More casual, more dressy are both developing trends

LITTLE ROCK — Q. I’m sensing a new direction in men’s clothes. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it does seem to be there. At first, I thought it was that guys are dressing up more. But then, I seem to be seeing more casual clothes. I know this is a contradiction. Am I on to something?

A. I think you are surprisingly observant, since both trends are happening. In fact, yes, you are right that some trends do seem to be in contradiction to others.

Because older “establishment” men were compelled for so many years to wear suits to work, many are now embracing the opposite - wearing more casual clothes - whenever possible. While these older men usually have the good judgment not to wear jeans, they are comfortable wearing chinos and sweaters rather than business suits. They are even buying fewer sport coats, but that might just be because they already have several in their closets to fall back on.

On the other hand, younger guys - who always seem to want to be doing the opposite of what their fathers do - are now taking a different direction. These young men have suddenly “discovered clothes,” and they have become aware of how great they can look when they are well put together. Young men seem to be enjoying every possible opportunity to “dress up.” Even those whose jobs do not require a suit, shirt and tie will seek out the finest men’s specialty shops in town or shop online at the high-end websites for quality menswear.

Yes, young men are wearing more suits, but oddly, fewer ties. Even so, for the workplace,men still do wear ties. Historically, the worse the economy is, the more the trend is toward a more correct way of dressing. But after work, especially in an urban environment, men wear a lot of sport jackets and blazers, often with khakis or jeans, and often without a tie. This makes for a peculiar mix.

Here is another new “lifestyle choice.” In the past, when it came to neckties, a man was either a confirmed four-in-hand knot wearer or a half-Windsor wearer. He was consistent. And in recent years, very few men wore the larger Windsor and half-Windsor knots. Those larger knots had gone out of style; they were considered too flashy for conservative businessmen. Today, no longer are men strictly devoted to one style or the other.

One reason for the shift to ties with the larger half-Windsor knots as opposed to the narrower four-in-hand knot is the increasing popularity of spread collar shirts. Button-down collars, which for years were the accepted conservative uniform for businessmen, did not have enough space between the collar points for a large knot (so men wore them with the traditional four-in-hand knot). But with today’s spread-collars, the wider space between the collar points seems to need the fatter, more triangular Windsor knot to fill it. Yet another reason for today’s fatter knot:Neckties have been growing narrower; so even larger knots are less bulbous than they were when ties were wider.

Several forces are at play here. One is the popularity of such influences from the 1920s as the movie The Artist and the even greater influence of AMC’s Mad Men styles of the 1960s. This resurgence of nostalgia has led to a more elegant way of dressing. Certainly, men like casual clothes for comfort, but for business and social occasions, a lot of them still want to dress up.

So there you have it. You are on to something. And it does seem like a contradiction.

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