New York Men's Day exemplified a new masculinity

New York Men’s Day returned as part of New York Fashion Week for its annual showcase of emerging menswear designers. This year’s crop of designers and brands included Amirok, Atelier Cillian, A. Potts, Fried Rice, Holo Market, Nicholas Raefski, Nobis, Teddy Vonranson, Terry Singh, Todd Patrick, and So.Ty. The big trends at this year’s New York Men’s Day were the ideas of a new masculinity, the use of bold colors, and playing with textures. Not one standard men’s suit infilitrated the entire designer lineup.

Instead, there was a black sequin suit from Atelier Cillian, Suits with maxi skirts for men from Terry Singh, and a burgundy and grey two-tone number from Nicholas Raefski. Even on the more minimalist frontier, the idea of the classic suits or oversized cuts for guys went out of the window. Amirok’s collection was rich with an almost all-black color palette. Silhouettes featured elongated arms and slim-cut bodies. Right now, men want their clothes a bit more tailored. The oversized look had its moment, and after coming out of quarantine where people relegated themselves to baggy pants and hoodies, this is the countermovement to that look.

New York Fashion Week officially kicked off with the annual New York Men's Day

Atelier Cillian threw any notions men had about what traditionally dressing up meant straight out of the window. His textured suits showcased quilted style mixed-media patterns, tweed, and woven fabrics. Noticeably, The models for the brand were all men in very heavy eye makeup. It was a bit of glam rock, meets camp, meets a formal event for creatives.

Ralph Lauren alumni Teddy Vonranson even showcased a metallic blazer in blush pink. It’s evident that when men are looking for formal wear and tailored pieces now, they are thinking more outside of the box. The days of men just opting for black, white, brown, and navy are long gone.

Traditional ideas of gender have long been changing in the world of high fashion, but now the industry is asking how mainstream can they get. The men in skirts trend is growing, as seen by Terry Singh who showcased an entire collection of men wearing skirts paired with formal blazers, tuxedos, and button-up shirts. In this new decade, we’re giving men options of what to wear, and skirts aren’t just for the ladies anymore.

Then there are brands, like A. Potts, who are fully on the genderless bandwagon. A. Potts had one of the widest breadths of offerings with perforated maxi dresses, wide-cut pants, layered coats, and jumpsuits. Even cuts on blazers got shorter. Todd Patrick displayed an electric blue blazer in a bolero style cut on a male model, daring to take a suit’s lower hemline to proportions only a matador’s had been before.

Over at So.Ty, the cuts were standard and classic, but they spared no expense on their approach to color with hot pink as the new black. It was long overdue that men step out of their comfort zone with color.

New York Men’s Day could’ve been aptly titled New York “New” Men’s Day. The trends from cut to color reflected a new era in menswear that will hopefully continue to see more designers pushing boundaries.