The fifth season of New York Fashion Week: Men's is in the books, and it strongly looks like we're longing
for the mid-late '90s. And when we're not doing that, we're looking squarely into the future. We're talking
strictly sartorially, of course. No non-clothing reason anyone would want to avoid thinking about the
present, right?
Anyway, these are the trends that jumped out at us for Spring/Summer 2018:
1. Vertical stripes
This was everywhere, and was the most obvious indicator that we're headed into an era of recreating the
late-'90s, which, in the case of vertical stripes, were recreating the '70s.
Best In Show
Maiden Noir
Todd Snyder
2. Weaning off of the bomber
The bomber will always be with us. It's a staple. But we've thought for the past couple seasons that it was
time for labels to move on from it as the de rigueur piece of outerwear. Instead, we're seeing a lot more
baseball jackets, which have been creeping into more collections over the past few seasons and
are...basically bombers.
Best In Show
Ovadia & Sons
Krammer & Stoudt
3. Jumpsuits
We don't expect you to be rocking a jumpsuit any time soon, but they're out there, and you might be
accepting them into the mainstream sooner than you think. Remember how you felt about wearing sweatpants
five years ago?
Best In Show
Carlos Campos
4. Synthetic Fabrics and Silk
Shiny things, technical things, satin things. Along with the requisite linen and cotton pieces, we saw a big
uptick in the kind of materials you'd see on someone in Empire Records or Buffy.
Best In Show
General Idea
5. The resort shirt morphing into the bowling shirt
This is a manifestation of the last trend. We've had a couple years of vacation-print camp shirts now, and
we love the collar, and now we're seeing more solids and more sheen.
Best In Show
You As
6. Outerwear you can realistically wear in warmer temperatures
We have strong opinions on this. It looks like athleisure, technical materials and #menswear are finally
beginning to converge into one superfashion that's all of practical, comfortable and great-looking.
Best in Show
EFM
7. Super Light Hoodies
The John Elliotts and Chris Stamps of the world have been on this for a minute, but way more people are
bringing their interpretation now.
Best in Show
EFM
8. Ugly Sneakers
You've seen them. You've heard Kanye has one coming out. We're sad to report it's not going away. It's only
going to get worse.
Best in Show
NA
9. Cozy things
We've seen a general trend toward relaxed fits for years now, and that's evolving into relaxed fits on
things that could easily double as your favorite blanket.
Best in Show
Deveaux
10. Brands launching womenswear
We've seen female models rocking men's clothes every season of men's week, but several brands actuall
expanded into women's fashion for SS18.
Best in Show
Deveaux
David Hart
Palmiers du Mal
11. Pinks
Pinks that live in the neighborhood of millennial, but aren't exactly that.
Best in Show
Palmiers du Mal
12. Half-zips
For a couple years, designers were putting zippers everywhere on garments. Now, they're headed back to more
traditional places. Yet another very '90s touch.
Best in Show
Matiere
