HOW!WE !NOW: AN!ORAL!HISTORY INTERVIEWS BY MATT GOULET FULL!PAGE PHOTOGRAPHS BY TOM SCHIERLITZ

FIG. 6: COTTON ($325) BY MASSIMO ALBA.

164 ESQUIRE š MARCH 2013 ILLUSTRATIONS BY GABRIEL MORENO THERE!HAS!BEEN!A!REVOLUTION. WE SEE IT ON OUR STREETS AND IN OUR OFFICES, AT OUR PARTIES AND ON OUR GOLF COURSES. THE CUTS OF OUR CLOTHES ARE A LITTLE CLOSER. THE COLORS ARE MORE VARIED. AND THE SPREZZATURA THAT WAS REMARKABLE JUST TEN YEARS AGO NO LONGER LOOKS FOREIGN OR EXOTIC OR FASHIONY—IT JUST LOOKS NORMAL. HERE, ELEVEN MAVERICKS OF MEN’S STYLE LOOK BACK OVER THE DECADE AND TELL THE BRIEF HISTORY OF HOW WE DRESS NOW.

“THE!!WERE!JUST!HORRIBLE.”

NICOLE BLACK, OWNER OF BLACKBIRD, SEATTLE: I worked at Nordstrom in men’s wear [from 1995 to 2000], and so many of the shirts were just horrible [!g. 1]. The fabrics weren’t good. The collars were too big. The tails were too long. And so when I started my store in 2004, I had a really hard time !nding good button-down dress shirts that !t. Because you can’t fake the !t on a shirt.

them look like they’ve lost ten pounds. And FIG. 3: the first time I saw them try it on, around COTTON SHIRT ($228) BY PHINEAS COLE. 2005, you could see these guys just beam. Because they thought, maybe for the first time in their lives, that they looked sexy. They felt more muscular, slimmer, health- ier. They looked like their dad just bought FIG. 1 them a Porsche. KEVIN HARTER, DI! MICHAEL BASTIAN, DESIGNER: When Thom RECTOR AT BLOOMINGDALE’S: Browne first started [in 2003], his were the The importance of gingham or first shirts I remember being, like, really slim. checks began to emerge, too. It That was the first slim shirt, and now I’m was like 2009, 2010, guys be- sure you can find slim shirts at J. Crew or the gan using color and pattern to Gap, but at the time they just weren’t some- make more of a statement. That’s when we thing you saw every day. started seeing customers mixing up patterns FIG. 5: PAUL BIRARDI, CO!OWNER OF and asking for help to pair up ties and shirts. COTTON SHIRT ($450) ODIN, NEW YORK CITY: Around TODD SNYDER, DESIGNER: Shirtmakers were BY BELVEST. 2005, we started to see more taking all the cloths you would find on tra- and more brands introduce ditional Jermyn Street shirts and figuring a variety of fits. That’s when out how to make them young and cool and BASTIAN: Now we’re in a everyone began saying, “This hip, with contrasting white collars or bank- place where things are a is my slim fit, this is my classic fit, and this er collars [fig. 3] and stuff like that. We had little simpler, and maybe is my whatever else.” This was around the older generations like, “You mean we can a looser shirt [!g. 6] time that guys started feeling better about wear a checked shirt with a ?” wearing tighter clothes. Everyone realized, MARCUS WAINWRIGHT, DESIGNER, RAG & is actually cool again. I’m making myself look worse if my BONE: In fall 2010, there was a huge BLACK: Men have more options, and they’re things don’t fit me. plaid situation. But unlike, say, the more comfortable with more options. We TOM KALENDERIAN, MEN’S FASHION !king trucker [!ig. 4], which used to hear all the time, “I can’t wear a V- DIRECTOR AT BARNEYS NEW YORK: was such a huge trend that no- neck shirt because the guys in the office will Over the past decade, it’s slowly, sea- body will wear it again for twenty call me gay.” That was a son by season, shifted from 75 per- years, a plaid shirt is a subtle thing big deal for a lot of guys. cent of our customers wanting a full and it’s much more acceptable. And I think, more and cut to 75 percent wanting trim and SID MASHBURN, OWNER OF SID more, that has gone away, !itted [!ig. 2]. The slim-cut shirt is MASHBURN, ATLANTA: The checked and now more men are what guys want to wear, so all shirts shirt [fig. 5] is so ubiquitous today, like, “I love color. I love have become more body conscious. FIG. 2: you’ll find it on the least fashion- the way this shirt fits.” COTTON SHIRT BLACK: For guys who have a little ($185) BY able guy and the most fashion- They’re confident, and bit of a belly, a slim-cut shirt makes THOMAS PINK. able guy. FIG. 4 they look great.

