Return of the cool
Dior AW22
Autumn menswear is all about textures, tones and a relaxed, understated suave, explains Marie Kelly.
Defining the overriding theme of menswear for the new season as ‘smart casual’ is about as enlightening as a weather forecast of sunshine and showers – nobody is any the wiser about what to wear. But the collective desire among brands to smarten up and step away from streetwear without reverting back to the formality of traditional suiting was striking across all fashion weeks.
The pandemic has evolved dress codes so rapidly that our fashion lexicon has failed to keep up. So we’re stuck with smart casual, the trickiest of dress codes to comprehend and one that for many feels like some fraternity-style initiation test set by fashion insiders to trip up those not in the know. A little like the golden ratio for coffee, balancing both elements is the key to success, but as with any balancing act, the pitfalls between alchemy and calamity are many.
For TV presenter, entrepreneur and tastemaker Darren Kennedy, AW22’s smart casual could be rebranded ‘smart comfortable’. “The focus this season is on fabric and movement,” he says. “Fluidity is key and how clothes move is important. Designers have borrowed and blended from athleisure to create loose-fitting tailoring that has none of the rigidity or stiffness of traditional suiting. Looking and feeling comfortable is the driver and this was exemplified at Dior,” he explains.
Deconstructed suit jackets and tailored track pants, many in Christian Dior’s beloved dove grey, offered both the ease and polish required of modern hybrid lifestyles. Artistic director Kim Jones presented ‘casual’ bottoms in luxury fabrics like cashmere, while smart blazers appeared in a medley of utilitarian textures, from stone-washed denim to functional felt. Tactility is an important part of the contemporary smart casual equation, with premium fabrics giving informal items a ‘dressier’ feel, while unfussy fabrics downplayed the ceremony of smarter pieces. Beyond this, texture will always give an outfit depth and contrast, helping to elevate it from hum-drum to stand-out.
At Bottega Veneta, newly appointed creative director Mathieu Blazy described his vision for autumn as “a quiet power, something felt, rather than seen”, and while he was undoubtedly referring to the ethereal experience of clothes, it was achieved in large part by the reimagining of luxe textures – velvety soft nubuck leather made to look like hardwearing denim for instance. The essence of the collection, he explained, was about “movement, about going somewhere” and after two years of travel restrictions and remote working, it’s a theme that is capturing the imagination of consumers, says Dubliner Gavin Manley, a Manhattan-based fashion and lifestyle writer, who regularly contributes to New York’s AC Magazine, focusing on men’s fashion and accessories.
“There is an almost palpable thirst for adventure, and striking out,” he reveals. Like Kennedy, he cites Dior as one of the defining shows of the season. “Taking cues from Jack Kerouac’s famous novel, On the Road, the collection captured this spirit with pieces such as a brown cotton canvas anorak, chunky knits and a 1950s-inspired double-breasted blazer. Billed as a ‘journey from counterculture to couture’, the collection is made complete with a range of easygoing accessories that include a saddle bag, high-top sneakers and equally modern – but decidedly retro – eyeglasses.” Manley adds that “overnight bags, backpacks, laptop cases, even luggage trackers – all of the accoutrements of modern travel and a hybrid work culture – will likely be in high demand this season.”
The biggest change in menswear this season is an oversized aesthetic, which designers employed to convey this coveted sense of movement and motion in an effort to offer an antidote to our still lingering Covid cabin fever
It’s the essence of this new-look smart casual because it appears relaxed, but considered, and never sloppy. Artist John Redmond, who recently retired from his role as creative director of Brown Thomas Arnotts after almost 40 years, agrees and believes that the silhouette will be a slow burn. “I’m wearing a big wide palazzo pant all of the time and I love it,” he says, “but it will feel like a big switch for some men,” he adds. Not least because, as Redmond points out, when a trouser silhouette changes, the shoe must too. “There’s a shift happening away from trainers to a shoe or boot, and there are new shoe styles emerging for autumn like leather sandals, which you can wear with socks.” Souped-up slippers showed up at Marni, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci and Jil Sander. If wider-leg pants are a nod to the unnervingly strong role pyjama bottoms played in our pandemic lives, then it makes sense to design a slipper-style shoe to wear with them in this new normal.
