Gentler Masculinity

Streamlined, soothing and pragmatic: how the pandemic influenced this spring’s luxury menswear.

- Kareem Rashed

Last march, designers added another question to the long list of queries posed by the pandemic: what will men be wearing next spring? The collections hitting stores this season were first conceived a year ago, when little about the future seemed clear, wardrobe included. Designers have always been fashion’s fortunetellers, but lockdown was an unprecedented challenge to their skill.

“Einstein stated that in times of difficulty, genius unleashes its creativity,” says Brunello Cucinelli, who cites the early stages of his spring collection, when his team usually travels to gather inspiration, as the most challenging. In lieu of globe-trotting, he looked closer to home, riffing on “the elements that are the basis of the style we’ve created over the years”.