For more on each of our experts, turn to page 58. 165 “I’ve seen such an embrace in accessories just over the last four or five years. squares have always been LINEN POCKET important to some men, but that importance has increased greatly—and it’s not just the crisp white pocket SQUARES ($135 square that was probably due to Mad Men. Now it’s more about different fabrics, different patterns—something EACH) BY BRUNELLO that’s more expressive and helps define their sense of style.” "KEVIN HARTER CUCINELLI.

“IT!WAS!LIKE!THE!REIGN!OF!THE!BIG!BLACK!SUIT.” meters: Tiny little differences can make the difference between something you wear all MASHBURN: This is probably a horrible characteriza- the time and something you never, ever pull tion, but back in 2000 and 2001 it was like the reign of out of your closet. the big black suit [!g. 7]. The were longer, the MASHBURN: Remember pants were fuller, and most people were still riding Casual Friday? That a pretty decently sized shoulder and a decently sized was hard to !gure out, armhole and big chest. This was also pre–regular guys and it was an empty becoming conscious of their bodies. Once we saw promise in a way. Because that really start to happen around 2004, we saw things it’s !ne to casualize the tightening up a bit. workplace, but dressing TODD BARKET, OWNER OF casually actually made it UNIONMADE, SAN FRANCISCO: harder for guys to dress. People’s eye changed, right? Thom Browne was proba- HARTER: I remember a good friend of mine, bly the start of that. He took who lives up in Connecticut, said his favorite it to the umpteenth degree time to come to the train station [in the ear- where were super–shrunken down, ly 2000s] was on Friday mornings, because FIG. 7 supershort, superfitted. And then, I think, all the guys would look around at each oth- other designers took that idea and made it er, all nervous about how they looked. And I BLACK: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy [!ig. 8] more understandable and accessible. To me, think there’s been a move for men to kind of happened and started teaching men about he started that whole fitted- moment, give up that sloppiness that might have pre- how clothes should fit, and I remember think- and then it translated across the board in- vailed back then and dress up on a more con- ing, Not every guy is watching this, but this to things that were much more wearable. sistent basis—on Fridays, evenings, and dur- is going to change things. Because guys were HARTER: Overall the silhouette of the suit was ing the weekend. It was just easier. wearing one or two sizes too big, so when they softening [fig. 10], and all these really design- SNYDER: It might sound trivial, but Mad would come in the shop, they would say, “I’m er brands were adding shorter jackets to their Men [!ig. 11] really in!luenced how we an extra large.” I’d be like, “No, you are a me- collections. It’s been gradual enough that a think about how we got dium.” They didn’t even know! customer might not even have noticed. dressed. It used to be

KALENDERIAN: This was also around the time BASTIAN: For the longest time, the guy would get home, 11 . IG that men started paying more and more at- guys would put their time and take off his suit, take off F tention to their physique and health and energy and money into their his tie. Now you’re see- well-being. They wanted softer, shorter, suits, shirts, and ties, and didn’t ing the opposite: The tighter clothes. Not tight in an uncomfort- spend so much time on what guy gets home, he’s going out to dinner, he’s able sense but close enough to the body so they wore after work or on the putting on a tie, he’s putting on a sport . people could see all that hard work they’d weekends. But in 2004, when I was still men’s BLACK: Whereas a guy used to have one sport put in at the gym. fashion director at Bergdorf Goodman, we coat in his closet, now he had like six or ten, HARTER: Guys began wearing slimmer suits, had this weird transition going on, because all different patterns and cloths, and he’d with jackets becoming shorter and shoulders a lot of men weren’t wearing suits swap them out and wear them on less pronounced, and when I think back, I to work. The sport coat started get- different occasions. give Band of Outsiders and Thom Browne ting a lot of attention, and it was the BASTIAN: With the recession, guys some credit for that. beginning of this very strong move- started getting more into the tex- SNYDER: To me, Thom Browne [!ig. 9] sin- ment toward mixing stuff up. You ture and the heritage of the fabric, gle-handedly revolutionized the way peo- know, take an Etro sport coat and like the Shetland and cloths ple think of how a man’s clothes should !it. a Dolce jean. This was a big deal, that were a little heavier than what When he started in 2003, his suits made ev- because people hadn’t really done they were used to. erybody look at their and all the that before. So if you weren’t go- SNYDER: Like 2008, 2009—the oversized proportions that had dominat- ing to invest in a suit because you economy helped underline that ed men’s clothes didn’t have to, and you still wanted thought of having something with since the eighties to look good, you wore sport . more meaning and value, making . 8 .

