Have you looked around lately? Men seem to have collectively gone through an all-life crisis. While yes, the teens still dress like teens and swear by sweats and streetwear to the letter, there seems to be men in their 30s and 40s who share in that same swearing. There are professional seasoned men who have their tailors right up front on their speed dials just as there are junior dandies in their 20s who comb TopShop and Zara for bespoke-looking blazers on a budget. An interesting phenomenon are those men who should be going through midlife but who are turning back the hands of time in the gym donning flimsy tees and thigh-hugging denim that have seemingly changed places with young waifs who dress in oversized tailored trousers, learned balmacaans and rubber sole heavy generic-looking trainers. The idea of dressing like how you feel as opposed to what you do has affected the 25 year old CEO and the 45 year old tech entrepreneur alike.
The on-going liberation of menswear has to do with the quick-pace of modern society that has systematically sped everything up and redefined the depth of acceptance in of everything from information absorption to job tenure to popular culture. Liberation may be too "burn a bra" kind of word; let's say reformulation instead. With seemingly the wrong people wearing clothes deemed right by people uptown and people downtown alike, it's almost as if current menswear is saying 'get beneath the clothes and you may find a credibility to choices behind the clothing.' Simply put, clothes no longer only make the man when the man of choice could be wearing a three piece suit or a track suit.
Think the punk rocking hip hop vibe of Migos together with the nattily tailored vibe of NBA ballers on their way into a game together with the driven young gamer programmer in sweats and sock-sneakers together with the conscious tree-hugging gym-to-street muscly fitness rat. Examine the lanky un-metrosexual goof getting the vixen, nerd-culture coolness, trainer-life as everyday life and rappers bedecked out as the modern day rockstars. We are living in a culture where age is becoming as welcomingly fluid as gender. We are walking through the age of 'sheeple', mavericks and influentials where consistently looking at the body and its adornment instead of demanding, seeking and having the courage to show depth can prove fruitless. Perhaps an oversized hoodie, dad-coat , ortho-trainers and slouchy trousers hiding the body makes one observe harder or dig more earnestly for depth. Maybe a room full of fit bodies, deep v's and biker jeans causes an immunity that makes one hold onto words of depth more than biceps, or so it should be. There is such a cross mash-up of ages, cultures and challenged & redefined masculine standards that had to change since times changed. The interesting thing about how fashion defines the time in which we live and decipher how we wear what we wear is that you never know who is going to gravitate to what & when and then the why's can range from wanting to belong to the collective to very personal individual needs.
It's safe to say that the provocative as well as what's age-appropriate, masculine, strong and generational have been redefined. Blame the pace of modernity, blame the drinking of the collective Kool-aid being drunken, blame information overload OR accept modernity as a vital fact of life, accept walking to your own beat as a sweet life soundtrack and accept that sometimes picking and choosing the information you learn and absorb can be the difference between the awkwardness of being a nerd and hulkiness of being a gym-head. However, accept that if you own it, both can be just as alluring.