463: Kaptain Sunshine's first US interview
And Louis' last column.
Welcome to Magasin Menswear. In a dedicated bimonthly send, Louis Cheslaw surfaces choice products worth your consideration, explores larger conversations shoppers are—or should be—having, and taps a smart dresser to share how he wears it.
Last up…
To start, some sad news: After two years, this will be the final installment of my Magasin column. Doing this work with Laura completely changed my life: Not only did I gain dream-like access to the heart of this industry, but over time, I also gained the confidence to talk with you all about everything I was seeing there.
The only reason I’m moving on now is because I want to do this work even more often. My own newsletter, Wardrobe, launches in a couple weeks (it’s also on IG)—and rather than monthly, I’ll be publishing every few days. If you’re interested, I really hope you’ll subscribe. Thank you so much for always reading and supporting. Magasin men’s forever!
Everyone can use some Sunshine
If there’s one piece of clothing I’ll forever associate with my time at Magasin, it’s my Kaptain Sunshine silk shirt. I encountered it during my first ever Men’s Week reporting trip, back when the Japanese label was still sharing a small Paris showroom with Palmes. Drawn to its unusual color and incredibly soft handfeel, I was quickly informed that the designer, Shinsuke Kojima, was present. Suddenly, the man himself was telling me how it had been made and the name he’d given the color (“Whisper Green”) while also encouraging me to try it on and showing me how to wear it his way—tucked in, but with the top four buttons undone.
It was an exhilarating first taste of what these weeks, at their best, would look like. When I came across the same shirt a year later, on a personal visit to the brand’s new Tokyo store, making the purchase felt a little like buying a memory.
Founded in 2013, Kaptain Sunshine is the exact kind of label I always tried to cover in these columns. It’s the kind of brand you hear about during conversations with real people out in the world, either because they’re already wearing it, or they wish they were. In January, during a late-night coffee with the renowned buyer Andreas Murkurdis, it was his visit to the Kaptain showroom that he chose to rave about first when I asked about his week. When I recently asked Taylor Caruso (someone who typically only wears Lady White Co.) where his perfect light blue jeans were from, “Oh, these are actually Kaptain” came the reply.
Meanwhile, Chris Kontos of Kennedy magazine—a man who prides himself on taking the long view when it comes to style—is another customer. And Hampus von Hausswolff is just one of many guys who enjoys the brand’s shoe collaborations with the likes of Paraboot and Reproduction of Found. And despite being a menswear line, of course, it’s not just men who wear Kaptain. Strategist and consultant Gray Broderick told me that even though she’s an incredibly reluctant shopper, she ended up picking up three Kaptain Sunshine pieces in a single day (the short Mil Coat, the Poly Nylon puffer, and a thick white sweater) on an October trip to Japan.
“You dress because you want to feel comfortable,” she said when we spoke. “The only control you have of your environment is what goes on your body, and I’m also not dressing to be shot by a street style account in Nolita. Kaptain Sunshine, like The Row, or Loro Piana, is clothing for living in—you want to have it on your body, because it makes you feel elegant. You don’t have to adapt yourself to it.”
A lot of this is a credit not only to the brand’s relaxed, dressier designs, but also to its fabric mastery. Neither one talks about it publicly, but Kaptain Sunshine shares a parent company with Auralee, and both have exclusive access to the same production factory, where they can engineer each collection to their exact specifications. The resulting quality means it’s now always included with the likes of Comoli, A.Presse, Ssstein, and of course Auralee, in discussions about modern Japanese fashion excellence.
In a rare interview that Kojima granted me this month, I asked the designer how he feels about being grouped this way. Kojima, who is a former magazine editor himself, said that the way he sees it, one particular factor unites them all:
“We all have control of every single step, from the fabric to the finish, and we all work with only small and medium-sized manufacturers whose specialities lie in the field,” Kojima said. “The collections are a result of our close relationships with those experts, and being able to travel to see them in person. The way I see it, every one of us has a different brand characteristic and identity, but the commonality is working closely with local craftspeople to achieve a certain feeling that Japanese manufacturing can. The aesthetic is different, but the quality shines through.”
I then asked, a little more selfishly, for the story of how my beloved shirt came to be. Kojima told me he starts every season by assembling a palette of 20 to 30 colors, inspired by the “scenery, atmosphere, and people I encounter while traveling.” Because the fabrics are then made for him, he can allocate the colors he’s chosen to the specific textures that will showcase each shade best, which is how my green ended up on silk.
The silk, I learned, is sourced from Hokuriku, a small manufacturing base north of Tokyo, which has specialized in the material for generations. (Anecdotally, I’ve heard Alaïa sources its silk here too.) Elsewhere in the brand, wool comes from the famed Bishu region, denim from Okayama, rare Suvin cotton imported from India, and long-staple Finx cotton from Egypt.
So, shall we take one last look at some clothes before I go? Most people start with the brand’s heavy-duty, deep-pocketed Walker, Traveler, and Umbrella coats. They’re released every winter in new fabrics, but the guys I know who have them love breaking their existing one in, season after season. If you can find them in stock, others say the Reproduction of Found collaboration, now in white after an initial black, is the best G.A.T. rework yet, but I also love this Hunter jacket, silk crewneck, Walker trench, navy Umbrella coat, these shoecut slacks, or this padded bomber and this denim jacket. Or, just wait until tomorrow, when I’m told a long-awaited collaboration with Lady White Co. finally drops…
How Cobey Arner wears it
Cobey Arner is one of my favorite photographers working today, and I’m far from alone: Everyone from Dior, The Society Archive and Emily Dawn Long to Hôtel Massé and J.Crew call on him when they need their designs photographed with a little more feeling. And given that HHWI has only ever been interested in the industry faces whom you don’t normally see, I couldn’t think of a better subject than someone who’s typically behind the camera.
