The Tamesis
Summer is a season of subtraction and revelation. Hot weather can lead to less clothing and more skin. In recent years, shorts have become smaller, shorter, and simpler. Men like Donald Glover, Paul Mescal, Harry Styles and Connor Storrie have all embodied this seasonal theme with thigh-revealing shorts (or, to borrow a phrase, “slutty little shorts”). Q), fully displaying their toned quadriceps. Meanwhile, brands like Prada, Tom Ford and Saint Laurent are pushing the limits of etiquette by showing tiny little shorts, sometimes no more than a scrap of fabric, on the runway. We live in the golden age of tiny shorts.
But a noticeable shift is happening: on the streets of big cities (and probably cooler neighborhoods; Bushwick, we see you), on your social media, and maybe even in your own body. Shorts are in retreat. The Big Short is on the rise.
Welcome to Big Short Summer™—the season for long, flowy, loose-fitting below-the-waist garments that fall south of the knees and sometimes much lower. Vibrant shorts, a crisp, confident look, and a sweeping stance. No matter what shorts you choose to wear this summer, just make sure they have present– which means they are very, very big.
“They’re very American,” said designer Willy Chavarria, who often shows adult-proportioned shorts in his collections. “They’re about workwear, streetwear, Chicano culture, sports, skate culture; all of those worlds shaped my view of fashion growing up,” he said. “Rejecting restrictive dressing. All of this seeps into the silhouette.”
Chavarria believes their current acceptance is partly down to a new generation of confident male dressers who aren’t afraid to experiment with shapes and volumes. “For a long time, men’s clothing has become very controlled: slim, fitted, neat,” he added. “Oversized shorts reject this notion because they create movement, ease and confidence.”
“To me, this is a natural evolution from the rise of baggy pants we’ve seen over the past few years,” said Sam Bolianatz, a content creator from Toronto. “Now that big shorts have become the mainstream of men’s clothing, I think the comfort level of men wearing big shorts has been improved.”
Bigger shorts may be all the rage, but Boljanac points out that they also have a lasting, nostalgic quality. He cites memories of his grandfather doing yard work on weekends in big denim shorts and the ongoing influence of the ’90s J.Crew catalog as lasting touchstones.
