You’ll be glad to know that fashion is moving closer to normality. The recent Spring/Summer 2022 menswear show featured more IRL shows than the previous two seasons combined. Designers seemed happier, too, with the majority showing a renewed creative energy that was not evident during the repeated lockdowns.

However, the best news is that the clothes displayed were much more interesting to look at, write about and touch than those which have walked the digital or phygital runways in recent seasons.

We have you covered, from the love of sleeveless clothing to the rise in cut-out vests.

1. Your coat is not a cardie!

It’s the cost of living on an island governed solely by the Gulf Stream. The smartest menswear designers in the world have created coats from cardies this season. Cardigan coats! Cardigan coats are actually cardigans, also known as heavy-knit cardsigans.

You can wear them over a suit or with Issey Myake sweatpants for long days at work. The best was at Dunhill, where Mark Weston, Dunhill’s creative director, paired his nana cardsies with sharp-edged two pieces. At Jil Sander pastels were the order of the runway.

2. This is how to live a sleeveless life

Since we’ve been harping on about the sleeveless fashion trend for quite some time, please forgive us for starting over. We first noticed the shift when Prada and Marni began to show sweater vests. Riccardo Tisci, however, dedicated his entire menswear collection specifically to showing a exposed bicep.

The trend is strong for the Spring/Summer 2022 season. There are sleeveless knitted pieces at Erdem, Paul Smith, smart waistcoats at Courreges, Giorgio Armani and Burberry.

3. Skorts, tunics, and skorts

We’ve always believed that men should be able to show off their legs as freely as women. Now, it seems like the menswear fraternity in the world is finally getting into tune.

They took inspiration from all dress-wearing men – from Kid Cudi to A$AP Rocky to Harry Styles and Ezra Miller (not forgetting all the lungi- and dhoti-wearing guys around the globe too) – and created a wide range of brands that are following the trend for the Spring/Summer 2022 season.

Micro-skorts at Burberry and Prada were the rage, while Fendi, GMBH, and Rick Owens wore gown-like tunics. You only have one chance to wear your own skirt, kilt or tunic next summer.

4. They are suits but not as you know them

It is no secret that our work attire has changed irrevocably. It used to be all about a grey sharkskin two piece worn with a shirt five times a week. Now even the most sartorially strict workplaces are starting to loosen their ties.

It is not surprising, therefore, that brands that used to place tailored garments at their core of seasonal offerings have completely rethought how they approach “the suit” for SS22. They now create two-pieces that are as comfortable to wear on the couch as in the office, or when you’re just popping into the corner shop.

Tod’s, Dries van Noten, and Hermes all had three-button suits in light linen and cotton. The two-pieces with shirt jackets were a more sophisticated option.

5. Tutti-frutti

Turns to be that the most important menswear designers in the world are just as tired of black jersey, navy towelling, and grey marl as we are. The runways of Paris, Milan, and London were filled with an extraordinary range of colours.

Fendi, Casablanca, and Louis Vuitton all have colour-bleed rainbow designs on their oversized intarsia T shirts and hooded safari jackets made from the best leathers. Dolce & Gabbana and Moschino have incorporated garish patterns from Italian summers into their suits. Etro and Hermes, however, degrade fruit salad sweet colors to make sweaters that are extremely desirable.

6. Who wears large shorts?

We are sincerely hopeful that the 2022 TikTok will be all about the large Berumda short.

The best examples of the billowing short trend, which is much more flattering for older legs, FYI, could be found cut from the highest leathers at Hermes, Naturelement, Fendi, Zegna, and Wooyoungmi. These shorts were paired with matching overshirts and jackets, and the over-the knee vibe was very Blue Crush-y at Giorgio Armani and Lanvin.

7. Funereal tailoring is back in style Gabbana, Dior

Tailoring took a turn this season (see number 4 for proof). However, that doesn’t mean our brave new world, which is much more casual, won’t demand us to wear the right clothes now and again. This is great news for all those designers who sent out black poker-straight tailoring in their Spring/Summer 2022 collections.

Virgil Abloh and Kim Jones, both of Louis Vuitton and Dior were the most steadfast guys on the LVMH tent. They sent out tailored inky-black looks to open each show. Jones wore a beautiful tailored black overcoat that conformed to the house’s strict Tailleur Oblique block. At the former, Jones wore a black wraparound suit that spoke to the interplay of garments throughout the collection.

Mark Weston at Dunhill and Paul Smith were among the others. Gabbana wore immaculately tailored black suits.

8. A roomy shirt is a must

Easy, breezy, floaty, light. Due to the climate crisis, we’re facing decades of record-breakingly warm summers. So if you have to buy one item next summer, make sure it’s a super-light shirt. One of Dior’s shirt-cummuuus (created in collaboration with George Condo) or Dries Van Noten’s oversized tunic will keep you cool in the heat. Buying just one item will also reduce the amount of clothing waste that is causing problems for the planet.

9. Cut-out tops?

So fetchImage may include Human Person Clothing Apparel Shoe, and Footwear. The designer not only resurrected the storied Parisian brand by creating a new silhouette for SS22 but also displayed a series vests with holes in them that became an instant hit on Instagram.

Unsurprisingly, a host of other equally revered designers followed suit at the recent SS22 shows – Riccardo Tisci, Burberry, and Jonathan Anderson, Loewe – which suggests that you too should get in on the mega moth-eaten look, before you can even say “giant cedar balls”.

10. Slip on a pair of personality sandals

Perhaps it’s got something to do with the fact that we all wore more slippers during the repeated lockdowns or maybe it’s due to the fact that LVMH recently bought Birkenstock and gave the pursuit of comfort over fashion the platinum seal of approval, but either way, pretty much all the big-name designers have gone mad on the ultra-comfort-focused sandal flex for Spring/Summer 2022.

Dries van Noten’s show, the majority of the models wore ultra puffy sandals-cumpillows on their feet. Kim Jones’ Dior models wore cashmere socks and shearling-lined sandals. Tod’s driving shoes were replaced by hiking sandals, which would have looked great on the rack at Tevas.