Do you find yourself longing to pack it all up and get lost? To disappear deep into nature with only the people who matter?

On him: Coat ($5,845), jacket ($3,995), sweater ($3,995), and trousers ($1,225) by BRUNELLO CUCINELLI; brunellocucinelli.com. Scarf ($255) by DRAKE’S; drakes.com. On her: Coat ($1,170) by MP MASSIMO PIOMBO; luisaviaroma.com. Sweater ($680) by STELLA MCCARTNEY; stellamccartney.com. Scarf ($200) by MP MASSIMO PIOMBO; mpmassimopiombo.com.

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At the Edge of the World

Photographs by Tom Craig

Styling by Nick Sullivan

Reader, we feel your pain. So we blazed a trail to the rugged, remote, restorative Highlands of Scotland, a place so peaceful the grid becomes a blur.

On him: Coat ($2,200), sweater ($1,065), and trousers ($640) by STELLA MCCARTNEY; stellamccartney.com. Boots ($1,175) by GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI; giuseppezanotti .com. On her: Jacket ($1,392) and sweater ($505) by BELLA FREUD; bellafreud .com. Skirt ($1,115) by HOLLAND & HOLLAND; hollandandholland.co.uk. On the lad: Jacket ($455) by BONPOINT; bonpoint.com.

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“I come into the presence of STILL WATER.And I feel above me the day-blind starswaiting with their light. For a timeI REST in the grace of the world, and am free.”—From “The Peace of Wild Things,” by Wendell Berry

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This page: Coat ($2,350), jacket ($1,155), and trousers ($355) by MASSIMO ALBA; massimoalba.com. Shirt ($280) by MASSIMO ALBA; matchesfashion.com. Tie ($225) by ISAIA; isaia.it. Opposite: Jacket ($1,275) and sweater ($450) by THE GIGI;

farfetch.com. Trousers ($795) by BRUNELLO CUCINELLI; brunellocucinelli.com. Shoes ($750) by CHURCH’S; church-footwear.com. Belt ($300) by MASSIMO ALBA; 011-39-02-89415710.

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“I am happy to be with my family and I will work when I WORK. I was switched on for ten years and I never SWITCHED OFF. Now I am switching off whenever I can.”—Paul McCartney, on his farm in Kintyre, Scotland, 1969

This page, on him: Coat ($4,350), shirt ($550), and trousers ($1,300) by BOTTEGA VENETA; 800-845-6792. Boots ($1,050), SANTONI EDITED BY MARCO ZANINI; santonishoes.com. Scarf ($450) by BEGG & CO; bergdorfgoodman.com. On her: Boots ($815) by HOLLAND & HOLLAND; hollandandholland.co.uk. Opposite, on him: Suit ($3,000) by STILE LATINO; stilelatino.com. Sunglasses ($280) by L.G.R; lgrworld.com. On her: Trousers ($1,240)and socks ($365) by HOLLAND & HOLLAND; hollandandholland.co.uk.

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Coat ($10,595), jacket ($7,895), turtleneck ($2,895), and jeans ($1,395) by KITON; kiton.it.

Coat ($4,338) by ISAIA; isaia.it. Suit by ISAIA; similar styles available at isaia.it. Sweater ($98) by J. CREW; jcrew.com. Food: Hake and chips by GILLE BRIGHDE CAFE AND RESTAURANT, Lower Diabaig.

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On him: Coat ($5,800), turtleneck ($3,200), trousers ($730), and scarf ($630) by HERMÈS; hermes.com. Boots ($995) by TOD’S; tods.com. Socks ($16) by WOOLRICH; woolrich .com. On her: Sweater ($505) by BELLA FREUD; bellafreud.com. Skirt ($1,115) and boots ($1,065) by HOLLAND & HOLLAND; hollandandholland.co.uk. On the lad: Sweater ($295) by POLO RALPH LAUREN; ralphlauren.com.

“We look to SCOTLAND for all our ideas of civilization.” —Voltaire

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On him: Jacket ($6,095) and chinos ($345) by BOGLIOLI; 646-870-8250. Boots ($1,115) by GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI; giuseppezanotti.com. Socks ($16) by WOOLRICH; woolrich.com. On her: Coat ($1,170) by MP MASSIMO PIOMBO; mrporter.com. Trousers and boots ($815) by HOLLAND & HOLLAND; hollandandholland.co.uk. On the lad: Sweater ($295) by POLO RALPH LAUREN; ralphlauren.com.

Jacket ($695) by POLO RALPH LAUREN; ralphlauren.com. Sweater ($1,250), SANTONI EDITED BY MARCO ZANINI; santonishoes.com. Trousers ($595) by RALPH LAUREN; ralphlauren.com. Shoes ($1,495) by JOHN LOBB; johnlobb.com. Socks ($129) by PAUL STUART; paulstuart.com.

