Hoe-Mo But Make it Fashion: The Return of Men’s Style
Backstage at Ludovic de Saint Sernin S/S 2022
The early 2000s seems to be the hub of intuitive creativity in fashion at the moment. Through this, there has been a silent liberation for men, or more specifically, a resurgence of queer sexual influence in the mode of sweeping the runways and editorials this past year.
The tanned poster boys of Miami inspired Donatella Versace and the heroin-chic androgynies of New York mused for Tom Ford. The idea of a man veered away from the classic cut of what the American man should be but what he really wanted to look like. So who or what is inspiring the new male form and sexuality ?
Across the universe of style, men’s fashion is evolving both forward and backwards. We are seeing somewhat of a Saturn return to males feeling as though being comfortable in one’s skin is no longer the oddity it once was or something that can only be reserved for women. Within the new decade, we as a people are still finding our cultural footprint so therefore designers are starting from scratch and are saying “Men are hot, the desire to explore another man or simply admire him is normal."
Across the S/S 2022 menswear collections, I gathered a recurring theme of a magnified presentation of the male physique; Fendi gave us cropped shirts and jackets that fitted the bodice almost to mimic a feminine curvature, and Prada showed mini ‘skorts’ (short and skirt hybrid), a somewhat wink to the tease of crossdressing. Dolce & Gabbana really drummed up the queen with lace trousers, bedazzled bikini briefs, and mesh tanks to show off those gym gains.
Cult favorites like GmbH, Ludovic de Saint Sernin, and Barragan take it to the full throttle. Ludovic presents taught and barely there ensembles, covered in crystal and brought to life by an Adonis of a body. While GmbH geers to a more conservative man, he is still a lover of attention and marries sex and the avant-garde well. The collections boast an imagery of a young male studying design and dressing himself with Daddy’s money. It’s ostentatious and but risky, the fine line being somewhat a character within the garments.
The simple way of understanding this, is that one needs to see that this is not a singular modem of style but is something inclusive of all males. Designers like Rick Owens offer more of a nuanced and unconventional interpretation while someone like Tom Ford or Olivier Rousteing of Balmain, lean into an extremity of the more flashy and forward. Men like Kid Cudi or Playboi Carti have stirred disputation for their flamboyancy, Carti most notably dressed in all black Rick or Givenchy channeling the new age of rockstardom: a man wearing what the fuck he wants.
One label that can marry all sorts of interpretations of machismo is Spanish maison, Palomo Spain, some would even say they brought back the trend of men wearing their sexuality again.. Their collections have ranged from scantily clad to sharp cunningness, all while asserting a man who is just as much male as he is anything else. The recent S/S 2022 showcasing was one of enchantment into the world of flamenco and anachronism.
Queerness and the erotica of it has been present in the underbelly of our culture for so long it feels refreshing to see the sexual boundary be pushed into a realm of making it in vogue to be lustful. Sex sells and so do men because they are clearly buying it.