Givenchy, Prada, Romain Kremer, Raf Simons, James Long, Louise Gray, Duckie Brown, Calvin Klein collection, Balenciaga, Jil Sander and SOAR are among those pushing a more modern, assertive silhouette and look for the new season. Planes of fabric cut with puritanical precision in tonic, patent or matte finishes; sheer tops, armour-like detailing and shorts build both the message and the uniform. The statement shorts especially are a key commodity of this new tribe due to their importance as a signifier of ‘youth’ and ergo rebellion, a V-sign to the smart slack overload and bastardised bourgeois codes that have infiltrated menswear over the past few seasons.

Romain Kremer, whose eponymous menswear collection is hugely influential within this aesthetic, could well be the new poster boy thanks to the extreme severity of his clothes. Whilst others have used new versions of basic shapes to get their progressive message across, Kremer threw everything away to start from scratch. “I was initially influenced by sports, particularly by the artistic side of ice skating, but escaped literal references to focus on the relationship between the skin, the curves, and the fabrics,” he explains. “I wanted it sexy.” 

It is true that Kremer and et al are redefining the perimeters of male sexuality with their bold statements. There’s a sense of joy and liberty again as opposed to buttoned-down cliché. “I cannot speak about my collection as a need for fashion, it was my need,” Kremer continues from his Paris atelier. “I usually work the pieces with a really mathematic approach, working on flat patterns and discovering what it gives when 3D. My clothes used to be made as dead pieces. This season, that changed. I thought it was the right moment to talk about the Romain Kremer man, about how the clothes exist and about consistency by exploring the male body. This is my proposition of modernity, and yes, I think it is important to forget about strategy and to do our job,” Kremer philosophises. “I think [this new movement] is talking about seduction, about a man that can have taste and take some risks.”

James Long presented his best collection yet for s/s 09, a collection that stole the MAN show it was presented under the umbrella of at London Fashion Week. “I like it when a collection makes you question your values of what menswear is,” Long pinpoints. “I think there will always be a place for the ‘demure gentleman’ menswear, but designers who take risks excite me more.”

Long’s collection played with graphic shapes and lines, integrating the shapes of his trademark harnesses and inserting them into tops. “The harnesses are tight and skim around the body so the shapes of the tops had to follow this idea,” he expands. “The shapes were clean, but the sheer fabrics mixed with the leather has a slightly perverted feel. I wanted a feeling of a second skin.”

Louise Gray has made her first menswear ever this season, a capsule line of to-order t-shirts that feature her future-jewellism philosophy and a play between jersey and chiffon. “[Stylist] Richard Sloan asked me for a men’s t-shirt, which I was super happy to make, then everything just escalated from there,” Gray explains of how the demand for her unique aesthetic from boys themselves led her into mens’ looks. “I think [what I do] works so well for men, I now get a stream of private orders and there are limited print tees on sale currently at Dover Street Market.”

The fact that the mood of what raw, young British talents Long and Gray make chimes with the way menswear is being pushed in Paris and Milan (and in New York via Duckie Brown) is no mean feat, especially when they are so underrated or overlooked by the British Fashion Council. “Generally menswear seems to be ready for change and some experimentation and it's exciting,” says Long. “I think there should be both a new generation and fashion forward scheme for menswear in London as menswear is not allowed to apply for the existing sponsorship. MAN is the only support at the moment.”  

“I call this movement punk-sport,” explains Ponystep’s fashion editor, Jean-Marc Masala. “You really feel that these young (or not so young in the case of some of the big houses) designers are willing to create and spread a new energy. They are so inspired, it is obvious. I think it’s compulsory that designers show what they really believe in, a new ‘underground’ men’s fashion era has started. I’m very excited, again.”

The houses of Givenchy, Prada and Jil Sander (by Riccardo Tisci, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons respectively) have showed that it’s possible to mix the cutting-edge with the cashpoint and should be applauded for their directionalism. And of course, Balenciaga by Nicolas Ghesquière too. “The demure gentleman look can be wonderful but it's not greatly practical for a modern urban existence,” iconic stylist and i-D consultant fashion director Simon Foxton shares. “The more relaxed / sports look is a lot more in keeping with how most of us live our lives.”

Romain Kremer, offers a riposte to those who may be cynical about the new graphicist sportswear. “It’s funny because some people say to me ‘but who wears your fashion?’. They forget the real question is ‘but who wears fashion?’”
So what will it be, sir? The statement Givenchy shorts or the Prada halter-neck mac?


DMD