Chapter 6: The Future

Thoughts on men and fashion - six summer episodes by fashion connoisseur and word acrobat Jeroen van Rooijen.

Did we actually say at the beginning of this summer that fashion does not change because of any individual ideas, but only as a result of larger social changes? Well, we still stand by that today. Today, no designer can single-handedly bring «a new fashion» into the world. The last person to do this was Hedi Slimane more than twenty years ago - he started the slim-fit trend. Or better: he made them popular thanks to Lagerfeld. Because the Belgian Raf Simons “invented” this look back in the mid-1990s.

But that's yesterday's news. Lagerfeld has gone to the eternal hunting grounds, Slimane today struggles with new youth cultures. However, new looks are emerging today as a result of changing living conditions - keyword home office - and of course due to commercial oversaturation, which always provokes a counter-reaction. That means: If the majority of fashion available in normal shops is cut so tightly that you can hardly breathe in it, the pendulum swings back in the direction of more volume. This is already happening – we wrote about this a few weeks ago.

Reaction and counter-reaction: This is how fashion has always developed. The cool style of rock 'n' roll followed the brave style of the 50s. After the decadent, foggy hippies came the punks. Grunge followed the licked beauties of the eighties. It goes on like this, zigzagging back and forth. So if you consider that there are fashion phenomena today that are so omnipresent that you hardly want to see them anymore, then the future of fashion can be predicted relatively easily, namely: as a counter-reaction to what is. So here are five trends that are imminent to arrive:

New purism . The pendulum is swinging back from exalted opulence (Gucci style) towards minimalism. The field is still sparsely populated, but a clever brand will conquer it quickly and everyone will say: why didn't we think of it?

New Wave . A style of music from the early eighties that hasn't been put through the recycling shredder twelve times and looks very contemporary. Get ready for a revival by New Order, The Cure and Depeche Mode.

tie . With the comeback of New Wave, something believed to be dead is likely to be resurrected: the tie. Bankers and brokers no longer wear it, but a new generation of the tie is taking over and making it cool again.

Foulards : The new man is showing his soft side - nothing shows it better and more confidently than a silk scarf casually knotted around his neck. It takes on the role of the scarf – or the tie.

Yoga Boys : Yoga is increasingly becoming a men's trend and will not only ensure a better body, but also new opportunities in the sportswear sector. Softer, more sensual, sexier.

Jeroen van Rooijen is a freelance style critic and co-founder of the Alferano concept store in 2014.