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The Autumn/Winter 2024 men’s fashion season kicks off next Wednesday with Italian trade show Pitti Uomo. And with a new year, comes a new mood for menswear. From fresh sports style icons to luxury heirlooms and the great supersizing of silhouettes and accessories, here are the trends to know.
Menswear will kill quiet luxury
There will always be a customer for the pared-down quiet luxury look that has dominated fashion conversations in the past year. But after a strong showing for minimalism in 2023, menswear will move away from the trend in 2024, as some of the category’s leading style icons favour louder dressing, influencing the mainstream men’s shopper. As social media analyst @databutmakeitfashion noted, despite media coverage pushing the trend, the number of logos on the runway grew 53 per cent from 2021 to 2023, based on her analysis of the AW21 and AW23 seasons.
Consumer sentiment is also shifting away from the concept. “Fuck quiet luxury, I’ve said it before, I’ll say it loud, I’ll say it quiet,” James Harris, co-host of the menswear podcast Throwing Fits, said in a recent episode reporting on 2023 fashion trends. Part of this is due to the new men’s fashion icons: sports stars rose up on the fashion influencer rankings in 2023, with an influx of athletes on the men’s front row for SS24, which is expected to continue this upcoming season. Many athletes, aiming to stand out during their tunnel walk or at pre-show press appearances, favour bold, loud dressing, with heavy patterns or logos. NBA stars like LeBron James and Kevin Durant wore LV monograms and Prada logos on their way to the locker room for their opening games of the season, while Washington Wizards star Kyle Kuzma opted for a sparkly ensemble and leather beret.
And while many famous men have long sported bold red carpet or front row looks — from Lil Nas X and Harry Styles to Timothée Chalamet — athletes have greater reach and influence over the broader menswear customer, experts agree. Just over half of David Beckham’s 150 million followers are men (across social media platforms), while over 70 per cent of Timothée Chalamet’s follower base are women, per Influencer Intelligence.
Perhaps the most notable loud luxury icon is Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce, one of the most googled people of 2023 following his team’s Super Bowl win and his budding relationship with Taylor Swift. He favours printed suits and co-ords from labels like KidSuper, Moschino and Collina Strada. The floral shirt he wore to Swift’s Buenos Aires concert, by direct-to-consumer brand J. Logan Home, sold out almost instantly on the brand’s website, Kelce strategist Danielle Salzedo told Vogue’s The Run-Through podcast.
“We’re seeing bolder men’s dressing slowly reach the high street, and in mass-market retailers, too,” says Krista Corrigan, fashion and retail analyst at Edited. “Previously, of course, you’d see Harry or Timothée wearing something bold, but it might not have translated as seamlessly over to the commercial side and I think that’s where we’re starting to see a change.” Styles’s stylist Harry Lambert dropped a collaboration with Zara at the end of 2023, entitled Cutie Chaos, which is sure to influence the mass market, she adds. “The collection plays into the kid-core aesthetic of animal graphics and rainbow stripes and mohair. How well that collection has been doing for Zara is a testament to Harry’s influence.”
Enter the eclectic grandpa
Move over, coastal grandma. In 2024, it’s all about grandpa core. According to Pinterest’s Predicts report, which analyses data from the platform to determine future trends, the eclectic grandpa aesthetic will take over, from grandpa knits to loafers and sweater vests. The platform saw an uplift in search for “grandpa style” (60 per cent), “eclectic clothing” (130 per cent) and “retro streetwear” in 2023, signalling the influx.
Data insights company Edited has also noted grandpa aesthetics as a key trend for next year, based on an uptick of new arrivals of items like cardigans and sweater vests. “We’re seeing a lot of straight-fit jeans rolled up so you can see the socks and the loafers,” says Corrigan. Celebrities like A$AP Rocky and Tyler the Creator are proponents of the trend: the former was spotted at an awards show in Harlem last July rocking a baroque-patterned tie and a tweed jacket with ladybird and cameo brooches.
Grandparent-inspired homeware will also have a moment in 2024. The Future Laboratory predicts consumers will lean into luxury heirlooms, like branded crockery or ceramics. An early signal came from skate brand Palace’s tie-in with traditional ceramics brand Wedgwood, released in October, featuring a printed tea set with the palace logo and a Wedgwood-blue skateboard. On Palace’s site, the collab is accompanied by slogans like “spending all your wedge on a teacup”.
