled with items inspired by archival photos of Ernest Hemingway and other artists, intellects and jet-setters in The Great Gatsby era and decades following (1920s-50s).

The collection’s beach looks included madras (which was actually introduced to the States by BB), white on white styles, and seersucker and patch patterns.

Travel-ready and day-to-cocktail-hour looks included single and double breasted suits, bold use of red, navy plaid and geo patterns, gingham shirts, leather goods and striped woven ties:

Black Fleece SS14 

Thom Browne focuses on three sets of color schemes: black and white, reds and navy, and grey and beige.

Looking for inspiration through BB archives as well, Browne’s designs are all about layering and versatility, and focus on fabrics with textures of seersucker, silk shantung, embroideries and textured woven tulle.

Clothing includes seersucker jackets and Bermuda shorts, a silk gingham jacket, linen plaid suits, and a lovely light grey Chesterfield overcoat. A highlight item for the mix of a materials, the Fun Jacket is made of wool/linen/cashmere ginghams, stripes and checks (and there is also a wool verision that combines red/white/blue checks and stripes).

Accessories include new styles of shoes such as the navy and white Spectator wingtip, color block pebble grain leather totes, and nautical belts and espadrilles with braided embroidery.

See the versatility of the line on models below (full set on GQ):

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