There is a certain connotation, in my mind, to the term menswear. I think immediately of suits, and when I think of suits, I think of a certain kind of tailoring. Namely, a fitted jacket and slim trousers that just barely graze the tops of your shoes (leather, of course). It’s about looking not just polished but sharp, and it’s been the default mode for most men for nearly two decades. Which, naturally, means we’re right on time for a rethinking of what the suit means—and how it should fit.
In 2023, if the suits we’ve seen so far are any indication, it’s all about bagginess. It’s about relaxed silhouettes, oversized blazers, wide-legged trousers, and a general air of, “Oh, this old suit? It’s just something I threw on.” It’s about being oversized and underworked—not in the Big Suit-era David Byrne way, necessarily, but in a gentler, softer, more androgynous way. One that recalls American Gigolo-era Armani and the ’80s and ’90s heyday of slouchy tailoring but tweaks it. One in which streetwear and high fashion intersect, and the lines between the elevated and the everyday are blurred.