What to Expect as the Fall 2020 Menswear Shows Get the New Decade Rolling
Your Christmas tree is still up, the fireworks have barely cooled, and a new decade has hardly begun. Yet the four-city fall 2020 menswear marathon is starting: Tomorrow, January 4, marks the beginning of the men’s season. So what can we expect?
Fingers crossed that a new decade leads to relentless newness over endless self-reference in menswear. Personally I’d love to see the dull as ditchwater dialectic between tailoring and streetwear recede into the rearview as a no-longer-fit-for-purpose anachronism. It would be great to see some properly seditious fashion—clothes borne of purposeful anger—catch fire. Best of all would be a designer take on technological innovation designed to service sustainability (and look fantastic, of course).
As ever, the four prime menswear capitals (sorry, New York City, and, we wish, Tokyo) are engaged in an ongoing competition which, while fierce, never quite spills over to become a full-blown fight. That’s because while each city jostles to have the sceniest schedule, together they combine to make up an industrially interdependent commercial ecosystem. Let’s see (in chronological order) what each capital has to offer this fall 2020 menswear season.
London (January 4–6)
On the face of it London’s menswear “week” is on a downward ebb. Ever since its tentpole, Burberry, bolted to go coed at London Fashion Week, the schedule has been shrinking. And while this season there are some interesting developments—Daniel W. Fletcher at Fiorucci is well worth watching—the London calendar is apparently even more depleted. But wait! Given that Britain is due to exit the EU on January 31, this is actually a pretty good moment for this soon-to-be offshore fashion hub to flex some soft power. Craig Green is headed to Paris, while A-Cold-Wall is headed to Milan. It’s like Panda diplomacy, but with menswear designers instead of Pandas. These two transfers serve as a reminder that so much of international fashion’s creativity—arguably a disproportionately large amount of it—hails from the U.K. The week’s mastermind Dylan Jones is playing a long game very well. Plus, London has Martine Rose, and she is wonderful.
Florence (January 7–10)
Let’s get this said: If you’re truly into menswear, Pitti is the best. Yes, you can focus on the rotated seasonal garnishes that are its guest designers— this (97th!) installment’s amuse-bouches include Stefano Pilati’s Random Identities, Telfar, Jil Sander, K-Way (a very underappreciated brand in the U.S.), the tentative return to fashionland of British Welly boot brand Hunter (it will be arty), the Karl Lagerfeld white shirt project, and a mysterious new knitwear push from Anrealage. Plus there’s Brioni—which staged the first-ever men’s fashion show at Pitti—returning to flex its muscles. All that said, the real joy in Florence is to wander the thousands of stands and discover brands that do their thing with zero hype but total dedication. To my mind Pitti could go on for as long as Paris, if not longer, and still be way too short.
Milan (January 10–14)
The aforementioned designer diplomacy with London over A-Cold-Wall adds to Milan’s luster this season. Minus points include Versace’s withdrawal to go coed (will we get Hugh Grant and Liz Hurley closing February’s show as a follow-up to the J.Lo spectacular last September?). But the bonanza is the return of Alessandro Michele’s Gucci to the menswear schedule almost five years to the day since his unheralded first show precipitated a total revolution for the luxury industry. (All we knew in 2015, if you’ll remember, was that Frida Giannini had left in a hurry, and some random bearded guy had taken over.) And there’s also Prada, Armani, Dolce, Brunello, Barrett—Milan is way better than you think it is.
Paris (January 14–19)
Undercover! Rick Owens! Craig Green! Yohji Yamamoto! Junya Watanabe! Dior Men! Vuitton! Paris is unquestionably the apex installment of the menswear system. Considering that the best products in the fashion system are crafted in Italy (Hermès leather goods aside), Paris’s supremacy is forever surprising. Somehow, however, despite the strikes, and the stress, and the language difference, Paris holds firm. Personally I’m quite excited by the return of Rhude—an L.A. label that could go far (although I’ll be missing the show due to an overlap with Gucci)—as well as Green. Otherwise, it would be great to see Vuitton step up a gear after Abloh’s decade-defining first show, but with only incremental upgrades since.
Originally Appeared on Vogue
