Men's Fashion Through The Times

There was a time when men’s fashion really was a byword for a joke. It simply would have been met with a derisory laugh and not a subject to be taken all that seriously. Yet go back a while to the pre war era and go back down the channels of history and you only have to look at how royal figures and courtiers would dress to see how wrong this is.

Henry VIII and Louis IV were classic figureheads of their day who loved the thrill of dressing in full regalia; they would never have been seen anywhere without being dressed top to toe in the most expensive cloth and richly adorned clothes. They were the fashion icons of their time. Designers in those days were told what to design and it was the figureheads at the top of the ladder such as Royalty who dictated this. Styles from different countries might have been borrowed or became an influence but this was only because designers were ordered to copy.

Whilst the post war years right through to the end of the 20th century saw a huge decline in the way men approached fashion, the need never quite went away. However, it is hardly surprising that men’s entire attitude to clothes and the way they dressed, suffered dramatically as this shift went further and further towards the anything will do idea. One cannot blame men for this when there was little motivation to take care in their dress in the same way as women did. A man’s sense of style simply evaporated. Fortunately, this wasn’t quite the case.

All that has changed with men’s designer fashion because there have been enough designers around who saw the urgent need for the trend to reverse. It may not be the preserve of an elitist group with plenty of leisure time and wallets to match, but there has been a democratic shift to a wider catchment of men, whether rich or not.

The fantastic revival in men’s designer fashion has of course meant there is no excuse for men. Yet the fact that it is highly sought after means demand has increased and men everywhere are beginning to see they can look cool and not become ridiculed. This revitalisation in men’s fashion has been welcomed by women too.

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