• Men’s Fashion Trends

This Season’s Most Affordable Menswear Trends

The runways are where fashion trends incubate. But it’s the ones that filter through to the high street which really take flight. And, usually, that you can actually afford to buy into, too.

With that in mind, we’ve rounded up the most dominant trends for autumn/winter 2015 outside of the designer boutiques and high-end department stores. Besides, while timeless style and lasting quality are great and all, sometimes you just want something shiny, new and unashamedly now.

All-Black Errthang

Yeezy Season 1 was refresh-and-you’ll-miss it but ‘Ye and Jay’s all-black everything aesthetic shows no signs of being dethroned. Black-on-black is the new black.

It doesn’t stop with hip-hop and streetwear either. Head-to-toe black can come over all rock star with a skinny jean and Chelsea boot in a Dior Homme homage (AllSaints, Zara). Or it can look minimal and modern with some sleek tailoring or technical sportswear (River Island, House of Fraser).

This is one time when dressing in the dark is encouraged. Besides, when everything you own is black, dressing in the dark isn’t something you need worry much about. You can’t really go wrong – although as with any monochrome outfit, it’s a good idea to incorporate a mix of textures: leather, denim, wool, cotton. Rapper or rocker, you’re not going to win fans by steering too one-note.

Key Pieces

• Topman Black Wool Blend Mac
• He By Mango Leather Biker Jacket
• Reiss Troy Patterned Sweatshirt Black
• Autograph Merino Wool Rich Slim Fit Polo Neck Jumper With Silk
• J. Crew Broken-in Chino In 484 Fit
• Burton Black Stretch Skinny Jeans
• Allsaints Montall Beanie Hat
• River Island Black Large Minimal Backpack
• Reiss Penfold Leather Cuffed Gloves Black

Shearling, Fur & Faux Fur Collars

If you’ve been paying attention, then you’ll know that shearling was a key runway trend for this season. Like sheep to shepherds, high street brands have flocked and followed suit. And adding a touch of the interrelated 1970s vibe, fur is also cropping up in the shops, albeit in the more wearable (not to mention affordable) form of collar detail rather than the full Chewbacca treatment.

If you’re buying into shearling, then a pilot-style bomber or denim jacket (AllSaints, J.Crew) is a far safer bet than sticking more than your neck out with a knee-length pimp coat. And outside of the hood of a parka, fur is not exactly plain sailing, but a classically masculine style like a pea coat or military greatcoat (River Island, AllSaints) will give you a fighting chance of pulling it off.

Key Pieces

• SHERPA-COLLAR WOOL BOMBER JACKET
• Allsaints Colonel Coat
• Asos Wool Mix Peacoat With Faux Shearling Collar In Black
• He By Mango Shearling-lined Jacket
• H&m H&m Pile-lined Denim Jacket
• Reiss 1971 Vice Contrast Collar Jacket
• Zara Coat With Detachable Faux Fur Collar
• River Island Dark Grey Double-breasted Winter Peacoat
• Topman Charcoal Wool Rich Overcoat With Detachable Faux Fur Collar

Slim Joggers

The audibly humming buzzword in menswear right now is ‘athleisure’. What that means for you: sweatpants that aren’t for sweating in.

To maintain an impeccable trackie record, your upmarket bottoms should be slim and tapered, and come with cuffs to keep everything tidy. Hardware like zips can help them look more ‘leisure’ than ‘ath-‘, as can fancy suiting-style fabrics (M&S).

While sweatpants are pleasantly relaxed, be attentive as to what you team them with. Their soft and unstructured nature means you’ll need to balance them out on your top half with something more rigid, like denim or leather (ASOS), and/or structured, like an overcoat (J.Crew, Uniqlo).

Either way, you want a material other than jersey on your torso. Otherwise you’re just wearing a tracksuit, aka the ‘Tesco Tuxedo’. If everything in your look is too slouchy then so are you.

Key Pieces

• River Island Navy Skinny Joggers
• J. Crew Slim Marled Sweatpant In Black
• Uniqlo Men Dry Stretch Sweat Pants
• Topman Grey Ribbed Front Joggers
• Pure Cotton Textured Cuffed Joggers With Staynew
• Burton Black Salt & Pepper Joggers
• He By Mango Wool-blend Jogging Trousers
• Zara Jogging Trousers With Contrast Detail
• Reiss Blinder Drawstring Joggers Grey

Trainers With Trousers

The sports luxe trend is leaving its footprint on the high street – literally, in the shape of trainers with trousers. And there’s no easier way to appear in step with the prevailing menswear mood.

A couple of pointers before you dip your toe: your trainers should be clean as in ‘minimal’ and also clean as in ‘clean’. Consider too that lightweight or canvas kicks often don’t have the necessary ballast to offset tailored trousers and/or a structured jacket – doubly so if you’re embracing the wide-leg trouser trend (M&S) – and leather is also just a bit more luxe. Equally, a humongous pair of Air Mags is going to bring the whole thing down.

