Soon, perhaps not soon enough, it will be summer.

Birds will sing. Slight traces of sweat will glisten on your brow. Below your feet, the deck of a yacht will sway gently with the waves.

Life will be good.

But not yet. And while we're not saying a new madras shirt will bring summer along any faster, we're willing to give it a shot...

Introducing Gilbert & Lewis, a new line of shirts, pants and ties that come with the guarantee of an early summer, available now. (Actual guarantee not included.)

Consider this your uniform for any upcoming fireworks viewings, beach blanket picnics or unusually formal beach volleyball games on the horizon. The line includes the kind of rumpled oxford shirts, brightly colored madras ties and khaki shorts that practically demand to be tossed in a suitcase, removed from said suitcase somewhere more tropical than where you started and accompanied by a boat drink soon after. (A demand you've always been proud to meet.)

The guys who designed these preppy threads—a couple of vets from the Gap and Levi's—were thinking long and hard about cabanas at Miami Beach (sandals sold separately) and, um, Sixteen Candles when they were making this stuff. So basically, if Miami Vice were set at a college, this is what Crockett and Tubbs would've worn.

While majoring in ass-kicking.