IG and think differ- And guys started worrying about more of an investment, and going F ently about them. things like the buttons on the sleeve back to your roots. Everybody was He influenced ev- working and the button stance and going through an inventory pro- erybody. I was cer- how many buttons. That’s the trick cess and making sure the things tainly influenced. of men’s wear. It’s a game of milli- FIG. 9 that they bought weren’t fashion—

166 ESQUIRE š MARCH 2013 that they’d been through the long haul. That’s “I!DIDN’T!WANT!A!BIG,!BAGGY!DAD!CHINO.” when double-breasted [fig. 12] started to be- come popular. KALENDERIAN: Today men are completely focused on HARTER: There’s been a lot of progress to- wearing "at-front , but you could not say that ten ward unlined garment-dyed jackets [fig. 13]. years ago. Business was coming primarily from pleated It’s not necessarily part of guys’ work at- tire as much as it’s their evening and week- trousers, and the shift was gradual at !rst, but once guys end attire. caught on it became necessary. In the same way that the KALENDERIAN: The garment-dyed is jacket has become shorter, slimmer, and closer to the body, crescendoing; it’s getting stronger year by so have the trousers. However, they’re not tight. A garment year. Because it’s soft and you can wear it you wear to work as well as o" duty has to be comfortable. with anything. BASTIAN: The whole idea behind starting my the pants sat more on their hip bones, not brand was that I couldn’t find the kind of up at their . We weren’t pushing that chino I wanted to find. I didn’t want a big, rise on them—that’s what they started to baggy dad chino [!ig. 15]. I wanted some- be comfortable in. thing slimmer, made in a beautiful fabric, BLACK: When we started selling more blaz- that was just kind of perfect in its purity. ers, we started selling more trousers. We had a This was 2004, and here huge trouser market. Because our guy wanted I am representing Berg- to dress up a little bit more for work, and he dorf, going to every coun- didn’t want to wear the same old thing. try’s fashion week and go- KALENDERIAN: If you think about the ing to every trade show, you had in 2003, you’ve donated those a long and I couldn’t find it. time ago, and if you haven’t, I want you to. And there were big logos The two biggest changes in over the on everything. And if you past decade have been the wash, or the lack didn’t want logos all over of—a soft wash, a hard wash, raw denim— the place or any obvious, and secondarily, the silhouette. The fit is flashy designer stuff with FIG. 15 dramatically different. It went from relaxed logos, you were in trouble. to straight to slim to superslim, and lately it’s settled on slim. BLACK: Everything FIG. 12: WAINWRIGHT: With our DOUBLE-BREASTED LINEN JACKET ($725) had logos on it. We jeans, we were trying to do BY ALLEGRI. would sit there with something that nobody else a seam ripper, and we was doing, and that was mak- ing dark denim rather than would take everything spending a shitload of mon- o". Because everything ey on laundering and developing fabrics and was just smothered washes that made jeans look old. BASTIAN: The Swedes invented the skinny and covered. jean, and that suddenly changed everyone’s HARTER: Around 2005, we started to go eye. Lowering the rise changed everything, from pants that were full-leg, so that even now that things have with a high rise and a full break, moved away from that really skin-

to something a lot slimmer. I kind 16 . ny period, we still can’t accept a IG

of equate it all with the Dior/ F jean with a higher rise. It looks like Thom Browne movement—you a dad jean. You know, Obama and saw those really slim suits down his stone-washed jeans [!ig. 16]. the runway, and when it came to KALENDERIAN: Colored denim pants, all the silhouettes started went big with Levi’s doing a red getting slimmer and the pants a jean, a green jean. And obviously FIG. 13: little shorter. white denim is prolific today, but TWO-BUTTON -LINEN-AND-COTTON JACKET BASTIAN: I’d be in the fitting if you go back four or five years

.14 ($750) BY L.B.M. 1911.

IG room at Bergdorf with the tai- ago, nobody wore white denim. It F lors, and there’d be other guys was something you saw on fash- BARKET: I think it’s the Italians [fig. 14] dictat- getting their suits done. What I ion guys, but today a pair of white ing it. They’re smart. They’re realizing that noticed, which was really inter- jeans is basic. today not everyone’s wearing a suit, and ca- esting, was that even the clas- BLACK: Beginning in 2009, slim-fit sual garment-dyed are one of those sic-suit guys would put their chinos [fig. 17] went crazy, most- things that anyone can wear and not feel hands in their pants to ly because our customer already fussy or fancy. nudge them down a little bit, so had his jeans. He played the jean

