With his peculiarly proportioned suits and bookish spectacles, the geek is this season's Adonis.
LIKE JULY'S INEVITABLE FALLOUT between Kate Moss and Pete Doherty - the queen of the catwalk and the prince of rock music - fashion's enduring union of style and rebellion couldn't last forever. When that door closed, another one opened. This season, fashion has found new love in the geek.
The autumn/winter menswear collections saw countless awkwardly proportioned suits, narrow cuts, cropped trousers that exposed the ankles, sleeves that were a little bit too short, high socks and too-short shorts.
It sounds suspiciously like a Steve Urkel wardrobe retrospective, but the thread that separates 'stylish' from 'disastrous' is spun from pure attitude and ingenious tailoring. The deliberateness of this new geek look requires the full-frontal confidence of an offbeat, fashion-forward hipster.
That's the spirit of American menswear pioneer Thom Browne. He soared to popularity with his daringly cropped trousers and jackets that reinvigorated the tired, old mood of 'business-casual' suits. His trademark short cuts and dork-league socks inject an unapologetically gawky, Pee-wee Herman-esque energy into couture, and introduce a welcome dose of humour.
Then there are the boxy coats, the kind your mother bought two sizes too big so that you wouldn't outgrow it by next Tuesday. Such coats were seen at Louis Vuitton, Yohji Yamamoto, Burberry Prorsum and Paul Smith, but these boys aren't emulating Mum's strategy; the overestimated measurements are an end in themselves, and the result is an eye-catching tension between boyishness and masculinity. The proportions create an illusory, charming innocence; and yet the sturdy, clean cuts in heavyweight fabrics maintain an aura of machismo.
Designers have also taken note of another nerdy style cue: bookishness. To make it chic, they took the standard prim-and-tidy academic uniform of blazers and ties, then reworked it for the runway in a mature palette of deep, earthy hues. Boring tweed was swapped for hip plaid, and ties were pencil-thin.