How to look and stay cool this Memorial Day weekend

As Memorial Day weekend is just around the corner, it’s time to think about your look for the unofficial start of summer.

This holiday marks a moment of remembrance and celebration, often filled with outdoor activities, family gatherings, and evening events. To stay comfortable and stylish, it’s essential to choose outfits that perfectly balance formality with comfort.

Lightweight fabrics, such as cotton, linen, and blends, are perfect for the warm weather, ensuring you look sharp while staying cool.

In this post, we’ll explore versatile and fashionable jacket, shirt and pants options that are ideal for Memorial Day weekend, and will help you honor the occasion in style.

A cotton or linen jacket is a great choice for any type of event this Memorial Day weekend because they are fantastic at keeping you cool, and soft and gentle on the skin.

Both fabrics are also super stylish and versatile, can be easily paired with shirts, polos, T-shirts, and various pants to suit different occasions throughout the weekend.

On top of this, what we also love about cotton and linen jackets are that they are easy to care for and capable of withstanding repeated washes and wear, making them practical for active weekends.

Alternatively, if you do want a jacket with a bit more weight, a perfect fabric choice is a cloth made from a blend of wool, linen, and silk.

This option is also highly breathable for the summer months and delivers a flattering, natural silhouette for all body shapes.

When it comes to the actual style of your jacket, we’d always go for an unstructured jacket that features no shoulder pads and is feather light.

But don’t think these type of jackets are no good at retaining their shape, because thanks to delicate canvasing through the chest and the lapels, they’re actually very good at doing just that.

Overall, this contemporary and comfortable style of jacket almost feels like a tailored cardigan that sits perfectly over your shoulders and creates a flattering silhouette.

For Memorial Day weekend, you could choose a patriotic red, white or navy blue cotton or linen unstructured jacket.

But if that’s scheme is not quite you, why not consider an on-trend light tan, dusky pink or denim blue color for your jacket?

They’re highly versatile shades that will look equally good at an evening event, garden party, or parade.

When it comes to your shirt for Memorial Day, we suggest four fabric options that offer an excellent blend of comfort, style and versatility: cotton, pure linen, chambray, and denim.

As for style and color, the choice is all yours; although a slim fit, white shirt always provides a sleek, modern look that’s suitable for all types of activities and can be easily paired with tailored pants, chinos or jeans.

A 100% cotton shirt delivers exceptional breathability and softness, providing you with superb comfort in the warmer weather. They’re also highly absorbent, which helps manage sweat, ensuring you stay cool and dry.

Tailored cotton shirts can also be easily dressed up or down, making them suitable for casual gatherings and more formal occasions during the Memorial Day weekend.

Pure linen shirts are exceptionally lightweight and airy, making them perfect for hot days.

Linen’s natural moisture-wicking properties keep you comfortable and dry, while its distinct texture adds a touch of effortless elegance to any outfit.

A tailored linen shirt also pairs well with shorts and trousers, and offers a refined yet relaxed look.

Chambray shirts are a great choice if you want the relaxed and rugged appeal of denim without the weight.

The fabric’s soft, subtle texture provides a casual yet polished look that easily transitions from day to night events, making this type of shirt highly versatile.

On top of this, chambray is highly durable, which means you could easily wear and wash it a number of times over the Memorial Day weekend.

A tailored denim shirt might not be what you first think of when considering what you’re going to wear for the Memorial Day weekend, but don’t be too quick to judge.

Paired with stylish linen trousers, cotton/linen blend pants or dark jeans, a custom denim shirt can look incredibly sharp and stylish.

On top of this, a high-quality denim shirt is a great addition to any man’s closet, as they can be used to create a wide range of stylish looks throughout the year.

Linen trousers custom made for you are a superb choice for Memorial Day weekend, due to their natural breathability, lightweight texture, and ability to be paired with a wide range of styles.

Additionally, tailored linen trousers maintain a crisp and elegant look in warm and humid conditions, making them a practical choice for the summer months.

Pure cotton pants may not be as naturally breathable as linen trousers, but they still offer excellent cooling properties, and are great at absorbing and retaining sweat.

What we also really like about custom pants made from a 100% cotton fabric is that they typically feel softer against the skin than linen, are more durable, wrinkle less, and are easier to maintain.

Linen and cotton blend trousers could be the ideal pants to wear this Memorial Day weekend if you want to benefit from the best qualities of both fabrics.

Excellent breathability, soft and comfortable, durable and versatile, and more wrinkle resistant than linen, these type of trousers really are hard to fault.

And if you don’t go for linen and cotton blend trousers this Memorial Day, do think about having a custom pair made for future occasions. You won’t regret it.

For the style of your trousers for the Memorial Day weekend, we’d always opt for a slim fit to create a modern and streamlined silhouette.

In addition, go for trousers with a flat-fronted design, rather than pleated. This is because flat-fronted pants will provide you with a cleaner and more contemporary look, and will deliver better airflow, which is always good to have in the hot summer months.

When choosing pants for Memorial Day weekend, always consider the event you’re attending and your personal style preferences.

If navy blues, light and dark grays, or charcoal is what you feel most comfortable in, then go with those colors.

However, if you like to follow the latest trends, definitely consider pants in unexpected colors such as sea green, terracotta, or patriotic dark red.

So there you have our top picks for looking and keeping cool this Memorial Day weekend. We hope you have a great time, whether that’s attending a service, relaxing with family, or going to a glitzy evening event.

Also, please remember that HKT is always here to help you choose the right look for any special occasion, and offers the very best in tailored suits, custom shirts, and other made to measure garments.