The Biggest Menswear Trends for 2019

As we stand at the dawn of a new year, one tends to only naturally look back and forwards on what was and what is to come for the coming year. Like any year 2018 was full of trends both more and less desirable, those bubbling up to never been seen again and those that we hope will gain greater traction for the future. With that in mind, we at nss have put together our top male trends coming for 2019.

 

Tailoring

There’s been a lot of talk about the worlds of high and street fashion fusing the last couple of years, but the focus has mainly been on the perspective from high looking for inspirations from the street. Where one mustn’t forget that street fashion has a lot to gain from the craft of high, especially in terms of tailoring. An essential art that is all too often overlooked, tailoring will be a big trend in 2019, especially combined with streetwear stables like the hoodie to create a new uniform for the year, we look forward to seeing more, not only great looking but also great fitting clothes in the year ahead.

 

Skate 

It’s been bubbling all of last year, with a return of more skate shoe inspired silhouettes entering the ranks of high fashion, and more pure skate brands like Palace rising ever higher and even collaborating with the likes of Ralph Lauren. We predict the Skate trend to take off, even more, this year.

 

Performance/Outdoor

this year saw a rise in the popularity of the outdoor or gorpcore aesthetic. I bit of a mash-up between techwear and dadcore, this trend will continue to grow in 2019, where comfort coupled with performance and a bit of that new school vintage feel will see the trend grow for sure. 

  

Collabs 2.0

2018 was the year of the collab, with pretty much everyone and anyone collaborating together, which was exactly the problem. In essence, the collaboration has the greatest of potential when done right. Two opposing strengths rising together creating with the best from each, but unfortunately, 2018 showed that when rushed and not well executed the result stands only to the detriment of both parties. The collab trend will continue in 2019, but we very much hope with a bit more thought given, to ensure strong end results. 

 

Post Virgil-ism

We need to soberly admit that when anyone dominates a field, especially when built on the amount of hype that Virgil Abloh does, it simply can not last. 2018 was the year of years for Virgil, going from his own “Off-White” brands success and Nike’s ‘the Ten’ shoe designs, to become the artistic director for Louis Vuitton, topped with cherries like working with IKEA. Virgil Abloh was the biggest name in fashion this year, but its now also time for the next in line to take the reigns. Designers with greater sensibility and actual design craft will rise up in 2019. Virgil has been a maverick in pathing his path, but others can now take things further. 

 

2000’s

There was a clear 90’s trend going around this year, and we’re already seeing this move on to a 2000’s trend. Holding hands with skateboarding, outdoor, and the strong return to form for brands like Dior and Prada, expect to see more 00's influence this year. 

  

Utility/ Functionality 

There's been an ever-growing focus on functionality being a factor last year, especially in high fashions adoption of certain streetwear trends, just look at the utility vest trend that's gone from the battlefield to the catwalk. We're seeing more and more emphasis on apparel having various forms of both more tactile and subtle functionality, where consumers are expecting more utilitarian performance out of their closets and this will continue and expand in 2019.

 

Neon

If one were to summarize 2018 into one color that literally stood out more than the others, we'd have to say 2018 was the year of neon yellow volt. Everything from sneakers to dresses to T-shirts were coming out loud in volt and we predict this trend to continue and expand into the other ranges of neon, look out as 2019 will be coming on bright!

 

Tie-Dye

The technique of tie-dying has since its boom in the sixties had a cyclical nature of coming back around every once in a while. Coinciding both with youth movements of liberation and freedom, and rises of wild times of color use like we’re currently in. With champions like Travis Scott and Kanye West, the tie-dye trend will continue this year as well. 

 

Sneakers trends 2019

When it comes to sneakers we're at a bit of a crossroad, the chunky trend has been going strong, as has the 3% approach of Virgil, where older models are changed just enough to make them feel fresh, but with both these chapters coming to an end, as is the originality of Yeezy’s we look forward and see a few new clear branches. For many Sean Wotherspoon’s Air Max 1/97 was the sneaker of the year, which was an interesting blend of something fresh while still tapping into a vintage throwback feel of something familiar, designers trying to find this delicate balance will for sure be a trend this year. And on the other end of the spectrum we have a sneaker like the Nike React Element 87 that shows us that a shoe with a truly new design, that's well executed with innovative technology will always be a hit, and we hope for another lightning strike in 2019. High fashion will also continue its wobbly steps into designing sneakers, and we hope that the learning curve will be steep and that the high fashion brands will not just try, but truly deliver on some next level sneakers coming to market this year.