That transgressive meaning has been important to short shorts fan Charlie Porter, author of What Artists Wear, coming out in 2021. And according to Groves, the appeal of short shorts is “that they transgress masculine norms of dress, veering almost into a form of cross-dressing.” “Menswear has been increasingly embracing what was generally considered to be women’s garb,” says Chitrakorn. This ‘new sexy’ in menswear - seen in the embrace of high heels and lingerie - is a melting away of genderised norms. I think nothing of it, but to some it’s a real novelty, almost outrageous.” Photograph: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis/Getty Imagesĭay gets a “mostly positive reaction,” to his short shorts “albeit slightly shocked at how short (and tight) they can be. Sean Connery with Eunice Gayson on the set of From Russia with Love. “I think in these financially tough times, when we can’t afford to splurge on luxury items, our bodies become almost like a status symbol, like a badge of honour, a highly prized, hard to obtain physicality,” he says. Short shorts fan and GQ style director Luke Day thinks that the role of the male body has been elevated and the psychology of its revelation has changed. “ been celebrating a super-sexualised Adonis,” thinks Kati Chitrakorn, the retail and marketing editor of Vogue Business, “as men are relating to their own bodies again as a tool of seduction.” Menswear, in contrast to womenswear’s pivot towards body diversity and less objectification, has been embracing a certain brand of sexual empowerment. “Suddenly, short shorts seem highly inappropriate, almost profoundly shocking to see.” The shock is, he explains, the presentation of a male leg in “a highly sexualised and eroticised manner”. It feels radical to see men playing with these proportions,” says Andrew Groves, professor of fashion design at the University of Westminster. “The display of the elongated leg, from ankle to crotch has, in recent fashion history, almost wholly been the preserve of womenswear. “When we get dressed we want to feel a proportional balance, and thus, we’re going to be seeing a little more leg,” he says.Īnd seeing “a bit more leg” can create a stir.
Today he explains that “while the fashion world long focused on defined arm muscles as part of the ideal male physique, that has changed.” With a move towards a summer shirt with a longer sleeve (which means a covered upper arm) men have wanted to keep the dynamic balance of skin to fabric.
In 2018, Justin Berkowitz, men’s fashion expert, told Business of Fashion that “quads feel like the new biceps in a lot of ways,” and that Joe Wicksian truth feels like it came to pass. But this new focus on the leg is apparently at the expense of our previous focus on biceps.