Introducing our brand new issue of 10 Men – ECCENTRIC, FANTASY, ROMANCE – hitting newsstands on Friday. This issue explores how menswear continues to mine codes of womenswear to create a new decadent age. Our first cover stars catwalk favourite Mamuor Majeng, who wears Prada – shot by Vanina Sorrenti and styled by 10 Men’s Garth Allday Spencer.
For a look inside the issue, read Sophia Neophitou’s editor’s letter:
This issue of 10 Men was a deep dive into how menswear has borrowed so many codes from the womenswear collections this season. Bringing femme into masc, shows from designers like Saint Laurent, Maison Margiela, Junya Watanabe, Comme des Garçons, Willy Chavarria and Dior Men explored this decadence.
There’s a new sensitivity to menswear that looks to the 1930s man. Languid, louche and beautiful, it brings a softness to suiting, a transparency to shirting. Add an oversized floppy bow, seen in shows like Dolce & Gabbana and Loewe, the femme aesthetic is reinforced. Designers roamed free with ideas, abolishing structure and creating bias-cut suiting that skims the body with puddling hems. A real sense of romance exuded from these collections. An influential quarter of fashion is encouraging men to connect with their feminine side, abandoning the hard-edged, big-shouldered jackets in favour of this softness and sensitivity.
Our cover star San is the embodiment of this new mood. I first met the South Korean superstar when we sat next to each other at Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Sartoria show in Sardinia. I knew right away that he had to be a cover star. He has a striking beauty and a sensitivity that draws you to him; he also has a strength. His gentle masculinity was the perfect pairing for Dolce & Gabbana’s AW24 collection.
There is, of course, room to dress as your fantasy: from the decadence of Pharrell’s Louis Vuitton cowboys, which we feature on page 186, to the American Gigolo suiting at YSL and Loewe’s all-Americana fantasy. Designers are using their collections to romanticise styles of bygone eras, tapping into an eccentricity that was once only allowed to be visually communicated by aristocratic gentlemen. It’s now available for the masses. New romantics and eccentrics thrive in this season’s offerings.
Also part of a new era at 10 Men is our new stand-alone section for watches. The dazzling showcase of the most innovative out there includes the technical wonder of Bulgari’s Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC watch, with its 1.70mm-thick titanium case – a watch that blew my mind.
Our very own global publisher Tony Galaxis has penned a diary of his Watches and Wonders experience (lashings of champers, six-figure timepieces and even a magic trick or two). Buying a watch is such an emotional process and everyone has a story – that’s why we asked our favourite men what their watch means to them.
It’s personal, as is one of my favourite 10 Men features, Me and My Desk. No issue would be complete without it and, for AW24, we get a view of Thom Browne’s amazing (and amazingly tidy) desk. I always get a tingle of voyeuristic pleasure from this peep at the personal workspaces of brilliant creatives.
I hope you feel the same and enjoy discovering this new femme-to-masc trend in the issue.
10 Men Issue 60 – ECCENTRIC, FANTASY, ROMANCE – hits newsstands September 20. Pre-order your copy here.
SERENITY SONG
Photographer VANINA SORRENTI
Fashion Editor GARTH ALLDAY SPENCER
Models MAMUOR MAJENG at Elite Models, BADHIEL LONY NYAN at Established Models and LUUKAS NISKANEN at MiLK Management
Grooming SKY CRIPPS-JACKSON at The Wall Group using Davines
Make-up MEGUMI MATSUNO at Of Substance using Byredo
Set designer BEN GARCIA HUGHES
Digital operator PHILIP BRADLEY
Photographer’s assistants SAM ROBBINS and DAMIAN FLACK
Fashion assistants GEORGIA EDWARDS, SONYA MAZURYK, STARR EVANS and BETH DARROCH
Make-up assistant KASIA POSTAREMCZAK
Casting SIX WOLVES
Production ZAC APOSTOLOU
