Men's fashion can be a fickle thing. You could be watching threepiece suits and neckties strolling down the runway one season, and then ripped up jeans the next. Spring 2015 is arriving with a tone that's similarly divergent to that of bygone winter. There's a plethora of new styles that simply beg to be tried. Here are some of the most intriguing offerings from the most well known of highend designers.
Neutral
Style pundits had been shunning the use of black fabrics and denim as early as spring of last year. It shouldn't come as any surprise, then, that some of the trendiest looks for the upcoming season will be all about neutrals and tones in a display of laid back suaveness.
Giorgio Armani, for example, rolled out several suits in pale gray and welcoming white lightweight cotton. The line at Calvin Klein Collection, meanwhile, featured gray suits on a white shirt and gray necktie for a very inconspicuous yet fashion forward look. Paul Smith from across the Atlantic took things to the next level with pieces that were either white or near white with their paleness. Neutrals and tones might seem too casual for formal events and the office, so the key is to adjust the formalness with the tailoring. More casual tailoring means a more relaxed fit and maybe a softer deconstructed frame; formal suits will require sharper tailoring with a more defined silhouette and form fitting cut.
Back to Basics
Exaggerated luxury was a fashion leitmotif as recently as a couple of years ago, with the humblest necktie giving off its own vibe of bling. With the toned down financial times, though, menswear designers are following suit and giving all sorts of styles that go back to the most fundamental of ideas.
Dolce & Gabbana: the same pair known for their expensively studded and preshredded jeans, also came out with chalk stripe suits that were more subtle style statements than overt declarations of wealth. Miuccia Prada did the same with her namesake collection, featuring looks whose outward visual plainness were made up for with elegant proportion and remarkable fabrics.
There's a thin line between 'basic' and 'boring'. To keep yourself from crossing that line, look for distinguishing details that are more technical or tactile than visual. The simplest suit can become spectacular with the right fit and good tailoring. A plain, slim necktie for complementing your slimness is a better idea than some screaming power tie.
Rumpled and Distressed
For every set of formal fashions in menswear, there always has to be some sort of balance to even things out. In spring 2015, that counterpoint will be in the form of distressed or rumpled styles that give off a casual, more lived-in vibe for the not so formal outfit.
Burberry, among others, rolled out khakis and linens to create an ever so slightly rumpled effect that's soft yet elegant.
Ralph Lauren took a similar stance with a key leather piece, a close-fitting bomber that's distressed enough to look worn and weathered, but not so much that it's old and dilapidated. It's a natural tendency of leather that makes it such an excellent choice of material for most any style of garment this season.
Assembling an outfit featuring distressed or rumpled pieces is a delicate balancing act, as you don't want to overdo it to the point of being sloppy. Wear just one such piece for the whole outfit, but see to it that that single piece will fit you well. In the case of leather, it should look as if it was made specifically for your body. Any other kind of fit will most likely result in your looking as if you had just rolled out of bed in the worst possible way.
Subtlety and understatement are the key ideas for the fashionable man this season. It's the pieces and outfits with the least of those attention seeking details that will give you the most mileage. It's an aesthetic principle that holds true in any season, but will serve you particularly well in the upcoming one.
