Luxe athleisure, and tropical prints embossed on both your leisure and formal wear, are edgy menswear trends this summer.

Narendra Kumar, Lakme Fashion week 2017

 

There are streaks of similarity in the menswear scene right across fashion weeks in New York, Paris and India. If being en vogue is important to you, spruce up your closet with these spring ensembles.

HAUTE TIMES IN HAVANA

Tropical prints and Cuban textiles marked Cubavera’s debut at the New York Fashion Week. Small surprise, considering that Miami-based men’s fashion label’s chairman, George Feldenkreis, left Cuba to escape late Fidel Castro’s reign to set up an iconic label in Florida. Colorful short-sleeved shirts in prints created by a Cuban artist are teamed with drawstring trousers in solid shades to maintain balance. Cubavera often mixes common sense about what works in menswear, with chic clothing. They have coined a new term ‘island slim-fit’ for their garb and launched the ‘Suitcase to Sunset’ range: resort wear that is both wrinkle-free and water-resistant.

Cubavera

 

APPRAISING ATHLEISURE

The ex-Design Director of Nike, Christopher Bevans, introduced his own line, an Oregon-based label called Dyne, which is athleisure minus the awkwardness. Another newbie at NYFW, his collection was highlighted by hi-tech gym gear—anoraks, bomber jackets with reflectors and track pants with articulated knees to avoid those nasty scrapes. Bed head and jammies a few sizes too large in the name of ‘athletic’ fashion aren’t excusable anymore!

Dyne

 

BOLDER SHOULDERS

Balenciaga has made the slim-fit jacket’s chances at survival somewhat slimmer. Every male model donning their sophisticated formal wear collection at the Paris Fashion Week wore luxury suits with a certain commonality—oversized butch jackets with high-square shoulders, tapering down the waist to exaggerate machismo. What was considered trendy in the days the couture label’s founder Cristóbal Balenciaga set up shop, is now a comeback trend that menswear designers across the globe are aping.

Balenciaga

THE COSMOPOLITAN INDIAN

Kunal Rawal’s biggest contribution to Indian men’s fashion is his effortlessly fusing of traditional Indian wear with athleisure. His collection ‘The Race of Separates’ at the Lakme Fashion Week Summer-Resort 2017, comprised of garments that can be styled in multiple ways and have dual functionality. His creations occupy the convergence point between cross-cultural inspirations and current menswear trends. His collections are a blend of the east and the west in which clothes are a consolidation of borders. His kurtas are made-to-fit like jackets. His collection was anchored by quirky high-low kurtas, longline Bundis and  embroidery that mimic pintucks.

Kunwal Rawat and Varun Dhawan at LFW, resort-summer 2017

THE MILLENNIAL JUNGLE

Fashion veteran Narendra Kumar was able to capture the definition of millennial formalwear in his collection at LFW resort-summer 2017. He used classic tailoring styles and silhouettes to design jackets in jungle prints; he used floral embroidery as motifs on his hipster suits. As the millennial male experiments with a flamboyant use of colour in his formal wardrobe, Rawal’s collection redefined the neutral palette with shades like olive green, khaki and salmon.

HOT SHORTS

The 80s era’s ultra-shorts are back, and big labels are teaming them with sports jackets with rolled-up sleeves. But unless you’ve been doing your squats at the gym regularly, we’d rather you leave this one off the