Make menswear fun again

It wasn’t that long ago that quiet luxury reigned supreme in our closets. Coming off of several years of pandemic-inspired comfort and athleisure, it felt right to focus on clean silhouettes, luxurious fabrics, and logo-less styling. Not only that, but the entire aesthetic was engrained into pop culture as well, with TV shows like 'Succession' injecting a powerful influence on what we wore.

On the flip side, our team at FS was also admittedly a bit exhausted from all of the meme-inspired styling and quirk for quirk's sake over the last few seasons that were a striking contrast to the new minimalism we were seeing. Certainly the post-pandemic seasons called for some out-of-character charm to make consumers feel joy again, and all of the many micro trends that inundated our social feeds during that time filled a stylistic void while the world started to wake up again. But, it was starting to feel fake and void of spirit.

2025 is the time to reset the consumer who craves authenticity, romance, and dare I say, an organic dose of fun. There’s so much darkness, chaos, and mundaneness that penetrates our daily lives, and those elements are the antithesis of inspiration.

Menswear designer and style guru, Aaron Levine, recently told Sharp magazine, "I'm so bored of being force-fed fashion.” Being inundated with micro trends created on TikTok is no longer enough. They become inauthentic and forged in many ways. Today’s man wants all of the juxtapositions on a daily basis—fancy and function, comfort and confidence, and splashy sophistication, and he can easily ebb and flow in and out of each one depending on his mood. Extremes that make a statement can, indeed, co-exist for today’s modern consumer.

Fun as a foundation to fashion can come in many different forms. In our new reality of remote world, the romance of getting ready and workday basics that are so unfamiliar to our daily lives look fashion-forward now, resulting in a theme we call Twisted Tradition, a wink and nod to traditional design that's equal parts surrealism and sophistication. With skewed proportions, exaggerated silhouettes, dropped shoulders, high waists, amplified patterns, and strong contrasts in the details, it’s a subversive new way to breathe energy into classic menswear. Jonathan Anderson’s work at Loewe is the perfect example of this.

Actor Colman Domingo is one of the best-dressed men on the red carpets. He tasks risks, but always maintains a classy exterior that seems true to himself. The mustard yellow Valentino Haute Couture suit with a gold tweed overcoat he wore to the Critic’s Choice Awards was one of the best looks of last year.

Chris Pine became known for a much funkier aesthetic last year, which included tiny shorts, vintage T-shirts, cardigans and Birkenstocks, while promoting his new film and directorial debut, Poolman. Inspired by a “good time,” he explained his evolved look on the Jimmy Kimmel Show by saying, ““Life is too hard. If it’s going to make you giggle to put on some funky lemon pants, [do it].”

This new form of maximalism doesn’t have to be outlandish either. There’s a more muted layer taking over menswear that’s "just enough” to stand out, be fun, and feel good without being excessive or unnecessary. Oftentimes, it means a tweak to a shape or color on an otherwise classic canvas pushes a look to the next level. We're in the age of the edit, so that means we've become more savvy about what "main character energy" we want to portray, when it happens, and to whom.

Streetwear is one category that is seeing a full pivot back to flash and embellishment. Just last month, the New York Times wrote about athletes inspired by the “Liberace look,” wearing bedazzled basics on game day Balmain’s $6,500 rhinestone-studded bomber. “People don’t want to be flat anymore,” said the stylist Eric McNeal. “People want things that pop out, things that are really a statement,” he continued.

The other part of menswear that’s enjoying an influx in fun, albeit a more fluid one, is formalwear. For FW 25/26, inspired by recent Saint Laurent shows, what we’re calling Tailored Opulence is a design shift that takes refuge in a cozy, opulent corner of dressing up—one where formality is re-introduced to a consumer who has tired of humdrum athleisure. There’s something extra special and hedonistic about silky surfaces, draped tailoring, and high-shine layering. Putting power dressing back front and center, this Design Shift brilliantly showcases the traditional romance and intrigue of menswear’s origins. Again, it’s that main character energy men are having fun with which is going to bring fun back to dressing up—no matter if it’s day or night, home or out. It’s cinematic styling and daily drama that gets us out of the rut of normcore, gorpcore, and all of the other soulless “-cores.”

More than color, more than pattern, and more than evolved silhouettes, personality is in fashion more than anything else. Consumers crave a closer connection with themselves, and they want to show off that intimacy in a bold and energetic way. The world can be equal parts mundane and chaotic, and this push of playfulness and everyday energy at least gives us something to look forward to each day.

The “stealth wealth” look is dead, long live fun fashion.