Boy Meets Best Dressed: The Key Menswear Trends From AW22

If the AW22 men’s collections are anything to go by, from space-age nostalgia to toys not-just-for-tots, here’s what you’ll be repping by the time the leaves start falling again later this year. Sound bonkers? Good! Off we go – we suggest you take notes.

Jetson’s Chic

As seen at Rick Owens, Loewe, JW Anderson, A-Cold-Wall and Y/Project

JW Anderson

Rick Owens

Loewe

Are you ready to occupy Orbit City? Well if the latest catwalks have any input, we might just already be on our way. Looking to retro-futurism for sartorial inspiration, this season’s menswear seemed to flirt with trends more attuned to the year 2062. After all, men are from mars… In case you don’t already know, The Jetsons was a 1962 animated sitcom centred around a simple nuclear family with holograms, aliens, elaborate robotic inventions – and flying cars, of course – that aired until ’87. The epitome of futuristic fashion, it displayed a hyper-modern midcentury style contrasting the somewhat modest conventions of the sixties space-age with hybridised tech and exaggerated silhouettes.

For Y/Project and A-Cold-Wall, this unconventional aesthetic appeared as bulbous, geometric trousers that played with organic contours and otherworldly construction. Rick Owens favoured abstract broad, peaked shoulder pads and glowing lamp-helmets to channel his inner Jane Jetson, with his phantasmagoric designs making winter dressing now extraterrestrial.

At Loewe, fairy lights lined unitards and Jonathan Anderson proposed a kind of tubular crinoline that was manipulated into wavy sculptural forms across models’ bodies. Similarly at his namesake label, Anderson used a boned circle skirt to make up the base of men’s mini dresses, alongside holographic silver skin suits. Could this modern ‘masc-bot’ be the new normcore? Or is that still stuck in a galaxy far far away? We’re choosing the former.

Dopamine Dressing

As seen at Kenzo, Hermès, Comme des Garçons Homme Plus, MSGM and Prada

Prada

Kenzo

Hermès

MSGM

Nevermind the doom and gloom, this season’s menswear shows embraced dopamine dressing. Coined by American fashion psychologist Dr. Dawnn Karen and defined by its vibrant hues, the term was 2021’s antidote to lockdown depression, serving as a newfound, mood-boosting approach to dressing.

This season, we saw a renewed interest in vibrant colours and an unapologetic embrace of flamboyant silhouettes. A flurry of bright orange florals and grass green shirts paraded down the catwalk at Kenzo, while Prada and Hermès took to subtler expressions of colour by intermingling vivid shades with classic monotone hues.

Comme des Garçons Homme Plus also focused on purposeful pops of colour, using tonal references to create a spectral offering fit for the mad-hatter. Think tri-colour coats, violet corduroy and graffiti-like designs under pink leopard print. If these clothes don’t leave you with a big, cheesy grin, we don’t know what will.

Ready Steady Prep

As seen at Kenzo, Louis Vuitton, Opening Ceremony and Lukhanyo Midingi

Louis Vuitton

Kenzo

No longer reserved for the college frat boys, preppy garms with that all-American flare are here to stay. Knits, zip-up jumpers, plaid cardigans, sweater vests and baseball caps set the agenda for the upcoming season, while varsity jackets adorned with patchworks fed into our nostalgia for our schooling days.

Both Opening Ceremony and Lukhanyo Midingi made the case for vintage-inspired argyle fits, while Louis Vuitton took a more street-oriented approach to casual school dressing. Kenzo’s Nigo followed suit, sending his models down the catwalk in V-neck vests and collared cardigans embellished with branded emblems, tiger mascot motifs and iron-on patches. You’d be hard-pressed not to buy into such a classic style. Prepare to get preppy.

Jet Set

As seen at Casablanca, Rhude and Louis Vuitton

Casablanca

Rhude

Louis Vuitton

As travel restrictions have eased across the globe, perhaps designers are keen for us all to hop on a plane to Bali and get some sun back into our systems – making it no surprise that travel bags are back. Because let’s face it, this drab English weather is getting a bit old, don’t cha’ think?

So far, we’ve seen larger-than-life sherpa totes and PVC overnighters at Etro. Velvet, quilted leather and hard-shell duffle bags at Louis Vuitton and at Rhude, leather weekenders made your dream yacht trip a little more imaginable. At Casablanca, it was time to take off with briefcases perfect for your carry-on, and wheeled, hardside suitcases without the sacrifice of substance for style.

Although it might be slightly over-optimistic to expect a true end to the pandemic any time soon, if men’s fashion week had one thing to say, it’s that the fashion pack are raring to get globetrotting again in 2022. So strap in, and prepare to take off.

Neo-Dandy

As seen at Fendi, Dior, GmbH and Zegna

Fendi

GmbH

Prada

Dunhill

Dior

Love a good suit? Perfect, because this season, designers littered their collections with new takes on typical tailoring. With the wit and charm of an old-timey dandy, brands far and wide reimagined what it means to wear a suit.

But what even is dandyism? At one time, to be a dandy went to be a man of first-rate quality with a reigning disposition to take care of his sartorial accoutrements. In terms of style, it’s a subtly camp aesthetic that maintains a sartorial simplicity in spite of this. With a vintage feel and an old-fashioned peculiarity, it is classic tailoring made ‘cool’. And if the fashion aficionados of this day and age have any say, it’s now a look worthy of cult obsession.

For AW22, Fendi feminised the tuxedo, Dunhill gave British tailoring a youthful edge and Zegna completely redefined the three-piece suit, swapping stuffy tailoring for three refined staples: a jacket, an underpinning and trousers. Comfort is the new classicism.

For all our coverage from the AW22 menswear shows, click here. 

@10menmagazine