8 things we love at the Spring 2022 menswear shows
With vaccines rolling out and countries reopening, it’s time to get ready to (safely) join the outside world once again. Call this your guide to dressing for a post-pandemic summer come next year.
Slime green is in
After over a year of dull and bleak pandemic dressing indoors, it’s time to bring the traffic-stopping fluoro outdoors for next year’s hot vaxxed summer. The color, synonymous with Billie Eillish’s former hair roots and Nickelodeon, is painting the town for spring 2022, all thanks to the two reigning kings of menswear.
Louis Vuitton’s Virgil Abloh produced it in a total of eight looks including a scrumptious hombre leather briefcase while Dior’s Kim Jones fabricated it in his signature, exquisite tailoring.
The long and skort of it
We’ve seen a lot of men wear skirts over the past year, from Harry Styles on the cover of Vogue to A$AP Rocky in GQ. But for those who can’t commit to a full skirt yet, Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada have blessed us with the next best thing, the “man skort” — a teeny-tiny one at that.
A portmanteau of the word “skirt” and “short,” it was popularized by the Britneys and Christinas of the mid-aughts. The Prada-fied version for the boys comes in optic mid-century patterns and jewel tones. May we suggest wearing it with socks and hiking sandals or chunky boots for a strong leg exposure game?
Supersize Bermuda shorts
Never mind last year’s TikTok viral trend that men need to follow the five-inch short rule, we’re going big and we’re going for it at nine-inch — or more! Consider it a fresh take on your dad’s shorts from the ’90s. The oversized Bermuda shorts trend of spring 2022 is interpreted in the finest suede and leather at Hermès, crisp canvas at Tod’s and perfectly tailored over at The Row.
Free the bicep
The ubiquitous sweater vest has already reached its climax for the past few seasons. Literally every designer brand out there is selling at least one in their racks. But the “free the bicep” movement is not going anywhere — this time reintroduced in a boxy paper bag silhouette at Prada, suit vest proportions at Giorgio Armani and juicy fruity prints at JW Anderson.
High seas with the sailor collar
What makes Dior’s Kim Jones so successful is that he knows what people are buying and understands how they want to dress. He proposes things with subtlety without shoving it down his market’s throats. A perfect example of this is how he modifies a very sellable varsity jacket and tweaks it with a simple change in the collar — a sailor collar, that is.
This is one trend we wish will be sailing off to everyone’s closets because nautical is more than just wearing a Breton shirt. Over at Fendi, the flap-shaped collar appeared once again now in the form of a hoodie jumper. The way the collar perfectly hugs the shoulders is just sophisticated tailoring at its finest. Thanks to the storied Italian house, we will never look at a hoodie the same way again.
Scallops on the menu
What was once associated with baby doll dresses and little girls’ uniforms has now found its way to menswear. Commonly used in collars, hems and necklines (or the full shebang — see Christopher Kane’s spring 2009 collection), scalloping for spring 2022 puts the curves in suit lapels. Casablanca’s version takes the retro direction in soft pastels while Louis Vuitton produced it in a dreamy, cloud-like neoprene fabric.
Suit but not quite
The pandemic’s seismic effect shifted how the corporates dress for work. When the boardrooms became bedrooms, the suits became pajamas and sweatpants.
As the world slowly creeps back into a post-vaccine utopia, the workplaces with the strictest dress codes before are now loosening their ties and unbuttoning their collars. Suit jackets are out and shirt jackets are in. Think “I mean business” but “I’m ready to roll over my couch anytime.”
Bucket hat redux
The bucket hat never left, did it? These designers know that even if they release a bucket hat season after season, it will sell on their shelves. It surely will. So for spring 2022 the undisputed king of menswear headpieces is getting a makeover.
Dior made it sheer and monogrammed, Prada made a dip brim version like a British policeman’s hat, Louis Vuitton made it crafty, and Fendi, well, they made it wide and floppy.