Category Archives: Men’s fashion

Pharrell Williams takes Louis Vuitton to Hong Kong for his second men’s show

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Creative director targets east Asia’s luxury market as his preppy streetwear is given a tropical twist

For his first show as men’s creative director of Louis Vuitton in June, Pharrell Williams closed down the Pont Neuf in Paris, and counted mega-celebrities including Beyoncé and Jay-Z, and Rihanna and A$AP Rocky as guests.

His second effort took place in Hong Kong and focused on local stars in the front row. The actors Zhu Yilong and Chow Yun-fat were joined by three members of the Cantopop band Mirror and the rapper Tyson Yoshi. There was also a take on celestial stars, with a light show at the end rendering the Louis Vuitton monogram in twinkling lights across the city’s harbour.

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‘I went from basic to flamboyant overnight!’ The people who transformed their style – in their 50s, 60s and 70s

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Growing older can mean getting bolder – so why shouldn’t this be reflected in our clothes? Meet four people who refuse to blend into the background

Our style evolves as we move through life; trends come and go. When we get older, the phrase “age-appropriate” is suddenly everywhere. But not everyone is content to blend into the bland smart-casual background. Some choose to tear up their old wardrobes for something entirely different.

What is it that prompts people to revolutionise their styles later in life, to swap streetwear for flouncy skirts or trousers for kilts? And how does it feel to disregard the fashion rulebook?

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David Gandy: ‘I’ve done my share of underwear shoots’

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The model, 41, on his dangerous youth, micro-managed middle age, dancing with J-Lo and seeing giant pictures of his crotch in Times Square

My childhood, in Essex, was run-of-the-mill. My parents were grafters, starting businesses from home, and they were both very present in my life while also deeply committed to their jobs. It was instilled into me that nothing is earned unless you work for it.

How I avoided serious injury in my teens remains a mystery, given how stupid my friends and I were. We’d climb the steepest hills and descend on roller-skates passing busy junctions; as we got older, we drove cars too fast into hedges and fields. I had an appetite for risk until 27, when mortality became very real.

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Cop26: Meet nine fashion designers making real change

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From upcycling to educating, Fashion Open Studio has enlisted nine pioneering designers for a series of online workshops to mark the United Nation Climate Change Conference

Is it actually possible to reduce the fashion industry’s impact on the environment? Nine pioneering designers from five continents are showing that it is. Masterminding a series of solutions to some of the challenges facing their own communities, they demonstrate what we can learn from local indigenous knowledge and how to work within the limits of our natural resources.

In the lead up to Cop26, the designers were asked to respond to the climate change talks’ themes of adaptation, resilience and nature for a series of online workshops created by Fashion Open Studio (the initiative set up by Fashion Revolution) in partnership with the British Council. If you happen to be in Glasgow between November 4 to 11, you can take part in workshop events around the city, or to watch previous events and find out about upcoming workshops online, check out fashionopenstudio.com/events. In the meantime, here are the nine names to know:

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Thigh society: why men’s shorts are getting shorter

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This summer is officially sexy – and the hottest look for men is short shorts. But are we ready for this much male flesh?

In April the US actor Milo Ventimiglia, star of This Is Us, was photographed leaving the gym in a sleeveless vest and a pair of shorts so short you could barely tell they were there: two thumb-sized rims of black material gave way to legs so round and meaty they could be shoved in the oven for three hours at 180C.

It was one innocuous paparazzi photo that broke a dam of desire. The image was reshared on social media tens of thousands of times, users claiming: “Every thought in my head has been replaced with these images.”

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The male beauty myth: the growing acceptance of feeling comfortable looking good

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Men who want to look good used to be disparaged and labelled vain. But times are finally changing…

Until recently, male motivation for looking good or strong was often born from an inherent desire for us to feel and appear more successful, competitive, virile and powerful – what some now refer to as toxic masculinity.

Of course, there have always been men who’ve enjoyed discussing clothes, watches, even grooming regimes but, for many, this open appreciation of what they wore was often merely a game of one-upmanship disguised as an appreciation of the finer things in life. Think of the 1980s and its bullish Wall Street status stamps, such as pinstripe suits and red braces (Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko); the scene in American Psycho where rival stockbrokers battle over business cards, like a game of Top Trumps. Or in the 1990s, when showing off got even easier and even off-duty symbols such as underwear, jeans and luggage were plastered with a riot of logos.