This is a generation of men who have become used to drop culture and collecting, says The Future Laboratory director of foresight, Fiona Harkin. “Previously it might have been sneakers, then watches, now we’re seeing it come through in luxury tableware, too. There’s that real celebration of ritual. And those tangible products that in a world of disposability seem to have a new attraction.”
Supersize me
From bags to jeans and jewellery, menswear silhouettes and accessories will be bigger and baggier in 2024. Slouchy fits dominated menswear last year, per Edited, which saw a relaxation of suiting for SS24 whereby items like relaxed chinos had stronger sell-through than ever.
This will continue through 2024. As traditional tailoring players like Zegna and Loro Piana attempt to modernise, they will continue to relax silhouettes for younger customers who crave versatility and comfort from their clothes. “The trend will persist on the runway, as post-pandemic men are thinking, ‘How do I take these aesthetics?’ Even when you’re looking at gorpcore or tailoring,” Corrigan says. This will manifest through baggy trousers, oversized blazers and layering combos such as hoodies with blazers. “We’re seeing the percentage of products increase using terms like ‘oversized’, ‘loose fit’, ‘baggy’, and predict it will go further next year,” she adds.
Men will even supersize their accessories in 2024. The women’s “It girl tote” trend, which has seen brands like 16Arlington and Loewe enlarge their shoulder bags into voluminous totes in recent seasons, will seep into menswear this year, as men’s luxury handbags continue to boom. Berluti launched a bag collection at the end of 2023, featuring its large Jour Softy tote. Gucci pushed its monogram travel bag during Wimbledon in June, via ambassador Jannik Sinner. Louis Vuitton launched its monogram travel bags and totes in various bright shades in 2023, worn almost instantly by men’s creative director Pharrell. And Bottega Veneta’s new oversized Andiamo tote, debuted on the women’s runway, has been spotted on menswear icons like Jacob Elordi and A$AP Rocky in recent months. The latter wore a bubblegum pink style on his birthday in October, followed by an olive green iteration slung over his shoulder days later in New York with partner Rihanna.
Jelly dressing and a shift to colour
Spanning home décor, couture and beauty ideas, the jellyfish aesthetic is bubbling up across mens and womenswear for 2024, with puffed-up silhouettes and accessories, lilac and blue tones, iridescent fabrics and fluid lines. Search has surged for terms like “blue jellyfish” (up 155 per cent), “jellyfish hat” (220 per cent) and “jellyfish lamp” (95 per cent) in recent months, per the Pinterest report. Early signs of the trend include Timothée Chalamet’s lilac latex look at Wonka’s Tokyo premiere, the bubbly jelly-like diamond necklaces sported by Justin and Hailey Bieber in recent months, custom made by jeweller Alex Moss, and Bieber’s pink Loewe sunglasses, worn at the US Open in September.
In addition to jellyfish-blue tones, Pantone’s colour of the year may have a part to play in palettes next season, Edited’s Corrigan says. “Quiet luxury cleansed the colour palette in 2023. It will be interesting to see how ‘Peach Fuzz’, Pantone’s colour of the Year, will play a role in menswear next year. Dior and Valentino used the shade on the SS24 runway to infuse pops of colour, while labels like Zegna and Kenzo really leaned into the shade, designing head-to-toe peach tailoring looks.”
Based on these predictions, on the runway to the front row, the AW24 shows next week will bring a host of newness to the market, after many seasons of quiet luxury domination. Most notably, the industry anticipates Pharrell Williams’s second season for Louis Vuitton men later this month, after the first heavily printed and pixellated collection hit stores this week.
Brands and retailers will have more time to adapt to these trends, compared to womenswear, says Corrigan. And buyers should balance bolder trends and silhouettes with existing high-performing items, like blazers and button-down shirts, to still serve the minimalist customer. “With menswear, trends take a little bit longer to hit the mainstream. And it takes a while for the men’s shopper to grasp onto it and for it to really do well,” she says. “Womenswear can move so quickly, it’s constantly on to the next subculture, the next trend, the next celebrity. Whereas menswear buys you a little bit more time to buy into a trend before the men’s customer fully adopts it into his wardrobe.”
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