Linen is not crisp cotton with a better publicist. It is meant to soften, crease, and record the day.
Choose a shirt or unstructured jacket with enough room for air to perform its ancient office. The fabric should have texture without resembling upholstery. White is excellent; oatmeal, tobacco, faded olive, and washed blue are often more forgiving. If the garment looks immaculate at four in the afternoon, you have either remained indoors or misunderstood it.
The proper emotional temperature
Pair linen with clothing of equal emotional temperature: open-collar shirting, loafers or restrained sneakers, trousers with shape but no military ambition. Do not add every Mediterranean signifier at once. A linen suit, silk scarf, espadrilles, and Panama hat may be individually defensible; together they suggest the casino has sent a car.
A wrinkle is not evidence of surrender. It is evidence that the garment has met the afternoon.
1 The Editorial Board recognizes exceptions for actual casinos, provided the car is good.