"Fashion is the armor to survive the reality of everyday life." —Bill Cunningham
This one is for my boys. With the cold weather coming to an end (praise God), spring is upon us. I don't know about you, but I am excited. In the words of Drake, it's time to start "wearing less and going out more." A lot of my guy friends are learning more about fashion and starting to get interested in the industry, so I figured it was time for me to get y'all hip. Through reviewing social media and taking a look at runway shows for the spring, I've put together a culmination of the most wearable trends for SS 2020. So if you're ready to get ahead of the curve and transform your wardrobe for the warmer weather, tune in.
Color Schemes: All or Nothing
In reviewing and reading up on the SS 2020 Menswear & Ready to Wear collections, the first thing I noticed was the overlapping color schemes. First up, Tommy Hilfiger with TommyNow. Since it's springtime, we definitely see a lot of the traditional pastels, but honestly, there was a lack of the color we traditionally see in springtime collections. We see color, but in muted tones (navy, red, and green, are all used in this look pictured above, but they're not vibrant at all). Many traditional fall colors (orange, brown, red) were being incorporated into SS2020 as well.
My guy, Tommy Hilfiger made sure he was on trend this season. There were a lot of neutral colors happening. I think we all know we can give homage to Kanye West's line YEEZY for bringing neutrals back into our closets. Khaki, navy, muted tans, and nudes, and whites were all over the runway so we can definitely expect to see more of these coming to the forefront this spring and rolling over into the summer.
Now on the completely opposite end of the spectrum, we saw LOUD prints from a lot of designer brands including Gypsy Sport. How do my guys feel about animal print? We saw some loud zebra, cheetah, and leopard looks on the menswear side of things this season and honestly. . . I'm here for it. I love animal prints and I think it's about time the guys had some fun with it. You don't have to overdo it, but a small printed shirt in a muted tone would look amazing this summer.
Oversized: The Bigger The Better
Finally. . . I am so happy about this. I think we kinda got into this cycle of using fitted pieces for menswear looks the past two or three years, but now it's all about oversized. Thank God. In the street style sector, it's always been relevant, but the runways are starting to reflect the transformation. Pigalle's entire collection was paying homage to this trend in a fun and wearable way.
From top to bottom, designers like Bottega Veneta incorporated a lot of VERY exaggerated and oversized pieces into their men's looks. I'm sorry. . . I know a lot of guys will hate this. . . but mom jeans for guys are kinda turning into a thing, or dad jeans in this case. Pairing a huge top with a huge bottom to hide the silhouette of the body is completely acceptable, and encouraged for that matter.
Short shorts were definitely a moment, but as we see pictured here from the collection Tommy Hilfiger's TommyNow Collection, we're going back to "ill-fitting" shorts and tops that look like hand-me-downs from your older brothers. This isn't just about fit but it's more so about comfort. Clothes are becoming much more suited for comfortability and wearability, which as an avid sweatpants wearer, I can appreciate. So throw those skinny jeans away (not really. . . but really) and get into some cargo pants and oversized windbreaker pants.
Suits: Outside the Box
Formal wear...we love to see it. Alexander McQueen did not come to play with this SS Menswear collection for 2020. While the streetwear side of things is focusing on comfortability and flow, when it comes to suits, we're tightening up. Boxy suits are back and better than ever. Yes, that means shoulder pads. This is a trend that I am head over heels for. By playing with shape, we create a completely different look for a traditional silhouette.
The suits were not just boxy but, incorporating the trend we just talked about, they're oversized as well. Now, this is a huge jump from the whole high-waters things we've been doing in men's formal wear for a while. But times are changing, or just repeating themselves if we're being honest. So this spring, if you look like your suit was made for Shaq, you're doing something right, according to this look from the Balenciaga collection.
Balenciaga went all out on this trend for their Spring 2020 Menswear Collection. Along with oversized comes "longline" blazers and jackets. "Longline" is just a term that means a garment that surpasses the traditional length standard for that particular piece. Suit jackets that cover up your booty, basically. Again, with the shift of shaping, there's a lot of ways to work this into your wardrobe in a very wearable way.
Layering: Lay It On Me
"The more the merrier," am I right? Even tho it's spring and summertime, we are still seeing layering work itself into this season. Recently, in streetwear, we've seen a lot of old-school layering tactics make their way back. From the traditional collared shirt underneath a sweater-vest or sweatshirt, we see from the TommyNow 2020 Spring Menswear Collection to shorter t-shirts overtop longline ones.
Putting a short sleeve top over a long sleeve one is another real-world example of how to wear this trend. Being smart about color choice while doing this is key to making a look fit together. As we see in this look by Kenzo's SS 2020 Menswear collection, creating shape by putting a shorter blouse over a hoodie is very on-trend as well. It's really all about mixing and matching to see what looks good together; keeping in mind color, of course.
Maybe you're thinking, "it's spring and summer. . . it'll be too hot to layer." Tommy Hilfiger's would disagree as we see from his TommyNow Spring 2020 Menswear show. There are ways to layer even for warmer weather. For instance, take a basic short sleeve button down, and instead of wearing buttoned-up, put a solid colored tank underneath or a graphic tee underneath to create dimension. The cool thing about this is that there's no rule book. It's up to you to decide how you want to add flair to your outfit.
Leather: You're Joking Right?
Now at this point, you probably think I'm crazy. As if layering wasn't insane enough for warmer weather...now leather?! Well, yeah, but not your traditional leather jacket. For the first time in a while, we see leather making its way into all types of silhouettes. As we see here from the Bally men's collection for this season, leather was worked into a basic short sleeve button down.
Alexander Wang joined in on the fun too with his collection showcasing leather bags for men. If you get hot easily, this is a great way to incorporate leather into the warmer seasons. Also seen here, leather pants are making a graceful comeback. It might get a little toasty down there but I mean . . . beauty is pain guys. Why do you think we wear heels, come on now.
Now, this is something I can get behind. This leather windbreaker by Bottega Veneta is the epitome of versatility. I loved seeing so many designers playing with leather, which happens to be one of the HARDEST fabrics to work with. Let me tell ya, it ain't fun. Pieces like this are already on sales floors and give a lot of inspiration for how to wear leather properly into the March.
Obviously, wear whatever the hell you want. Don't be a slave to wearing what everyone else wears, and don't let trends define you. You do not have to throw away your skinny jeans boys, I REPEAT, do not throw them away. Wear whatever makes you comfortable, but if you are attempting to be more up to date with your style in terms of "trend-awareness," these are some good places to start for this upcoming season.
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