As Temperatures Rise, Designers Try to Make the Short Suit Happen
Who wears short shorts?
Well, with the temperatures in Europe closing in on 100 degrees throughout the June menswear shows, apparently everyone. From boxers to bermudas, shorts emerged as one of the season’s strongest trends spotted in the streets outside of the runway shows just as often as on the runways themselves.
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The short suit is one way designers are engaging a younger generation with traditional tailoring, while also giving former private school boys a chance to relive their youths.
For Valentino’s show, held in the courtyard of Milan’s Statale University, creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli sought to leave “traditional machismo” behind, dressing down his blazers and ties with tailored shorts. “It’s very important to me to redefine the masculine identity,” he told WWD’s Milan Bureau Chief, Luisa Zargani.
Hermès’ Véronique Nichmian was drawn to a similarly effeminate look this season. “Men have nice legs, too, so why not?” she said of her decision to expose the thighs of her male models with shorts in myriad fabrications from cotton poplin to technical mesh and calfskin.
Shirting may have been the jumping-off point for Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons’ collection, but the dramatic hourglass shape they created with high-waisted elasticized shorts is what caught the eye of editors, many of whom viewed the show from behind curtains of slime. These “were among the more accessible items in this terrific collection, which had a youthful zing,” wrote WWD international editor Miles Socha.
Buyers were equally enthusiastic. Bergdorf Goodman’s Bruce Pask, Alice Feillard of Galeries Lafayette and Luke Raymond from Farfetch all cited shorts as a key investment moving into spring. Worn as part of a matching set, they are a compromise between office-wear and work-from-home sweatpants.
“Bubbling in Milan and confirmed in Paris, the shorts suit has cemented its status as the look of the season,” said Raymond. “Almost every collection featured a version of it in the mix.”
Among their favorites were cannage print athletic shorts from Kim Jones’ 10th anniversary Dior collection, Dries Van Noten’s silky iteration with utility pockets and frayed hems and Mike Amiri’s pastel shorts with deep pleats.
“I think it’s one thing about feeling comfortable, and there’s another conversation about looking comfortable, and those pleats kind of allow that romantic movement while you’re walking,” Amiri said.
Launch Gallery: Men’s Spring 2023 Trend: Short Suits
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