Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Fashion & Style

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

Spring 2015 Trend Watch: New Stripes

By

Fashion is going sideways for stripes—literally. Take, for instance, Haspel’s natty pairing of horizontal stripes with a linen suit above. It’s just the kind of look worth copping all season long. Still, weren’t we all warned at one point never to wear horizontal stripes? Spring introduces several new approaches to stripes: brands are co-opting them to make fewer preppy, nautical, and military references than fun, optical statement pieces. Aside from new and exciting placements of stripes, designers are even juxtapositioning stripes for dimensional effect and even piecing together different fabrics to create more textural stripes. Meanwhile bolder stripes can have the welcome effect of changing one’s proportions for the better and adding just the right pop of color (and wit) to an outfit. Here, 10 ways in which brands are reinterpreting stripes with a cool, modern flair:

“Constance” trim fit blue/white stripe shirt in cotton, Haspel, $225.

Recommended Videos

Handwoven organic contrasting stripe shirt, Neuba, $228.

Blue knitted stripe cotton polo, Topman, $50.

Navy rugby stripe sweatshirt in cotton, Archival Clothing, $90.

Indian Madras cotton popover shirt, GANT Rugger, $125.

Side-striped cotton tee, Maison Kitsune, $115.

Striped Craft-T in Egyptian cotton, Craft Atlantic, $95.

10-1/2” Maddox Berber short in cotton, Club Monaco, $79.50.

Alma cotton-poly sweatpant, John Elliott & Co., $295.

Linen stripe pocket square, Apolis, $30.

Topics
Tim Yap
Tim Yap
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Contributing writer Tim Yap was born in Kuala Lumpur and lived in Hong Kong, Singapore, Vancouver and Toronto prior to moving…
Men’s fashion tips: The 17 essential rules every well-dressed man should know
What every man should know to ensure he's always the best dressed in the room
Man wearing scarf in the sunset

How do you know if you have style? Well, it is a bit of a Rorschach test. It can tell people around us who we are and what we think of ourselves. It can tell people more than we think. Some of us are mavericks, shirking the rules and subverting expectations at every turn, simply because we don't like to be put in boxes. Other groups of us like rules and we want the comfort that order and uniformity bring us. Then, even more of us are somewhere in the middle when it comes to men's style and crave order and uniformity to allow us to find our boundaries, only to shirk them later when we want to feel free. Men's fashion offers us all of the above.

Now, before we start throwing a bunch of rules at you, remember something vital: Rules are made to be broken. Artists do this all the time. They take a conventional rule and begin to push the boundaries until the rule is now ... as Captain Barbosa would put it ..."more of a guideline than an actual rule." Fashion is the same. True style is living within your own expression of the rules and pushing the boundaries until you express who you are. Now, there is definitely a balance here. While some rules are made to be broken, others are tried-and-true staples to live on.
Rules vs. guidelines and how to break them

Read more
The case for the hoodie in 2024 — a men’s fashion comeback
These are the hoodies you need if you want to be stylish
man in a hoodie

As you can imagine, the fashion world's moods are constantly shifting. Sometimes, an item is made fun of relentlessly, and then the entire industry seems to change its mind and embrace it without any warning completely. Take Crocs, for instance. When they first came out, they were the butt of many fashion jokes; let's not forget they were prominently featured in the film Idiocracy as the shoe of the fool, right? But now they are everywhere. People love them. The hoodie has a similar story. Sure, it was loved when it first came out. Who wouldn't love a sweatshirt with a hood? But then it was ostracized, seen as a thuggish garment. The hood was good for nothing but hiding your identity. We even remember them being banned in high schools. People hated even the best men's hoodies.

Luckily, fashion has evolved, and the hoodie is making a comeback. Sure, there are still people who hide in them. Usually, it hides your lack of motivation to go to the gym, but there is still a stylish trend involving the hoodie, and we are here for it. Throw on your favorite comfy sweatshirt with a head pocket while we make a case for the hoodie.
The comeback of the hoodie

Read more
Suitsupply takes winter whites to a new level with cashmere
Get cashmere for your closet this season with Suitsupply
suitsupply fw24 cashmere winter whites ribbed sweater

It's beginning to look a lot like . . . never mind we aren't going to say that. But it is already proving to be a very white season if Suitsupply has anything to do with it. While you have to be careful in the fall due to an antiquated rule that you shouldn't wear white after Labor Day, Suitsupply is encouraging us to break these rules with a fall and winter collection that is headlined by gorgeous winter whites in the form of suits, sweaters, and overcoats. But that isn't all they had up their sleeves for this new collection. For the FW24 season, Suitsupply brought out a secret weapon that is sure to keep these winter whites flying off the shelf in the form of cashmere.
The must-have fabric

We won't be those people who hear the word cashmere and automatically reference Seinfeld. At least, we didn't think we were but yet, here we are. But George Costanza was right to be proud of buying cashmere as a gift for Elaine. It is the must-have fabric of the season. Not only is it soft and luxurious, but it will keep you warm in impeccable style. Suitsupply took their use of it to heights the rest of the industry will have to try to keep up with when they didn't stop at sweaters like most brands. They put it in their brand-new suits for the season and a show-stopping white overcoat that you have to see to believe. Buy any of these items for those people on your list this season, and you will get to utter the classic line from Costanza: "Of COURSE it's cashmere!"
Shop Now

Read more