What’s been in your wardrobe the longest?
I started buying clothes in high school, just thrifting in the suburbs of Atlanta with my friends. There were some pretty solid Goodwills down there, and while I haven’t hung onto a lot of stuff, I once found this amazing old YMCA t-shirt from 1996 with a really cool graphic on it. I used to wear everything pretty baggy, so now it feels like a double XL, but it’s still in the dresser.
I have a pair of Red Wings that I’ve held onto as well—the weird, brownish-red Moc Toe, with the white sole. That early menswear stuff is what got me into caring about clothes, and while they don’t get worn much, they’re a fun relic to hold on to. A “Don’t forget where you came from” type of thing.
What’s something you have multiples of?
As with single stitch vintage white T-shirts, I buy a pair of vintage 501s every time I find a pair that fits. That’s because they’re the only jeans I wear, and I know that at some point they’re all going to blow out, or rip, or there’s going to be a pair that’s out of commission for a while. So I need my backups. It’s a little regular-degular, but it’s just how I want to dress—sort of like a designer who’s kind of over it, but still looks great. Everything Jonathan Anderson wears fits great and looks great, but he has normal style, a normal haircut. That’s cool to me.
Can you say more about that?
I would just say that in the last 10 years, I kind of moved away from fashion brands. I always liked looking at the Our Legacys of the world, and it’s always nice to see classic items in a new context, but especially with jeans and T-shirts, I never felt like “Oh, I need to go and buy the $400 version of this thing.” Recently, I was talking to the guy who runs Varsity. A really lovely guy, but he was wearing a pair of jeans, and I was like, “Oh, are those 501s?” He was like, “No, these are Celine.” And they looked amazing, but then he said, “Yeah, they’re $1,500.” I think it’s fun to have those things in your wardrobe, but I would still rather just buy a pair of $100 Levi’s and then not have to worry about them. Also, girls don’t care. They do not care.
Do you buy anything new?
Well, it’s funny we brought up Jonathan Anderson, because I saw him wearing a pair of Salomon hiking boots. It’s been horrible in New York the last three months; the worst winter I’ve ever experienced here. So finally, even though I’ve never been a super tactical dresser, I found the exact style he wears and just got them in a different color, because his were green. They’re really well made, and they’re waterproof. I’ve worn them non-stop the last two months. Especially because I’m on set a lot, it’s so helpful to be comfortable.
What’s something in your closet that means a little more to you?
When my dad’s friend passed away last summer, he gave me that friend’s pair black lace-up Red Wings. I’ve worn them so much and know I’ll never get rid of them, especially because they can be resoled. Every time I go home, my dad oils them up. He’s like, “You need to take better care of these.” That’s why I got the hiking boots too, because I felt guilty wearing them out in the snow and the salt.
What’s on your wishlist, if we could get you something?
I’ve been wanting to wear more loafers. Being from the south, I always thought they seemed very preppy, a little Charleston-core. But then last year I bought a pair of John Lobb Lopez loafers secondhand, for like $300, and they’re perfect. Then, in November at a friend’s wedding, everyone was wearing Belgians, and I felt a little left out. I hear it’s a whole experience to go to the store, so you could take me there.
Any new discoveries beyond clothes?
Honestly, my Jacques Marie Mages glasses. I want to say I would never spend $900 on frames, but I didn’t—these were given to me. They blend so well into my face that I feel like you don’t even see them. I was talking to my friend the other day and they were like, “Oh wait, you wear glasses?” I was like, “Yeah, every day.”
Anything else?
I love burning incense, specifically Astier de Villate’s Tucson. I stayed at Chris [Black’s] house in L.A. a few years ago, and they had that and a Perfumer H candle, and once I smelled it, I was like cool, I’m never burning anything else. I burn the whole stick, multiple times a day. And then my friend Marcus [Allen] also put me onto Hotel Costes’ signature candle, which you can buy at a few places. And then I wear the Tobacco Toscana fragrance, which I think also came from Marcus giving me the hand soap one time.
Sounds like Marcus is the cheat code.
Every time I see him, I’m like, “Oh, I want to buy the shirt that you’re wearing.” He called me the other week because he’d pulled a bunch of new Versace stuff and wanted me to shoot it. Then he was like: “You should try on these pinkish-red jeans.” The way he was pitching it was like, “Imagine you pull up on set and you’re rocking these, and you’re leaning over to take a photo, and the client sees the Versace on the back of the jeans…” I saw the vision, but it wasn’t for me. I do, however, now want to order a pair of just red 501s, just to see…
Finally, if you had to do a cartoon sketch of yourself, what’s that guy wearing?
It would be the 501s with a pair of black work boots. And if it’s not a white t-shirt, well, I’ve honestly been wearing regular navy polos a lot. They help me feel like myself, tying the southernness with the New Yorkness. I randomly got a J.Crew polo and wasn’t even really thinking about it, and it’s something that I’ve worn every week for the last six months, along with an amazing Ralph Lauren Purple Label long-sleeve knit one I found a few years ago, for like $60 at a secondhand store.
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We love you Louis! Sad to see you go.. but we’ll find you on your new SS!
Awww so happy for your new newsletter Louis! Gosh I wish I could feel that shirt! And the shade of green!!