We have hardly had a chance to catch our breath (nor lay down our pens!) but the frenzy of fashion month is back. Re-energised after the slumberous weeks of late December, the influencers and esteemed attendees have ditched the pyjamas and are back in front of camera lenses to give us a glimpse of the awakening trends. Strutting onto our streets and screens, and chomping at the bit to lay their mark on the first light of the new year, the streetwear ensembles of the fashion clan are often telling of what we can expect to ring popular with the high-street audience in coming months.
Kicking off the 2024 circuit are the Men’s Fashion Week events, in many ways a curtain-raiser ahead of the womenswear weeks in February, but a key early reference for sartorial trends to come. Just moments into the new year, it will be intriguing to see if all the quixotries of new chapters and intentions are mirrored in the leading outfits of this era. GLITCH has been fanatical in tracking the dissonance between intent and action in the industry, and has a sharpened focus on whether sustainable dressing will at last take fully fledged flight. As opposed to previous desultory attempts and fleeting interests, will 2024 be the year where conscious choices become tightly enmeshed with fashion choices?
Opened by the quainter Pitti Uomo, Florence seems an apt location for the commencement of the fashion circuit for 2024; in being the birthplace of the renaissance, perhaps we will see an apotheosis for a new fashion conscience and mentality. Following the audiences as they traverse the streets from the northern city, to the Milanese capital, and across to France, GLITCH gained insight through the lens of Camilla Mecagni .Â
Camilla’s snapshots narrate a much welcomed story, as they sing true to the supposition that circularity is amongst the mood of the times. Timestamped attire and repurposed accessories have become hero pieces paraded down busy streets and gathering outside of show locations. From city to city, it seems as though the menswear crew are carving a character for this year’s fashioning, and perhaps we are crossing over the lip, and finally understanding that styling doesn’t have to be synonymous to buying anew. Perhaps, like some of the attendees photographed below, collaged looks, mismatched styles, and reinvented clothing will be the mood of this era.
Layer, Layer, Layer, Layer, LayerÂ
A man at Pitti Uomo layers two pairs of glasses for eyewear newness, others mix and and match offbeat shirts, jumpers and overcoats. And, the adrogynous skirt over trousers combo is at its zenith.
Your Grandma’s Coat
It seems kitschy and vintagey prints and fabrics having a resurgence, with statement overcoats reminiscent of your grandparents’ closets and village charity shops being a key to this aestheticÂ
Arts & CraftsÂ
Embroidery and applique styles crept into streetwear snapshots. Whilst already somewhat trendy amongst womenswear, this appreciation of handicraft and DIY aesthetics is bringing an new edge to experimentation in male style. Queue the needles, the threads and the glue guns.Â
Fashion week attendees are certainly leaning into experimental trends and pairings, and it would suggest that the styling paradigm is becoming more dictated by the wearer’s personality and artistic visions, rather than the brands supplying the building blocks. Gone is the era where monograms and branding were the stamper of high fashion. It would seem that style resides in the skill of connecting and pairing the base materials, and styling is becoming synonymous to decoupage art.
Written by Hebe Street from GLITCH Magazine
Photography by Camilla Mecagni for GLITCH Magazine
