Life’s a Beach for Mr Porter’s New Collection

The luxury men’s online style destination has partnered with California’s finest for its exclusive Gone Surfin’ collection befitting for summer

Words by JAKE HEDDAEUS

As we ready ourselves for a summer staycation, leave it to leading men’s style platform Mr Porter to provide a much-needed sartorial escape. The luxury e-tailer has released a capsule in collaboration with 15 brands, with 171 exclusive pieces inspired by global surf culture. The Gone Surfin’ collection will appeal to surfers and sun-seekers alike, with its free-spirited, leisurely pieces.

Shorts by BIRDWELL (yellow) and PILGRIM SURF + SUPPLY (blue), and OUTERKNOWN shirt and shorts from the MR PORTER Gone Surfin’ collection.

Any surf-inspired collection is incomplete without a heavy dose of brands from The Golden State, home to epic surfing and an aspirational lifestyle known for its unapologetic hedonism. Those represented include the king of Malibu style, James Perse, who offers up his take on a poncho, cut from linen with indigo-dyed stripes and a hood alongside stone-washed supima cotton sweatpants and a hemp tote. L.A.-based Noon Goons’ wares include wardrobe staples like graphic T-shirts and garment-dyed jeans and jackets in light blue and pink, a palette which draws on cotton candy sunsets synonymous with the West Coast.

The Elder Statesman, known for its cashmere garments with a psychedelic flair, stays true to form with a range of tie-dyed pieces, including drawstring shorts, chunky-knit socks and button-up shirts — options equally appropriate for fireside beach cocktails as glamping in Big Sur. Organic cotton T-shirts by Kelly Slater’s brand Outerknown feature the title of Bruce Brown’s 1961 documentary, Surfing Hollow Days, a quintessential film that chronicles surf culture from Hawaii and California to Australia to Mexico.

REYN SPOONER shirt from the MR PORTER Gone Surfin collection.

The East Coast is represented by Saturdays NYC, whose range speaks to the life of an urban surfer. Alongside wavy striped swim shorts and a neoprene wetsuit top are coaching jackets, hoodies and T-shirts — the transitional items that will take you from Montauk to Manhattan without a hitch. Reyn Spooner’s nostalgic camp collared button-ups bring a dash of modernity to a style often associated with outdated resortwear. The Hawaiian shirts stay true to the island’s heritage, available in bold prints of underwater vignettes, palm trees, pineapples and exotic birds.

At its core, the Gone Surfin’ collection feels like a manifestation of the surfing spirit — that of good times, equanimity and the pursuit of the perfect wave — expressed through clothes. Adorning your body with a tie-dyed cashmere sweater or baja-striped hoodie is an act of setting intentions: Today will be a good one. Here, we’ve selected the pieces to live in this summer, no matter how well you know your barrels from your breaks.