The exclusive capsule collection by Officine Generale launches on MR PORTER.

Anyone who has already made the sensible decision to trial the wares of Parisian brand Officine Generale will be familiar with the way in which Mr Pierre Mahéo packs each garment with brilliant design details that are best appreciated in the wearing. It’s not until you get up close that you notice, for example, the way in which the placket of a shirt has four lines of extra topstitching to stiffen it, or how the arm seams of a jacket are finished with striped cotton tape, rather than a simple zigzag stitch. It’s touches like these that, in the hands of Mr Mahéo, transform such quotidian garments into pieces that are really quite extraordinary – especially given their rather attractive price point. We’re therefore pleased to announce that we now have even more of them available, via a generously sized capsule collection that Mr Mahéo has designed exclusively for us, which launches today on MR PORTER. And as with every new Officine Generale collection, there are plenty of subtle touches to appreciate. Consider the following guide, for which we consulted with Mr Mahéo in Paris, your essential rundown.

By which we mean, Mr Mahéo has spent many hours experimenting with different indigo dyeing techniques and Japanese fabrics to produce a range of appealing colours and textures, from the characteristic oversaturated indigo shade on a terry cotton sweater to a subtle seersucker on a matching blazer and shorts.

“It’s quite fantastic,” says Mr Mahéo, “because when you initially see the fabric at the mill, you don’t see it’s going to be a seersucker – you see a little bit of dark colouring somewhere, but you don’t really pay attention. But then you do the washing – at the Japanese mills they show you first a regular garment wash, then a stone wash, then an enzyme stone wash. Then you see all the shades of blue come out.”

The Officine Generale aesthetic is generally somewhat minimal, tending towards plain fabrics in time-resistant colours such as navy, grey, taupe and khaki. But this capsule collection has patterns – from striped shirts and tees to dense houndstooth and, the standout piece, a polka-dot camp-collared shirt. Why?

“There are some seasons where prints don’t make sense in the collection,” says Mr Mahéo. “But in this capsule… the idea was to have something pretty subtle. The polka dot, for example, is not the most revolutionary print, that’s for sure. It’s something that is really easy to understand and to wear.”

MR PORTER asked Mr Mahéo for some styling advice. Should we be wearing the polka dots with the stripes? How best to mix and match the shades of blue? He wouldn’t be drawn.

“Who am I to say you should not wear it like that? I think it’s pretty fun, actually… to break the code. If a guy wants to wear the polka-dot shirt, for example, with a super-strong red flower print from another brand… I say go for it. Go for it!”

Part of Mr Mahéo’s process is sourcing vintage garments from his own archive and vintage textiles from Japan, and then taking them back to his suppliers and asking them to recreate the colours and textures. Such efforts have resulted, this season, in a fabric that is “yarn dyed”, that is, the colour comes from the individual strands of fibre that make up the fabric, rather than a flat coating of dye that is applied after it has been woven. If it all sounds a little complicated, the resulting finish, which can be observed in the capsule collection’s selection of chinos and shorts, is one that is easy to appreciate.

“The weaving effect means that it looks textured,” says Mr Mahéo. The colour is not flat at all any more. Without being a super-strong pattern, it’s something that is subtle – I really like it.”

This, it turns out, is a rather crucial point.

“I have some customers who come to the store and say, ‘I saw something on MR PORTER and I want to get it…’” says Mr Mahéo. At the end, they can get a little pissed off.”