What’s the Deal With All This Girly Menswear?

I got the email the same week David Bowie died. Sharp’s publisher — a man who, unsurprisingly, is a sharp dresser — sent a link out to a story about the future of men’s fashion. The photos that accompanied the piece had groups of slight men, standing together wearing matching formless tunics, like they walked off the set of Star Trek.

“Is this really what men are supposed to be wearing now?” he asked. He joked about throwing away his tailored suits in order to prepare the way for this genderless future. That this all happened as the world was celebrating the life and style of Bowie clinched it: androgyny, which Bowie defined, embodied, and popularized in the ’70s, was back.

Instead of theatricality and making a statement, the androgynous fashion of now is more about rethinking established menswear codes — using fabrics like lace and silk, cropped silhouettes, blush tones, and floral prints to reinvigorate our more traditional military-inspired duds. Of course, we’re not talking crocheted tops and dresses for men. Rather, the take-away for guys who like their style with a sturdy helping of suits, shirts, slacks, and ties is an invitation to step outside your comfort zone.

For example: take a classically masculine item in cut and colour, like a black or midnight blue tuxedo, and introduce a detail that wouldn’t immediately seem to fit in, like the dinner jackets worn by Eddie Redmayne and Ben Stiller that are embroidered with bees (Gucci) and butterflies (Valentino) respectively. The other option is to pick a piece like the string of patterned shirts — ranging from leopard to florals — donned by Harry Styles (the One Direction singer, whom you know from your daughter’s Tumblr, and Taylor Swift lyrics) that manage to straddle the line between button-up and blouse.

There’s room for experimentation, some blurring at the edges. It’s already happened, whether you recognize it or not: slim cut suits and Chelsea boots, both staples of menswear for years, wouldn’t have come around if people hadn’t started bending the rules years ago. And, who knows: rebelling against the standard male dress code just might make you feel like more of a man than any navy, double-breasted suit ever could — not that they’re going anywhere anytime soon.

It’s like that old saying: where Jaden Smith goes, so go we all.