Orlebar Brown - The Only Pebble on the Beach

Orlebar Brown make trunks that are also shorts, and offer all-day style for a trip to the beach. They have a new shop and expanded range.

You know how it is. You've just been for a dip in the Med and you now want to hop over to the chiringuito for fresh sardines and a glass of gazpacho. What about those trunks dangling limp, twisted and sodden around your middle? They just won't do. You have your standards and you also want to be comfortable. So you stand shuffling underneath a towel as you swap trunks for shorts.

Clingier designs

Orlebar Brown solved this dilemma by not following sports science-minded swimwear manufacturers, and their ever clingier designs, or the garish juvenility of 'surfer dude' fashion.

English bulldog

Instead, Orlebar Brown swim shorts are elegant and practical, made with quick-drying material in bright flat colours, they are cut in such a way that they look great on the beach or away from it. The Monocle 11 Bulldog shorts (above) are made in England in collaboration with Tyler Brûlé's excellent magazine. The company is expanding and recently opened a shop in London, where you can purchase the range of shorts and also shirts, such as the Adam long-sleeve polo in pique cotton, below, to match. Although the Bulldog and Adam here don't really match. I just like the blues.

Inside the shop you can also enjoy the aesthetic of a 60s poolside utopia to get you in the mood for your hols. The interior is inspired by Slim Aarons' photographic depictions of beach-based high life. Actually, we'll need to cover Slim Aarons in more depth some time. he took some lovely photos of life poolside.

Orlebar Brown
178 Westbourne Grove
Notting Hill,
London,
W11 2RH