Fashion Bros: How Masculinity Is Reinventing Itself On The Runway
When Clavicular, the American masculinist influencer, opened 424’s show at Paris Fashion Week in June wearing a plain white T-shirt and trousers, the ‘ragebait’ marketing tactic successfully led fashion commentators to respond, and the moment went viral.
Yes, the 20-year-old incel is infertile as a result of steroid abuse and is known for ‘looksmaxxxing’, which involves practices like smashing bones in the hope of improving physical attractiveness… but he also has over 2.6 million followers across his social media platforms.
Masculinism is on the rise, and it drives audiences. A 2024 study led by the University of Dublin revealed that it took just 23 minutes for a new user to be recommended male supremacist content on TikTok and YouTube Shorts. This new wave of masculinism is very much centred on looks and how to boost attractiveness. Brands could therefore be tempted to surf on this aesthetic and shape their narrative to appeal to the ‘manly man’- for some, like Dolce & Gabbana, they already are.
Yet the manosphere usually considers the very act of championing creativity and self-expression frivolous, pitiful, if not dangerous. By creating new silhouettes and identities, fashion reinvents standards continuously. Ultimately, it offers the promise of becoming something unknown: an ideal, your true self, a monster.
This implies going beyond models imposed by these self-proclaimed ‘guardians’ of conventional masculinity.
Besides, many of today's top creative positions in leading fashion houses are held by gay men, women, or, at least, allies. On the other hand, masculinism can be understood precisely as a backlash against recent progress in women's and LGBTQIA+ people’s rights.
While masculinity-centred discourse is trending on social media, it is interesting to understand how fashion creators - most of whom are inherently excluded from the ‘Alpha Male’ archetype - are joining the conversation through menswear.
Parisian’s Fluidity
Saint Laurent’s man would look down on this hypermasculinity. He is simply too elegant to care, even. While in line with the House’s commitment to power dressing, Anthony Vaccarello’s Spring 2027 menswear collection conveys a sense of lightness in a way that moves the masculine wardrobe towards something inherently more vulnerable. The suit jackets were adorned with button jewellery borrowed from last season’s women’s jewellery collection. Just as Yves Saint Laurent did when injecting menswear elements into womenswear, the YSL man steals from his feminine peers and is not embarrassed by femininity.
Being a Saint Laurent’s man is more about embodiment than effort: one of the models walked with nothing but a suit jacket and underwear. Being a Saint Laurent’s man means mastering Parisian elegance and simultaneously being confident enough to wear funky colours, gold from head to toe, or see-through derbies that are undeniably erotic.
This characteristically Parisian posture is also present with Michael Rider’s Celine, and his SS27 menswear collection appears as an ode to freestyling. The Celine man is elegant in an anarchic way: he doesn’t trouble himself with sticking to convention; he tries, he wears what is found in his closet, and for some reason everything blends seamlessly. He dares to be experimental, borderline, unexpected. Underpants peeking out, garish colours that clash, whimsical cuts: it all looks as though it was thrown together at the last minute, and yet, it’s delightfully chic.
Dior Divas
Fashion’s resistance can occur in choices as seemingly small as celebrating androgynous features. I remember reading comments online after Jonathan Anderson’s Dior Spring 2026 menswear debut, many of which stated that the models were not ‘real men’.
Today, luxury giants are discursive machines: their images are the first, and sometimes only, impression we obtain. Putting forward a form of masculinity that is more fragile - even slightly - becomes noticeable when it is on the runway of what might be the most important reference in fashion - a house so influential that, beyond clothes, it can define beauty.
Anderson is interested in a masculinity that is unapologetic. His latest collections for Dior Men featured capes, fur-trimmed sleeves, theatrical bows, huge shorts reminiscent of skirts, suit jackets worn over bare chests that feel more like poetry than declarations of war. With his taste for sophisticated clothing, the Dior man allows himself to be a diva.
The Fall 26 menswear collection was marked by three already iconic sequinned satin tops opening the show, inspired by the upper part of an unworn 1922 Poiret dress. On other looks, the dramatic volumes are built around Mr Dior’s ball gowns, and the legendary Bar jacket migrates into menswear. When asked about Dior’s Spring 26 collection, Jonathan Anderson said: “Partying. Going out. Dressing up. Formality. Eton.”