That’s part of the reason why Stan Smiths are so often employed for this purpose: they have the Goldilocks amount of heft – not too big, not too little, just right. And why that whole Converse with a suit jacket and jeans look that happened a while back was so terrible.

Key Pieces

• Aldo Creely Leather Perf Trainers
• Asos Trainers
• Asos Plimsolls In Navy With Toe Cap
• Topman Black Plimsolls
• Topman White Sports Trainers
• Reiss 1971 Don Patent Leather Trainers Slate
• He By Mango Lace-up Sneakers
• H&m H&m Premium Leather Trainers
• H&m H&m White Leather Trainers

Three-Piece Suits

Don Draper may have [SPOILER REDACTED] but the high street is still on a major Roger Sterling tip. Three-piece suits aren’t exactly a revolutionary new trend, but they are everywhere.

Waistcoats may seem pointless, like the appendix of tailoring, but the truth is far from it. They make you look smarter than your two-piece-wearing peers with your jacket on, and they make you look smarter than your baggy shirted colleagues when you take your jacket off. They also add another insulating layer (maybe that’s why Americans insist on calling them ‘vests’), and give you more options when it comes to separates.

Disclaimer: this doesn’t work with every suit. But if you buy one with a bit of texture or ruggedness (John Lewis), you can break it up. Bingo, you’ve got a cold-weather blazer, some tailored trousers and… an odd waistcoat. Seriously though, you can wear the latter under a different suit jacket or blazer, or even a chunky cardigan.

Key Pieces

• Next Navy Check Slim Fit Suit
• Next Light Grey Suit
• River Island Suit
• M&s Collection Luxury Charcoal Slim Fit Suit
• M&s Collection Charcoal Regular Fit Suit
• He By Mango Slim-fit Wool Suit
• Burton 3 Piece Montague Burton Slim Fit Grey Check Wool Suit
• Reiss Garda Peak Lapel Suit Grey
• Topman Black Premium Wool Blend Skinny Fit 3 Piece Suit

Velvet Jackets

Blame Christopher Bailey at Burberry (who showed them for AW15) or the increasing prevalence of the maddeningly vague ‘black tie creative’ dress code. Either way, velvet jackets are smoking hot on the high street.

Well, if you’re going to take a punt, at least do it at a lower price point. Wear your velvet jacket as an alternative dinner jacket, perhaps over a fine-gauge roll neck for maximum cool points (House of Fraser, Reiss). And if you buy a VJ without the contrast lapels that you typically find on a DJ then you can conceivably wear it casually as a daytime blazer (J.Crew). So long as you can put up with the inevitable Austin Powers quips, that is. Oh behave.

It may help you to think of velvet as basically just ‘posh corduroy’. Seriously, they’re pretty much exactly the same. The only real difference is that one is ribbed and one isn’t – and one shall go to the ball while the other should not, ever.

Key Pieces

• Reiss Magnum Velvet Blazer Grey
• Reiss Ornette Patterned Velvet Blazer Blue
• Topman Burgundy Velvet Skinny Fit Blazer
• River Island Brown Velvet Slim Fit Blazer
• Autograph New Pure Cotton Slim Fit Buttonsafe 2 Button Velvet Jacket
• J. Crew Ludlow Shawl-collar Blazer In Velvet
• John Lewis Velvet Peak Lapel Jacket
• He By Mango Velvet Shawl Blazer
• Next Velvet Slim Fit Jacket

Slouchy Coats

Outerwear was oversized on the AW15 runways and lo and behold, it is thus on the high street too. It goes without saying that a sharply tailored overcoat will never go out of style. But if you’d rather look up-to-the-minute on-point, then the most current coats are more softly shouldered, giving them a less formal and far comfier, throw-over-everything vibe – which coincidentally is how you should wear them, elevating your casual looks in the process (Zara, ASOS, Urban Outfitters).

Often this slouchy effect is achieved via a raglan sleeve that, rather than stopping at the shoulder, extends right to the collar, with a tell-tale diagonal seam that runs from there to the armpit. That then creates more room to move – or for next-level layering moves like throwing a denim or bomber jacket underneath.

If your workplace is the kind where dress-down Friday means forgetting the pocket square, then a slouchy coat probably isn’t the smartest investment. The rest of us, however, can take it a little easier.

Key Pieces

• Shore Leave By Urban Outfitters Lucifer Charcoal Textured Overcoat
• Shore Leave By Urban Outfitters Lucifer Classic Camel Overcoat
• Asos Drop Shoulder Wool Rich Overcoat In Green
• Asos Drop Shoulder Overcoat In Black<img
  

Jamie Millar

Formerly online style and grooming editor at GQ, Jamie Millar is a contributing editor to Men’s Health and a correspondent for outlets such as Mr Porter, Amuse and The Gentleman’s Journal. (Follow him on Instagram @mrjamiemillar.) With a frankly alarming number of years’ experience under his waistband, he’s equally comfortable dispensing advice about classic style or high fashion, Swiss watches or fitness and nutrition – because he’s probably wearing (tailored) sweatpants while he does so.