Men’s Spring/Summer 2016 Fashion Trends Preview
Menswear waits for no one. So while we might still be able to see our breath indoors, it’s time to start looking ahead to see what’s set to be big once the temperatures pick back up.
From technical tailoring to trousers that won’t lower your sperm count, this is your first look at the trends we expect to hit hard for spring/summer 2016.
On Safari
Menswear has always been enamoured of utility. But while that’s usually manifest in military-inspired overcoats and camo prints, designers changed tack for SS16, looking to the dawn of aviation and early 20th century safaris for inspiration.
At Dunhill, it was in the scorched earth-coloured brown wide brim fedora, open-necked shirt and lightweight scarf, while Belstaff went full throttle with a desert combat collection of field jackets, tanksuits and multi-pocketed gilets inspired by the Desert Rats, the British forces based in North Africa during WWII.
Tanksuits, we know, aren’t for everyone, so if you’re giving this trend a whirl steer towards its more wearable aspects: khaki field jackets, chinos and bush shirts (short sleeves and two chest pockets) will all work well for an urban expedition.
The Cuban Collar
Now that most of us have confronted our once debilitating fears of short-sleeved shirts, designers are setting us new challenges. Enter the Cuban collar shirt – the open, almost notch lapel-like collared style our grandfathers probably couldn’t get enough of in the 1950s.
There was a black version embroidered with pink palm trees at Dries Van Noten, while Patrick Grant’s take at E. Tautz ran the gamut from geometric prints to plain pale indigo. Almost all were boxy in their cut, dwarfing even meatier models’ biceps.
If you’re bored silly of Oxford button-downs, a Cuban collar short-sleeved shirt is the ideal piece to shake things up. But you’ll want to be sure to keep the cut fitted (unless you’re an off-duty model) and the style itself low-key, so try plain, neutral designs for starters and wear neatly tucked into a slightly looser-leg trouser for the full 1950s effect.
