The Seasons BLOG

23rd May 2012

Prints charming

Once we've found something we like, we tend to stick with it. Although this can pan out quite nicely for some aspects of life - we'll take the spicy ribs and a bottle of Cloudy Bay every time we dine out, for example - for others, it can lead to staidness and boredom.

And this becomes patently obvious when it comes to your wardrobe. Colours that you used to be able to pull off in your youth now look cheap and tired. Certain styles of jeans we used to live in now give us an unfortunate paunch. We now know the meaning of the word paunch.

So to put an end to this craze for comfort clothing, the Guardian suggests men should experiment with pattern. There's enough of it out there: from paisley to Breton stripes, you're sure to find something that reignites that little area of your brain that says 'Yes. There is room in my life for this' - Paul Smith clothing is a good bet.

Even high street retailer M&S is seeing a surge in sales of patterned clothing. Lemon yellow and rose pink chinos are doing a roaring trade, as are - for some ungodly reason - Hawaiian shirts. Must be all that Californian sunshine we're getting over here.

Let's face it: print hasn't been a big thing in menswear for a good few years. Maybe even decades. It did take a long time for the shock of the '80s to wear off. In fact, 1990s menswear trends went so far the other way that boybands ended up wearing suits on stage rather than the brights and stripes of the preceding ten years.

Esquire's fashion editor Gareth Scourfield reckons it won't take long for these dynamic new trends to come off the catwalk and into our wardrobes.

"When the block colour look started to come in, I remember wondering if men would get it. But from a designer level right through to the high street, everybody started to do well with bold colour jeans and chinos," he noted to the newspaper.

It's time that men had "more fun with fashion", he added.

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