This article first appeared in Harper’s Bazaar Singapore, the leading fashion glossy on the best of style, beauty, design, travel and the arts. Go to harpersbazaar.com.sg and follow @harpersbazaarsg on Instagram; harpersbazaarsingapore on Facebook. The October 2023 issue is out on newsstands now.
SINGAPORE – From the comeback of grunge and going-out tops to the emergence of high fashion cocoons, here are the most exciting trends of the fall/winter 2023 menswear season.
Tops which pop
The going-out top has been mounting a comeback in womenswear for a while now and, this season, it is taking over menswear too.
The definition of a going-out top may seem vague, but it generally refers to anything sparkly, sheer, tight or sexy. In short, a statement top is anything but a basic tee.
Like many things in fashion now, its origins can be traced to the Y2K revival.
As its name suggests, the top should be the focus of the outfit. It was shown with cargo pants at Martine Rose, faded jeans at Gucci and sleek black pants at Alexander McQueen, Saint Laurent and Celine.
Puffed up
Elegant, effortless tailoring – quiet luxury, if you must – may be the big outerwear story of the season, but the most interesting coats and jackets are the ones that are inflated in size.
These are not your regular puffers, which are simply filled with down. Instead, there is a sculpted, moulded quality to them – as though this common jacket has become the medium for designers to make uncommon shapes.
Rick Owens showed gargantuan pretzel-like silhouettes, Prada did gently rounded and padded tops, Loewe had bulbous coats and Dior Men’s jackets resembled flotation devices.
Skirting the issue
It has been said that hemlines fall in uncertain times, but surely this is the first time that maxim applies to menswear.
While men in skirts are nothing new, there is a different feeling in the air this season. The most compelling skirts that were shown on the runway hit an elegant below-the-knee length.
At Rick Owens, distressed denim skirts were paired with power-shouldered blazers. At Gucci, a prim grey skirt added a dash of sophistication to a striped rugby shirt, while at Dior Men, Kim Jones paid tribute to its founder’s iconic New Look.
Grunge time
It has been 30 years since Marc Jacobs’ seminal Perry Ellis collection, which introduced grunge to the catwalk and marked one of the earliest high fashion-streetwear crossovers.
That means the look is ripe for reinvention.
For fall/winter 2023, plenty of designers took up that mantle.
Matthew Williams tasked the Givenchy ateliers to achieve the seemingly haphazard layering of grunge on single garments using couture techniques. Dries Van Noten’s take had a romantic, pastel-inflected dreaminess to it.
At Louis Vuitton, grungy denims were treated with the same precision as polished tailoring.
