‘Men definitely dress more confidently’: from Lenny Kravitz at the CFDA Awards to Simone Rocha’s menswear debut, men’s style is evolving fast
- Thanks to style icons like Styles, Kravitz and Pharrell Williams, men’s fashion is evolving – look at Simone Rocha and Peter Do’s debut menswear collections
- Brian and Vincent Wu, veterans of Australian fashion retailing, have seen the evolution as men find their own style and ‘guys shop with their friends’
Lenny Kravitz has always dressed to the nines. So when the musician and style icon turned up to the CFDA Awards in New York this month, his look reflected just how much menswear has changed.
Forget a sober black tuxedo, Kravitz was resplendent in a custom look by New York fashion designer LaQuan Smith – a double-breasted blazer with hip-revealing cut-outs and satin lapels, tight and flared leather trousers and a black feather boa.
Smith told Vogue that dressing Kravitz, his first foray into menswear, was an honour – and there’s more to come.
“I wanted to push the boundaries of menswear with this look and I feel as though this is the start of something greater. This feels like a very iconic moment,” he said.
Smith isn’t the only designer pushing the boundaries of traditional menswear, nor is Kravitz the only celebrity embracing it.
Key menswear trends for spring 2023 include skirts – worn alone or over trousers – romantic ruffles, shirring and corsetry, and sheer separates. There was perfectly undone suiting at the Ferragamo show in Milan, skimpy sheer tank tops at Eckhaus Latta in New York and surreal streetwear at JW Anderson in London.
Meanwhile, the street style set at the menswear shows showed off a wide array of looks, including crop tops, full leather, and camouflage cargo pants – one of several Y2K styles that have seen a return.
Rocha says it felt right to extend her brand in this way, especially considering that she already had a market for it.
“It felt like the natural time to translate my work into menswear; the design approach is quite similar, the collections coming from an emotional place,” she says of how she approached the menswear pieces in her spring 2023 collection.
“I believe it will invite a new client, but also the male who was wearing the womenswear before. I think there will be a fluidity between the two.”
Speaking of fluidity, some of the most interesting menswear brands of the moment are designed by women, from Bianca Saunders to Martine Rose. While menswear and womenswear shows remain mostly separate (Rocha, Do and Grace Wales Bonner are some of the exceptions), the future of fashion may be genderless.
As Do said to Vogue: “Having the full range is really just inviting everyone. It’s just as inclusive as not having any labels.”
“Men definitely dress more confidently than when we first started Incu. It did take a lot of convincing for guys to step out of dressing all the same, and now I see a lot of men expressing themselves and finding their own sense of style,” says Brian Wu.
“Men typically didn’t shop together when we first opened, but now, with social media and the explosion of online stores, it really has become part of a guy’s lifestyle to shop with their friends.”
He adds: “It certainly is an exciting time and we definitely see more growth in this area of our business.”
As for how men are getting dressed, Vincent Wu says it is with great care, and a sense of occasion.
“Coming out of Covid, we see guys wanting to dress up again. We think guys will start dressing sharper with relaxed suiting and layering pieces and the need to accessorise more,” he says.
The best thing about this style mindset, as the past few seasons have shown, is that more than ever, anything goes.
