After nearly eight months of being encased in long pants, your timid and reclusive legs are finally able to get some much-needed sunshine now that short season has arrived.
Along the entire smart-to-casual spectrum, shorts are an extremely diverse group, featuring an abundance of designs, trims, fabrics, and decorating options.
Menswear's finest has curated an extremely variegated collection for this season, with an abundance of on-trend pieces to suit every wardrobe aesthetic, from the ultra-casual pool detective to the discerning sartorialist. The following designs are noteworthy:
Corduroy Shorts
As the ascent of corduroy to the upper strata of luxury menswear continues, the 'whale-spotting' trend has become increasingly visible in recent seasons. The previously reviled fabric has undergone a complete transformation and is now favored by designers due to its textural, tactile feel.
Although it is generally considered a winter fabric, lightweight cotton can be used to create an attractive pair of summer shorts by incorporating a textural pattern.
There are numerous corduroy styles in circulation, including tailored cuts and athletic drawstring options, in addition to terry cloth patterns.
Drawstring Shorts
An athletic-inspired brief, the drawstring style is informal cool rendered large, quite literally in some cases as many brands have created oversized silhouettes for summer.
What we adore about drawstring shorts above all else is how simple they are to wear. Pull them on, drape over a plain blouse, slide your feet into some sandals or sneakers, and you’ve got yourself a timeless summer outfit.
The elasticated waistband is something of a savior too. Track-inspired styles constructed from cotton jersey and that end around the knee are a great match with contemporary shoes and streetwear silhouettes.
Short Shorts
The perennial summer style question: how short is too short? Short lengths have fluctuated like the tide over the decades, with the honor for the highest hems going to the 1980s when it was de rigueur to liberate the thigh.
Think back to messrs McEnroe and Borg playing in a Wimbledon final, both wearing a pair of scant white cotton shorts, or an iconic picture of Harrison Ford at the Hotel du Cap Eden Roc in an equally diminutive pair of navy shorts.
Truth is, anything goes these days, which is why the short short is back on the style menu. Tailored versions, as well as athletic drawstring options, are a fine look for the summer, but the single largest caveat is your body type – ultimately you need to be slender to make short shorts work for you.
Terry Cloth Shorts
One of our finest summer fabrics, French terry cloth is the plush cotton pile that just exemplifies what laid-back summer style is all about – comfort, texture, tactility and functionality, all of which makes it the ideal fabric for shorts.
This has not been wasted on menswear designers this season, as it seems like every decent brand has produced a resortwear line in which terry cloth plays a significant role.
Best deployed in a drawstring style, terry cloth has a pleasant natural drape which makes it good for mid-length to lengthier short styles, and lends an injection of soft texture to a look.
Linen Shorts
Linen is just the ideal summer fabric in so many ways, and makes for gorgeous tailored shorts. It’s derived from the flax plant, the crops of which are typically irrigated with rain water and don’t require a great deal of fertiliser, making linen one of, if not the most ecological fabrics you can purchase.
Lightweight, moisture-wicking and with a distinctive slubby finish, it lends a casual elegance to tailored shorts, which are perfectly cool when paired with a linen shirt, or even an unstructured linen blazer.
Brands such as Percival, Luca Faloni and Officine Générale offer sleek options for accessorizing out in the city with your smart-casual ensembles, whereas resortwear brands such as Orlebar Brown and Vilebrequin have a number of more relaxed, athletic linen options for going on vacation with.
Seersucker Shorts
Much like linen, cotton seersucker is one of those perennial fabrics that comes to the fore every summer due to its superb heat-regulating, moisture-wicking properties.
But seersucker is so much more than merely functional. The same dimples that give it these summer-ready characteristics also provide seersucker with that unique texture that instantly adds a different tactile dimension to a look.
It’s often expressly thought of as a summer suiting fabric, but seersucker is ideal when rendered for shorts, particularly the lengthier Bermuda style – the wider the silhouette, the more impact those dimples have.
Read Also: Trendy Dress Shirt Colors to Try This Season
Crochet Shorts
Not many fashion observers would have placed crochet shorts on their trend predictions list this year. But here we are, with brands from Marni and The Elder Statesman to Aimé Leon Dore and Nanushka joining in on the artisanal act with a handful of excellent crochet short designs.
While the open-weave design undoubtedly has its benefits in humid weather, crochet shorts are all about the decorative element rather than the functional one. Interesting woven patterns lend a vintage bohemian attitude to an appearance.
Bold knits are the ones to make a statement in, but can be difficult to style, so select instead for crochet shorts in neutral tones such as beige or ivory which you can wear with complementary monochromatic shirts, or bolder, livelier contrast hues.