168 ESQUIRE š MARCH 2013 Clip, Save, Share, from any page. Download the Netpage app free from the iTunes App Store. “GOD,!THE!SQUARE"TOE!.” HARTER: In the beginning, it was all about the black shoe. A guy only needed a couple of great-looking black wing tips in his closet to go with his work suit and he was set. FIG. 18: BLACK: FROM : COTTON JEANS BY LEVI’S VINTAGE Back then, if a guy was wearing jeans, CLOTHING ($210); TRUE RELIGION ($244); he was wearing , not . Sneak- EXPRESS ($98). ers. Like, Pumas. MASHBURN: That was the era of the square- game for so long—“There’s this brand and toe shoe [!ig. 21]. God, the square-toe shoe that brand and this cut and whatever!”—and was horrible. I was there! I had a pair of he just wasn’t that interested in them any- square-toed boots from Gucci, and at the FIG. 21 more. He wanted to know what’s next, or time they looked pretty cool, but boy did how can I stand out and be an individual? they date the heck out of themselves quickly. because once the customer went there they EDDY CHAI, CO!OWNER OF SNYDER: Around 2004, the desert be- were open to so many other styles they might ODIN, NEW YORK CITY: Ev- came pretty popular, and you started to see have once considered too casual, you know? ery guy had a bunch of pairs a return to the wing tip, which was kind of CHAI: At Odin, we’ve never not had wing tips. of jeans [fig. 18]. Now guys awesome because that’s what my dad used But in terms of noticing a huge change in in- actually wear chinos or to wear and my grandfather used to wear. terest from our customers, it ties back to the washed trousers as their You know Alden? I’ve known Alden my en- American-heritage wave. weekend staple. It’s just another option. tire life. I’ve always known about it. When we introduced Aldens at the [J. Crew] Li- HARTER: Monk-straps. KALENDERIAN: There are quor Store [in 2008; Snyder was head men’s- KALENDERIAN: Not only the monk-strap, but cords, there are mole- wear designer there], they just took off like the double monk [fig. 23]! I mean, I’ve been skins [!g. 19], there are wildfire. I have never seen a trend take off so trying to sell double monks for fifteen years, velvets, there are quickly. Red Wing boots did the same thing. but some things are just ahead of their time. KALENDERIAN: This decade has given men a BASTIAN: Suddenly, a few years ago, everyone [!g. 20]. There is so much newfound respect for history. We talk about had to have a pair of double monks, and it was interest in casual trou- the word authenticity repeatedly. Authentic kind of hilarious because those were al- sers for people who brands. Authentic style. And when we’re talk- ways around. They never really went away. ing about shoes, we’re talking about classics HARTER: What’s interesting now is that you’re like the concept of like the Weejuns and Sperry Top-Siders and seeing men play with color. Colored soles denim but don’t want brands with history to them. were big last year, and guys are playing with any more denim. MASHBURN: 2007 was when colored laces. Most men still gravitate toward designers started reinterpret- a black or brown shoe, but brown seems much SNYDER: The fit is now slim ing classics with a more important than black late- but not skinny. It’s a little bit slightly chunkier ly. It goes back to men wanting a lower rise but not too low. sole, a nicer shape more casual, versatile look. And It’s definitely cleaned up in to the shoe, no flat brown is definitely more versatile. the last five years and things toe—things that looked a little more KALENDERIAN: Thank God men are a little more . . . tailored, I classic but also could show up in a rediscovered brown. And not only think, is the best word. lot of different environments. FIG. 22: just brown, but beautiful shades WING TIPS SNYDER: The economy was kind ($895) BY DI BIANCO. of chestnuts and tans and rich of in the tank, and everybody’s colors. And [fig. 24] became like, “I remember those brands, so important to the idea of mixing and I love the way they made me things up. The , a beau- feel.” Here’s an analogy: Back in tiful -toe lace-up, is now the 2003, bars were really more about chicest shoe you can wear with microbrews. You go into bars now your jeans. And the sporty shoe, FIG. 23: and have all these crazy drinks LEATHER MONK-STRAPS like a chukka boot [fig. 25], is the that only your grandfather would ($675) BY CHURCH’S. chicest thing to wear with your know how to make. We see a lot flannel suit. of average guys getting interested BASTIAN: You gotta remember: in whiskey and wanting to learn Guys look at , girls look more about it, and the taste lev- at shoes. And it’s almost like ev- el has just become a little more erything else that you wear can be FIG. 19: FIG. 20: elevated. forgiven if you have an amaz- COTTON MOLESKIN WOOL TROUSERS FIG. 25: HARTER: TROUSERS ($487) ($745) BY ERMENEGILDO The wing tip [fig. 22] was NUBUCK CHUKKA BOOTS ing and an amazing pair BY PHINEAS COLE. ZEGNA. obviously a huge tipping point, ($228) BY COLE HAAN. of shoes. ≥

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