The question bounces from one season to the next: how is men’s fashion really doing? Today, the answer is less glamorous than the industry would like to admit. Between Milan and Paris, there is a sense that the system is creaking, while the big names oscillate between caution and déjà vu. Yet there is a glimpse of new energy: that of young people who are not afraid to get their hands dirty with reality. This is where men’s fashion is seeking a new centre of gravity
by Domenico Casoria
In recent years, the merry-go-round of creative directors has swept almost everyone away, but not everyone in the same way. Some brands have remained surprisingly immobile: Prada continues to move forward with the solidity of the Miuccia-Raf duo, capable of innovating without ever losing its genetic code, Dolce&Gabbana remains anchored to its founders, Armani is going through its transition with serene calm, Zegna continues along the consistent and measured path set out by Alessandro Sartori. Louis Vuitton, with Pharrell Williams, has now embarked on a clear trajectory, while Rick Owens continues to play in a league of his own, impervious to any trends. Alongside them, however, there is a more unpredictable front.
Dior Homme with Jonathan Anderson, who has broken with tradition with the maison’s most radical collection. Versace left orphaned by Dario Vitale’s brief stint. Balenciaga, where Pierpaolo Piccioli has already begun to rewrite the rules by presenting an ‘unofficial’ men’s collection, but one that already has a rather clear idea of masculinity. Then there is Fendi, which is preparing for its first menswear show under Maria Grazia Chiuri. And Demna, who will only reveal his plans for Gucci during women’s fashion week. The result? A landscape in which the big names consolidate their positions without any major upheavals. And where the question ‘what does it mean to dress men today?‘ remains unanswered, awaiting a response that the big names, for now, do not seem willing to give.
The new wave in menswear
It is the emerging designers who are really making waves. Or rather, that generation that is no longer emerging but continues to behave as if it has everything to prove. Setchu, with Satoshi Kuwata, brings to the catwalk a masculine style born from the cold of Greenland and the patience of the fisherman: folds like incisions in the snow, jacquards evoking animal skins, volumes that transform constraint into functional poetry. It is a wardrobe that speaks to today’s men, less interested in the office and more in the relationship between body, climate and movement.
Pronounce, on the other hand, constructs silhouettes like architecture. Layering that stratifies the body like a pagoda, dusty tones interrupted by structural details, an idea of masculinity that is not afraid to cross over into femininity. Because, let’s face it, the new generation has no interest in defending boundaries that no longer exist.
An alternative idea of men’s fashion
And then there is Domenico Orefice, who shapes the body using materials chosen with surgical precision. His Lumen collection is a manifesto: jackets that declare intentions, leather that bursts into the conversation, an idea of masculine fashion that is present, alive, physical. Designers who are not just proposing clothes but an alternative idea. They do so, among other things, with more affordable prices, with a new awareness and with an urgency that the big names seem to have lost. And while the giants consolidate, it is the young people who are pushing the discourse forward. Bringing the body, matter and the real world back to the centre of the project. Perhaps it is precisely from these cracks that a more contemporary idea of men’s fashion can start again. One that also carries with it risk.
Photos Prada and Dior
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