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‘It resembled a chinchilla’: 10 men who changed their hair radically in lockdown

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From the film extra who now gets parts as wizards rather than lawyers to the office workers who just decided to go for it, readers who have tried something new with their locks explain why

Before the pandemic, my personal image was dictated by the constraints of corporate office culture, and I always felt tense. But while furloughed, as I was for most of the last year and a half, I found myself with a lot of time to relax, go for walks, listen to jazz and spend more time in the kitchen experimenting with vegetables. I realised that my hair was changing, too, and there was no pressure from anyone to get it cut. The length of my hair became symbolic of my new ability to appreciate the simple things in life. I’ve retrained, and my capacity for self-expression has multiplied. I have so many more options when I style it in the morning. Will, plumber, Bristol

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Tony Blair’s hair: ‘it’s not been this long since I was in a band’

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The former PM isn’t just echoing the mullet trend, he is following the trend of men who love their lockdown locks

Tony Blair’s appearance on ITN News this week, with a slightly matted mane of slate grey hair styled into a mullet, may have prompted many to mistake the former PM for Peter Stringfellow, Paul Smith or an older version of Steve Coogan’s Portuguese crooner Tony Ferrino (it was less ‘former Labour leader’ and more ‘dude from Ugly Rumours’, indeed he told the Evening Standard: “it’s not been this long since I was in a rock band”). But Blair wasn’t just echoing the mullet trend which has increased in popularity during the pandemic. He was also an example of men who’ve let their hair grow during lockdown since December and, despite barbers and hairdressers re-opening, want to keep it that length (see also: Brad Pitt with tiny ponytail and Sound of Metal’s Paul Raci at Sunday’s Oscars).

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‘When I tell people, they might laugh’ – George Clooney and the men who sew

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More ‘sew bros’ have taken up the fine art of stitching in the pandemic. What’s so appealing about this crafty pursuit?

Good things are rarely described using the suffix ‘bro’ but the rise of the ‘sew bros’ could be an exception. That’s the name that’s been given to the growing number of men who are taking up the fine art of sewing, who can now add George Clooney to their numbers.

The father of three-year-old twins, who came out as a self-haircutter in December, told AARP magazine: “I do a lot of sewing the kids’ clothes … and my wife’s dress that tore a couple of times. I was a bachelor for a long time and didn’t have any money, and you have to learn how to repair things.”

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‘Hate-wear’ and ‘sadwear’: fashion’s new names for lockdown dressing

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NYT and Esquire coin terms for the ways people are expressing frustration through clothes

With online sales booming but retail in sharp decline, the pandemic has changed shopping for ever. Practical, comfortable items suitable for a lifestyle of working from home and occasional trips outside – such as Ugg boots, Crocs and trousers with elasticated waistbands – have seen rising sales.

But with many of us grappling with our emotions during lockdown, the way we feel and speak about our clothes has altered too.

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He wears short shorts: why are men showing more leg?

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The subversive, suggestive and skimpy garment has made a comeback during lockdown thanks to Paul Mescal and Harry Styles

Men’s short shorts, an item of clothing forever caught in the crosshairs of a sartorial culture war between subversive and suggestive and retroactively rugged (think Wham! in the Wake Me Up Before You Go Go video vs Bjorn Bjorg), are enjoying a renaissance. 

Normal People’s Paul Mescal had a notable lockdown fashion moment carrying a bag of prawn cocktail crisps and a bottle of Crabbie’s and wearing skimpy, white silk shorts when out and about, while the video for Harry Styles’ Watermelon Sugar shows him in a vintage-look yellow pair. According to Digitaloft, UK searches for “short shorts” increased by 60% the day after the Mescal photo appeared. Meanwhile, “men’s shorts” UK searches increased by 75% and “microshorts” increased by 122%. Small shorts are suddenly big business.

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Prada works commuter chic at Milan men’s fashion week

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A surreal take on tailoring echoed masculine workwear themes seen elsewhere

On the third day of Milan men’s fashion week, the concept of the working man emerged as a theme in the newest collection from Prada.

The brand, which skipped Milan last season to show instead in Shanghai, showcased a collection which focused on formality and tailoring but with Miuccia Prada’s surreal touches. On a set that was designed to replicate a futuristic town square (a white statue of a man on a horse stood in the centre of the box-like runway), models replicated Prada-ised commuters on their way to work.

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Troye Sivan: ‘I have to get comfortable with being effeminate’

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The former YouTuber turned musician and actor talks about sudden stardom, queer pride and life as a showman

Troye Sivan is posing in full view of the street, delighting the small groups of teenagers who stop outside the photo studio to gawp. Some of them know who he is. The rest can tell he must be Someone. The South African-born Australian, 23, is as luminous as a cherub and has no qualms about giving it his best Rodin: foot perched on a starry plinth, trousers gaping around his slim frame.

Sivan has been preparing to be looked at since before puberty. As of last year, he is a pop star – not quite a household name, but big enough to command an invitation from Taylor Swift to duet on her recent US tour, and a guest spot from old friend Ariana Grande on his 2018 album Bloom. Critics compared Bloom’s euphoric synth-pop to cult Swedish pop star Robyn (the ecstatic My My My!) and 4AD goths This Mortal Coil (The Good Side, a spectral break-up ballad). He’s also an actor, recently lauded for his supporting role in the gay conversion therapy drama Boy Erased, with Nicole Kidman and Lucas Hedges.

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