Get to Work: The Utility Man Takes Over for Spring
Utility influences continued to trend throughout the spring 2024 menswear season, proving streetwear’s lasting influence on fashion even in the face of “quiet luxury.”
From Andersson Bell’s gardener to the mechanic-inspired jumpsuits at Valentino and Magliano, designers referenced trade uniforms, turning American workwear staples into the ultimate fashion expressions.
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Sacai’s Chitose Abe, whose ability to hybridize various workwear elements into a single garment is well-known, took on her own school-uniform from growing up in Japan. Her collection had a “do-it-yourself mood,” observed WWD international editor Miles Socha, with patchwork, splicing and off-kilter hemlines.
Abe also showed suits made from sturdy denim provided by Carhaart, a frequent collaborator of Junya Watanbe‘s, who used its signature cargo-style pocket in off-kilter ways on many of his looks this season. In addition to Carhaart, Watanabe brought in other workwear brands like Filson and C.P. Company.
Fendi, on the other hand, celebrated the workmanship inside the house, staging its runway show at the Fendi factory a short distance from Florence. “The venue suggested the theme: cool and chic factory boys wearing utilitarian garb,” wrote WWD Milan correspondent Martino Carrera in his review. “There were distressed denim separates, pocketed workwear jackets crafted from thick cotton canvas and elongated striped shirts layered under pocketed pinafores as short as miniskirts.”
Contrasting some of the fine tailoring on the runway, Gorpcore — or clothes designated for use during outdoor activities like camping or fishing — proved some designers are still willing to get down and dirty.
At 44 Label Group, for example, bursts of acid colors were brush-stroked onto shorts and trucker jackets to “mimic stains of some slimy and corrosive compound,” noted Carrera.
Kenzo also got in on the trend with drawstring anoraks and backpacks, while Pharrell Williams remixed Louis Vuitton’s heritage Damier pattern with camouflage, dubbing the new iteration “Damoflage.”
Elswhere, one of the season’s most popular items, the utility vest, was styled sans shirt in the collections of Givenchy, Hed Mayner and Études.
Launch Gallery: Men’s Spring 2023 Trend: Utility
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