It’s no secret that over the past year or so sportswear has taken centre stage on planet fashion. Sneakers are more popular than ever, the “athleisure” portmanteau has entered common parlance, and it’s now seemingly acceptable to wear compression leggings down to the shops. It’s a shift that’s impacted on luxury menswear in a big way.
Fortunately for those of us not blessed with the Adonis-like physiques required to wear tracksuits and trainers day in day out, tailoring looks returned for this spring/summer season. Sure, there were still plenty of sneakers and sporty separates knocking around in London, Paris and Milan, but suits cut from classic fabrics in traditional patterns, such as Prince of Wales check and pinstripe, were back and looking smarter than ever.
The most prevalent trend, garment-wise at least, was for oversized grey blazers. Kering-owned Spanish label Balenciaga, under the aegis of ultra-hip creative director Demna Gvasalia, led the (slightly dorky) charge. Outsized double-breasted grey jackets with droopy shoulders were teamed with dad jeans, mom trainers and the kind of viscose shirts that you tend to find in charity shops. The effect was very Melanie Griffith in Working Girl and, weirdly, it worked.
The trend distilled further into wearability at Lanvin and Armani. At the former, creative director Lucas Ossendrijver showed his extra-long dove grey suit jackets worn open with sporty separates. Sleeves were rolled up, and trousers were baggy. At the latter, the look was more conservative and fluid, but grey was certainly still the colour. Louis Vuitton also showed a strong line in oversized charcoal jackets and cropped trousers. Worn baggy, the models wearing the clothes looked edgy and smart all at once, like strung-out art students who’d raided their dad’s wardrobes over the holidays.
If you plan on adopting the grey tailoring trend into your own wardrobe, I’d recommend opting for a relaxed double-breasted blazer in super 100 or 120 wool. Wear it undone and team with separates in similar shades (choose a tucked-in T-shirt over a shirt; this isn’t 2009, after all).
Where AW17 was all about the 1970s (corduroy, kick-flares, disco shirts), for SS18 the 80s is the decade of choice. At Prada, Miuccia sent out an army of stroppy-looking Paul Simonon wannabes decked out in perfectly cut adult romper suits with cinched waists, which were worn collar up over work shirts. At Balenciaga and Wooyoungmi, oversized 80s-style suits with four buttons were worn with work shirts and oversized ties, tied with a certain irony.
Noticeably, there was a dearth of proper shoes. Suits were worn with sandals and slides at Berluti, Vivienne Westwood and Ermenegildo Zegna. The look was at its best at the former. Nascent creative director Haider Ackermann showed floaty tailored trousers and jackets worn with sleek black leather sandals; the result was modern and understated. At Vivienne Westwood, the British designer showed her classic structural tailoring teamed with sandals made of rope and recycled plastic bottles – whether they’ll make it into production or not remains to be seen.
The summery effect was heightened at Louis Vuitton, Fendi and Paul Smith, where featherweight Hawaiian shirts were worn with voluminous suits, collar over lapel. At Vuitton, now-departed creative director Kim Jones showed boxy shirts made from gauzy voile. At Balenciaga, Gvasalia finished his shirts with palm tree-lined sunset scenes. Worn with liquid tailoring of enormous proportions, the look here was knowingly frumpy and perversely appealing.
The Miami Vice mood was carried through at the more traditional, tailoring-focused brands. At Richard James, the Savile Row stalwart showed a sherbet-hued sprinkling of pastel suits; there was double-breasted candyfloss number, a periwinkle two-piece and plenty of caramel-hued jackets and trousers. At Salvatore Ferragamo, lilac single-breasted suits were teamed with sweaters, while creamy worker jackets were worn with baggy corduroy trousers and tailored chinos. Tom Ford showed an array of gelato-hued suits, but these (as is Mr Ford’s wont) were cut close in the body and strong in the shoulder. Belgian designer Dries van Noten showed a muted rainbow of light, loose suits. There were shades of moss, rust, washed burgundy and sage. The ode here felt more to autumn than the season in question.
The shade of SS18, in my opinion, is periwinkle. Named after the myrtle plant, periwinkle is a soft shade of blue with a lavender tinge. Ralph Lauren showed a beautifully cut single-breasted periwinkle suit worn with a smart navy-blue ombre crew neck sweater and a pair of espadrilles. The effect was elegant yet relaxed. There was plenty of periwinkle at Paul Smith, too, and at Ermenegildo Zegna, where incoming creative director Alessandro Sartori showed a baggy suit in a hue that sat somewhere between lavender and teal. This suit was worn with a low-slung T-shirt, a leather baseball cap and a pair of high-tech walking sandals. All three of these brands ably proved that tailoring need not equate to discomfort: a good suit should be as smart as it is pleasurable and easy to wear.
Pinstripe, or more specifically chalk-stripe, also made a return. Giorgio Armani, who has all but turned his back on the Wall Street tailoring with which he made his name, showed a selection of beautifully cut heavy chalk-stripe suits in navy blue. There was a wry tone to these suits. The extremity of the stripe and the flounce of the styling looked at odds with the deconstructed tailoring that made up the rest of the collection, but somehow it worked: the magic of Mr. Armani.
For those blessed with longer, thinner frames (ectomorphs, as the fitness industry likes to call us), the most notable tailoring trend for SS18 is for double-breasted jackets. Designed to cocoon the body and create additional shape (great if you’re straight up, straight down, like me), double-breasted suits look fantastic when they’re tailored properly. At Dior Homme and Alexander McQueen, the brand’s respective DBs were cut so close to the body, you’d have struggled to fit a sheet of tissue paper between the fabric and the skin beneath. These suits looked pin-sharp, romantic and perfect for more formal occasions. Elsewhere, double-breasted suits were worn loose and undone; a better option, perhaps, for warmer weather. If you do decide to go double-breasted, I’d recommend buying something that is cut close to the body and has a bit of strength in the shoulder, but not so tight around the middle that it feels restrictive.
Personally, I spent the best part of the menswear shows last June in an array of double-breasted jackets from brands including Brunello Cucinelli and Wooyoungmi. I teamed mine with slouchy turned-up chinos (which looked smart, but wore like tracksuit bottoms), an array of high-quality Sunspel T-shirts (which looked expensive simply by virtue of their high thread count) and an array of easy-wearing sandals and sneakers. The jacket thrown over the top turned a series of relatively scruffy outfits into something nearing (emphasis on nearing) elegance and refinement.
So. Whether you’re off to work in an insurance office or heading down to the pub at the weekend, this summer it’s all about making the traditional suit work for you. The slouchier, baggier and more comfortable it is, the better. Just remember that periwinkle is the colour, double-breasted the cut and pinstripe the pattern. Oh, and if you find yourself feeling brave enough to wear an adult romper, just make sure that the one you wear is from Prada.