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Coat ($4,050) and trousers ($780) by PRADA; prada.com. Turtleneck ($190) by ÉDITIONS M.R; editionsmr.fr/en/. Boots ($325) by GRENSON; grenson.com. Socks ($9) by L.L. BEAN; llbean.com.

Right: Coat ($1,055) and vest ($670) by HERNO; 212-226-1432. Sweater ($425) by INIS MEÁIN; barneys.com. Trousers ($1,225) by BRUNELLO CUCINELLI; brunellocucinelli.com. Scarf ($195) by DRAKE’S; drakes.com. Below: Coat ($1,450) and three-piece suit ($1,450) by MP MASSIMO PIOMBO; tizianafausti.com. Shirt ($495) by BELVEST; belvest.com. Tie ($225) by ISAIA; isaia.it. On her: Shirt ($285) by M.I.H JEANS X GOLBORNE ROAD; mih-jeans.com.

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This page: Coat ($1,170) by MP MASSIMO PIOMBO; stefaniamode.com. Opposite, on him: Jacket ($2,895) by BELVEST; belvest.com. Sweater ($225) by J. CREW; jcrew .com. Trousers ($780) by PRADA; prada.com. Shoes ($825) by TOD’S; tods.com. Scarf ($615) by BOGLIOLI; 646-870- 8250. Vintage British-army grip canvas-and-leather bag, available on eBay. On her: Trousers ($425) by THE GIGI; farfetch .com. Boots ($1,065) by HOLLAND & HOLLAND; hollandandholland.co.uk.

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Produced by Sophie Wardlaw for LS Productions. Grooming by Mairi Gordon. Styling assistant, Jacquie McNally. With special thanks to Felix von Racknitz and Sarah von Racknitz MacLeod of Torridon Estate (torridonestate.com), and to models Will, Chloe, and Arthur Chalker.

How we learned to drop out in style

We’re not the first to run to Scot-land seeking solitude. The Big Black Book team was inspired by Paul McCartney’s famously shambolic bolt-hole on the remote Kintyre Peninsula. McCartney had pur-chased the High Park farm, near Campbeltown, in 1966. “I liked its isolation and I liked the privacy and the end-of-the-world remoteness compared to a city,” he told biogra-pher Barry Miles, author of Many Years from Now.

But High Park’s true worth only became apparent in 1969, when John Lennon announced he was leaving the Beatles. McCartney retired to Kintyre with his new wife, Linda, and their children, and by his own account spent three months brooding, not shaving, and gener-ally drinking too much. The Beat-les’ slow implosion prompted Life magazine to track down the family for the famous “Paul Is Still With Us” cover story in November of the same year.

Above left: This red-roofed croft became a centerpiece of the shoot. Right: The Esquire team traveled to Scotland’s rocky Wester Ross region.

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Loch and Unload

Partly because of that pop-cul-tural moment, Scotland felt like the perfect setting for fall’s easy, thrown-together layers, its game of texture on texture. More important, it felt like the realization of a dream all of us keep tucked away some-where: of dropping off the map and escaping to someplace special.

Above: Life magazine’s 1969 cover story “Paul Is Still With Us.” Left: This 1969 shot from Observer made it onto our mood board.

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Clockwise from left: A bottle of the national spirit, chilled in the loch; a rainbow breaks through the mist over the Torridon Estate; photographer Tom Craig, master of the art of functional layering.

Above: Paul and Linda McCartney photographed in High Park in January 1970. Below: The Chalker family channels a similar knock-around country look.

I first drove by the red-roofed croft that we feature as our back-drop 15 years ago. Afterward, I could only roughly place it, some-where on the crinkly fringe of Loch Torridon in the rugged Wester Ross region of the Highlands. But that was before Google Maps. Sev-eral hours spent scrolling along that jagged shoreline in satellite mode yielded a couple tiny bright-red pixels (barely) visible from about 10,000 feet away. We made the 3,000-mile trip with eight trunks of clothing and met up at midnight at the Torridon Estate with our hosts, Sarah and Felix von Racknitz; the shoot crew (headed up by produc-tion manager Sophie Wardlaw); and our model family, Chloe, Will, and Arthur Chalker.

On the shoot that followed, we tried to channel photos of Paul and his growing family living an idyllic, if rather unkempt, existence at High Park. His clothes—tweeds and Fair Isle sweaters, an Irvin Flying Jacket and wellies—were thrown together with a rock ’n’ roller’s insouciance. “They were the worst-dressed peo-ple here,” William Ross, a onetime odd-jobber at High Park, told the Telegraph in 2013. “They’d walk to town through the farm, so they’d have torn their clothes and be covered in muck. They never bothered with airs and graces.” Sounds like heaven. —Nick Sullivan