Get shorty

Shorts needn’t be casual, when teamed with blazers – or even as part of a shorts suit. But to avoid resembling an overgrown schoolboy, it’s important to know how to style this look

Words by Josh Sims

When the invitation comes to wear formal attire to a high summer event, one’s heart can sink a little. Sweatiness and discomfort will, it seems, be the price paid for fulfilling an otherwise arbitrary rule of dress. Unless, that is, your tailored look involves shorts. Think of it as sartorial smarts on top, poolside cool down below.

Admittedly, like the platform sneaker or the sleeveless hoodie, at first this look somehow seems to lack internal logic: how can your head need covering but, simultaneously, it be desirable to expose your arms? And as any physicist will tell you, two objects with mass cannot occupy the same space at the same time. So, it might seem that smart tailoring and bared calves are mutually exclusive.

But with the notion of the suit in flux anyway – thanks to a breakdown in office dress-codes, remote working, the trend for wearing “separates”, and so on – designers, from Thom Browne to Han Kjøbenhavn, Zegna to Fendi, are again exploring the potential of what is sometimes referred to as a “half suit”. Gucci even has a three-piece version.

“This is a playful, fun look that’s more about dressing up shorts than it is about dressing down tailoring,” argues menswear consultant Chris Modoo, who styled the look for British brand Alan Paine. “The opportunities to wear it are slim, but it works for very specific, high summer, outdoor events. You might think nobody over 25 should wear this look, but I actually think the older you are the easier it is to pull off –because you’re less likely to be mistaken for a schoolboy.”

And therein lies the need for caution. This look works if you’re, say, rapper, singer and fashion designer Pharrell Williams, for whom a tuxedo version has become a red-carpet statement. But for many a grown man there’s a strong risk of looking like Angus Young, AC/DC’s guitarist, who took to wearing his signature shorts and blazer combo on stage: a heavy metal, man-sized Just William. “The crowd’s first reaction was… all mouths open,” Young once recalled.

And yet it’s hard to deny that the shorts plus blazer look is a solution to a problem, in keeping with the idea that functionality in menswear need not just mean tough fabrics and plenty of pockets. Indeed, this isn’t the first time the style has crept into fashionability: the likes of Junya Watanabe, Raf Simons and Richard James all dabbled with it a decade ago. Might it stick this time, driving men to embrace that leg press machine at the gym at last?

The secret is to dial down anything that suggests formality. Wear a casual shirt or T-shirt. Keep the footwear casual: simple plimsolls, boat shoes or driving shoes. Make sure the shorts are crisp but more loose than fitted, and that they end just a few inches above the knee. The jacket, advises Modoo, is best in cotton or linen, shorter in length and with a soft, unstructured shoulder. Consider taking the separates route and wearing a jacket and shorts in complementary but different shades.

“You can wear shorts in a more formal way and look great – just look at the Bermudans,” says designer Oliver Spencer, who has matching shirt and shorts designs in his latest collection, though he draws the line there. “You can take it mega-preppy, or maybe a bit safari suit. But wearing shorts with a tailored jacket? I think you have to be a bit brave for that.”

As for the colour, we would advise summertime pastels rather than chalk stripes. After all, nobody wants to see their bank manager in shorts.