Embracing tenderness
In Virginie Despentes’ feminist manifesto King Kong Theory (2006), she defines the dictates imposed upon men by patriarchy this way:
“to repress one's sensuality, to dress in dull colours, to always wear the same clunky shoes, not to play with one's hair, not to wear too much jewellery, and not to wear any makeup”
In short: “...being deprived of one's femininity, symmetrically to women who renounce their masculinity,” as she concludes.
Simon Rocha replies: “What if masculinity stopped resisting tenderness?”
In her feminine menswear, boys are coquets; they show their legs and carry flowers.
On her SS27 runway, men wore dresses, whether this took form as a leather work apron, thrown over trousers and a shirt, or under a suit jacket. Nothing could be more revolutionary, nor more natural, in fact. While masculinism affirms that society is turning men weaker and weaker, the Irish designer creates new vocabularies that bridge the gap between masculinity and tenderness. Speaking of tender forms of masculinity, we may also think of Daniel del Valle’s poetic creations that transform men into flowerpots; ones that earned him a place amongst the finalists for the prestigious LVMH Prize.
Demna’s humour
At Gucci, Demna seems to be tackling contemporary masculinism more directly.
His first runway for the Italian house featured a lineup of masculine bodies that look as if they’re being squeezed into leather jackets and are about to burst. This becomes deliberate and desirable in Demna’s work.
Clothes are strung tight, becoming increasingly cropped tops and wildly slim jeans. In other looks, T-shirts are slung halfway down the body, suggestively revealing the lower abdominals.
Here, Demna comments on what has become a body-worship culture, one promoted by social media’s ‘healthmaxxers’.
This constant derision has, in fact, characterised his work ever since his time at Balenciaga: straddling the line between a desire to elevate streetwear to the realm of luxury and a sense of humour - if not mockery. This debut collection should be understood as a whole, a story with a beginning and an end. We witness the ‘gym bros’ archetype rapidly evolving, gradually transforming into a man who wears similar styles but in sequinned, satin and eccentric versions.
Demna’s approach has the merit of raising a debate: this spectacle of ultra-tight-fitting cuts, which reveal super-curvy bodies, may lead the spectator to question the excesses of the obsession with building and displaying our bodies. By amplifying reality, Demna recalls how powerful fashion can be in forcing a step back. But the question remains: while the collection turns the thought-man archetype into a satire, isn’t Gucci capitalising on it, risking ultimately glamourising this aesthetic in the long run?
Sexiness as an antidote
Clothing against the grain of this rigid masculinity is also defined by a sense of queerness. With their Fall 25 anniversary show, Dsquared2 celebrated a party-man who loves disco, high-heels, and tank tops that thinly vanish into a mess of strings. The models danced freely, a harsh contrast with typical manosphere values of restraint.
But no one masters clubwear better than Ludovic de Saint Sernin. The French designer revendicates his queer experience, providing the representation he missed whilst growing up. De Saint Sernin’s creations are provocative. With bold corsets and leather in unexpected places, such as ties or briefs, the designer doesn’t shy away from referencing BDSM.
In his work, the garment is already almost falling off; it suggests an impatient sensuality. On some looks, he leaves one of their shoulders uncovered, or both when creating a tight-fitting, sleeveless shirt. On others, he pushes suggestiveness: clothes are open in just the right places or just begging to be unbuttoned.
Saul Nash, designer and choreographer, is another of the few that dares to explore desire in men’s fashion today.
In his London-based eponymous label, the muscular body is celebrated but in a way that feels more sensual than aggressive, a nuanced balance whereby the silhouette is never oversexualized. Even on technical pieces, there is a sense of sexiness suggested by transparency or partial nudity. This week, while Saul unveiled a pop-up showcasing his AW26 collection, STRAND has had the chance to question him about the type of masculinity he aims to champion.
Saul Nash explained: “My intention as a designer has never been to dictate one way to be a man but also to explore a spectrum... I grew up in London around a lot of different kinds of men and, as a queer man, it’s always about allowing men to find their own self-expression”
Created in 2018, the brand has already asserted this inclusive narrative around masculinity, building visual experiences that go beyond fashion. As a former professional dancer himself, Saul Nash celebrates masculine self-expression through various projects: from designing costumes for the Royal Ballet to organising live performances for the V&A’s Fashion in Motion series.
While Milano and Paris fashion weeks are about to begin, the ‘masculinism’ elephant is in the room, he affects consumers’ habits and forces menswear brands to position themselves around him. Once again this season, designers are being challenged to prove that fashion remains a counterculture, a playground for innovation, beyond TikTok dogmas.
Edited by Lara Walsh, Editor-in-Chief
Comments