Inclusive masculinities in men’s fashion

This paper focuses on developments from 2010 to the present day, a period of unprecedented market expansion and unparalleled creative vitality in Men’s Fashion. The diverse aesthetic propositions of contemporary menswear – on the catwalk, in the fashion media and on the street – are situated in the context of emerging ‘inclusive masculinities’. The paper describes how designers like Lucas Ossendrijver, Juun J, Raf Simons and Craig Green have innovated at the level of structure, composition and form in their radical reconceptions of men’s dress, drawing parallels between their work and the innovations of seminal womenswear designers such as Madeleine Vionnet and Coco Chanel in the early twentieth century. The resurgence both of sportswear and of more expressive and creative formal attire in menswear is contrasted against the decline of traditional tailoring. These sartorial shifts are explored in the context of a changing landscape of work and family life and linked to sociological data suggesting that ‘orthodox masculinity’ is losing its hegemony amongst young men in particular.