When I'm at the mall and bored and the cash in my pocket could barely afford an undershirt at Zara, I hit the fabric store and purchase a yard or two of those fabrics that speak to me. Long story short, I picked up a yard and a half of this plum cotton fabric decked with a tiny geometric print a couple of weeks ago, and now it's turned into a pair of great-fitting pleated shorts courtesy of my fantastic tailor.the tiny-print pleated shorts in plumclose-up of the pattern and the marbled button

Now, I'm not going to take full credit for the design of this piece, I may have been inspired by a pair of Dries Van Noten shorts at Browns,but the fabric choice was 100% me! I did print out a picture of these shorts for the tailor to base the design of mine on. I know I say this a lot, but when having things tailored, having a clear, detailed visual peg is most helpful. So here they are worn:straw fedora, vintage bowtie from Paris, Cheap Monday button-down, pleated shorts, Casio watch, Paul Smith shoessans hatPaul Smith sneaker-brogues with frayed edges