Spring/Summer 2015 Trend Report: In Short Supply - Men's Folio
Trends

Spring/Summer 2015 Trend Report: In Short Supply

  • By Men's Folio

While we admit that shorts for spring isn’t totally groundbreaking (yes, that was a Devil Wears Prada reference), we didn’t expect it to be this heavily featured on the runway. Shorts were almost everywhere this season, with designers like Alexander Wang applying the silhouette generously for Balenciaga, and Neil Barrett for his eponymous label. 

Length wise, shorts that ended just above the knee were generally preferred, though Humberto Leon and Carol Lim at Kenzo and Massimiliano Giornetti at Salvatore Ferragamo opted for versions that cut mid-thigh. Steering clear of the clichéd resort look that mid-thigh shorts seem to evoke, Leon and Lim took a mod-sporty approach, while Giornetti paired his shorts with belted and well-tailored suit jackets in earthy tones. 

In fact, the whole idea of dressing up the short was a recurring theme across the collections. Balenciaga, Ermenegildo Zegna, Bottega Veneta, Givenchy and Dior Homme essentially showed a shortened version of a suit trouser, with Wang, Tomas Maier and Stefano Pilati extending the look to formal completeness with a crisp suit jacket. Even Dries Van Noten’s undertaking of the trend, though more relaxed and casual than others, was rather dressy, pairing silky shorts with elongated t-shirts and oversized blazers. 

There’s a certain irony involved with this. Instead of working with the conventional idea of knee shorts and the images that it typically evokes, designers chose to work against the grain, pairing shorts with tailored, dressier pieces. Forget the sandals, forget the khakis, forget the short-sleeved printed shirts – it’s all about adding a touch of the formal and going against the whole idea of spring altogether (but still making it right for spring…you see the irony?).

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