For at least the last half decade, men’s wear has centered on pants. In recent years, trousers have become larger, wider and flared, with sharp pleats and hems like folded paper that easily pile up over shoes. They became the true statement-makers of an organization. Designers stretched the silhouette season after season until there was nowhere left to go. And if this Paris Fashion Week proved anything, it’s that there’s a new hub for experimentation in menswear: shorts.
Shorts – not an uncommon garment to be found in spring-summer collections – were an oddly timely trend in light of the French heatwave that dominated the week. Yet, while the industry’s stance on trousers is still on (they should be comfortably roomy, except when they aren’t), their shorter counterparts offer a refreshingly wide-open range. Lengths are all over the map. The ratio varies wildly from collection to collection. Tailoring, sportswear and workwear are all hitting somewhere between the waist and the knee – or, depending on the designer, well below it.
Courtesy of Soshiotsuki
Few collections have captured this energy better than Soshiotsuki, the eponymous label of Japanese designer and recent LVMH Prize winner Soshi Otsuki. Their latest outing was filled with beautifully casual tailoring, easy button-ups, and enough shorts to satisfy any desire. Looks like she’s the champion of easy city boy style popeye Magazin had grown up, got a corporate job, and still refused to lose his temper. Otsuki pairs cuffed long shorts with structured jackets and skimpier ones with double-breasted blazers. Some borrowed the striped fabric and loose ease of boxer shorts, while others looked like trousers gone bad (even down to the unbuckled leather belt). This collection provided a compelling approach to modern office dressing. Just as importantly, it suggested that shorts of all types should find a place in sharp, contemporary wardrobes.
