Most men play it safe with shorts and end up with a drawer full of navy and khaki that all looks the same by July. Yellow is the move they keep putting off, usually because they’ve seen it done badly. Done badly it looks like a costume. Done right it looks like a man who knows exactly what he’s doing on a Saturday morning. The trick is in the shade and the cut. A washed or muted yellow with a tailored but relaxed fit reads as considered rather than loud. It works with a white tee, an ecru linen shirt, even a faded gray sweatshirt if the rest is clean. We’ve been picking specifically for yellows that photograph well in real life, not just on a product page, and cuts that sit at the right length without negotiation. These are the ones that make it out of the drawer every single weekend.