Redmond is a massive fan of Issey Miyake’s Pleats Please, and for anyone who wants another coherent snapshot of how to dress this season, the Issey Miyake AW presentation (there was no runway show) demonstrated beautifully how to achieve the intangible yin and yang of contemporary smart casual style. Blouson coats, tailored shorts and a new trouser style named Arc, with a curving pleat that runs from the back of the hip, down the thigh to below the outward side of the knee before tapering at the ankle, blended beautifully to create an off-duty but carefully pulled-together look. Redmond is wearing his wide-leg Miyake trousers with big sweatshirts and sweaters, which sounds very like a look you’d expect to see on a Victoria Beckham catwalk.
“There’s a lot less difference between menswear and womenswear right now,” Redmond explains. Kennedy agrees. “We’re seeing a lot of cut-outs and asymmetric silhouettes in menswear. Australian-based brand Salt Murphy, which was founded by Irishman Mark Kenny in 2020, is really leaning into this masculine/feminine approach to design.” For decades womenswear has ‘borrowed from the boys’, but now menswear is gleaning from the girls, peppering feminine detailing like hourglass waists (Vetements), puff sleeves (Dries Van Noten) and jewel-embellished motifs (Louis Vuitton) across everything from outerwear and footwear to fluidly-cut formal wear.
Dries Van Noten AW22
Redmond says there’s an elegance to the new season that reminds him of old Hollywood in the double-breasted blazers and loose-fitting pants that characterised the romance of Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby – and Katharine Hepburn. Autumn/winter hasn’t done away with suits, but designers have evolved them to reconcile the two-piece with this new, more nuanced way of dressing. They’ve been casualised, but not so much so that they are no longer satisfyingly smart. The generous cuts, instead, imbue a loucheness that lends them a modern attitude. A suit no longer emanates a ball-breaking, career-ladder-climbing mentality but rather a quiet self-assuredness. On the streets of New York, Manley says there’s still an appetite for “looks that capture the essence of formal business attire, but increasingly there’s much greater bandwidth for personal expression. It’s almost as if the zeitgeist here in the US has shifted to a more European sensibility, with guys caring much less about what people think.”
This emerging confidence is translating into suits worn over cashmere sweaters finished with sneakers or Italian loafers, he explains. Sophisticated tailoring coupled with cosy cashmere tempers just the right amount of formal with exactly the right dose of weekend nonchalance to nail the new smart casual. “Ties are back in the mix for autumn,” Manley adds, “but expect to see them outfitted with bomber jackets, shorts and even skirts for the more daring among us.” Ah yes, skirts. They appeared on the runways at Miu Miu, Louis Vuitton, JW Anderson and Alexander McQueen, but it’s Oscar Isaac, who wore a Thom Browne pleated skirt suit to the screening of Moon Knight in London in March, and Brad Pitt, who sported a brown linen skirt and jacket to the Bullet Train premiere in Germany this summer, who have propelled them into the male consciousness. Both paired them with combat-style lace-up boots, and while the skirt trend is unlikely to land in any meaningful way here, Redmond suggests that these kinds of boots paired with shorts is a look that will gain traction.
Cos, Arket and MyTheresa are Redmond’s go-to brands for the new season. “Alias Tom has changed a lot and is doing some really interesting things now,” he adds. Kennedy is keeping an eye on Parisian brand Ami and California-based label Amiri and says he’s become “re-acquainted” with Gap recently. “They’ve got some really unexpected but gorgeous pieces.” For Manley, Banana Republic’s safari-style jackets and leather outerwear really hit the mark this season. Unfortunately, the brand is no longer available in Europe, but it’s worth checking out on your next visit to the states. In the meantime, take inspiration from the styling on its website, which Redmond explains is a great way to navigate any new season. “It can help you to make better choices,” he says.
And finally, bear in mind what British designer Hardy Amies once said. To paraphrase: buy with intelligence, style with care and then forget all about it. If there’s one essential element in the new season’s smart casual, it’s insouciance. If your demeanour is uptight, it won’t matter how loose-fitting your tailoring is, the look won’t carry.
This article originally appeared in Irish Tatler, September 2022