As someone who never entirely graduated from their petulant, needy, self-obsessed teen years, I remain drawn to the highfalutin world of the avant-garde.

Is it too much to ask for everything in my world to be progressive to the point of unacceptability? Clothing, art, literature, music; the more obscure the better; if you’ve heard of it I’m outta there.

Of course IRL this ethos is at best inconvenient and at worst ridiculous. I refuse to sign up to Spotify (far too mainstream) so I end up crate-digging over at Bandcamp and pay quadruple the price for the privilege. ‘It’s for the artists’ I lie, while single-mindedly hunting for tracks that have so far evaded the algorithms. I will not watch reality TV. So I spend my time watching languorous Cassavetes’s indulgences, and even as I nod off I remain convinced I’m somehow cooler than thou.

I am, it must be said, completely insufferable. 

And of course, I’m also a total phoney. Especially when it comes to clothes. I spend all my time seeking out the difficult and the challenging, before buying the simplest, most wearable, most orthodox version of it. Sure, I want to be part of the avant-garde club, I just don’t want to look like a loon.

To this end I’m busily aligning myself with the brand Sage Nation. I recently grabbed a pair of their formidable box pleat trousers and they’ve become my new go-to. As loose as a pair of Needles HDs, but with unique top-to-bottom pleating, they taper just so  — obscure brand, but wearable, it’s a double tick.

So this is really just a heads up for those that have somehow missed Sage Nation’s recent collab with Garbstore, or the current hype around the mainline’s Collection 2 offering. The images here are from the latter. And the big draw is texture.

I have no idea what’s going on in the image right at the top, but I’m pretty sure it’s not mandatory to wear two pairs of trousers at once. Look beyond the styling affectations and check out the fabric. It looks to me like a beautifully bobbly seersucker, in the darkest navy   — utterly sublime. If you check out the full Collection 2 look-book, you’ll notice the trouser style with giant pockets (are they even pockets?) around the calf. This is a perfect example of when (for me at least) the avant gets a bit too garde. I love that they exist, but they’re too fierce for me.

With all the tricky angles and close-ups it’s difficult to make out which styles are available in which fabrics. But I’m going on record right now, if the bobbly seersucker manifests as a (less pockety) trouser and blazer I’m having them. Buying into the vibe, but avoiding people laughing at me on the tube. I’ve got the convictions. Just not enough courage.