Men’s fashion week has long been considered the quieter, less showy sibling of the long-standing women’s event. While Pitti Uomo dates back to 1972, it was only in 2012 that London hosted its first men’s fashion week, and 2015 for New York, making it a much newer proposition in comparison to London Fashion Week’s 40-year history. In recent years, though, we’ve witnessed a shift. Recognising consumers’ more holistic attitude to men’s and women’s clothing, many designers have dispensed with hard-line categories and incorporated a more fluid approach, featuring womenswear in men’s shows and vice versa.
Not only that, but the menswear shows are being increasingly lauded for their agenda-setting influence on wider industry trends, with menswear shows from Prada, Gucci and Louis Vuitton being just as closely scrutinised by fashion insiders as the women’s collections. On a personal level, as someone who sometimes finds themselves lost in the intricate world of womenswear design, I savour the delicious simplicity of menswear: the sturdy knits, the effortless tailoring, the throw-on-and-go shoes.
Case in point: Prada’s autumn/winter 2025 show was a conveyor belt of wearable yet stylish ensembles that I would happily pluck off the runway and wear right now. But there was one item in particular that piqued my interest, and that was a slim-fit trouser.
One of the consistent threads within this “curated chaos” (as Vogue Runway’s Luke Leitch puts it) of a collection, the calf-clinging silhouette suggested a clean break from the super-oversized styles that have proliferated in recent years and been championed by the likes of Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga. Not quite a cigarette, not quite a straight-leg, the Prada trousers’ appeal lies in its subtle tapering, which creates the merest whisper of a “balloon” fit, something that was also, incidentally, seen in Altuzarra’s autumn/winter 2024 collection.
Of course, to recreate this look, you shouldn’t feel tethered to the specificity of the Prada trouser shape, simply use it as a vehicle to contemplate a broader mood shift that opens you up to rediscovering a range of slim-fit tailoring, be it a skinny-fit kick-flare (as seen with Arket’s grey wool-blend trousers), a darted high-waisted trouser or a close-cut cigarette pant.
Styling-wise, the skinny trouser lends itself best to polished separates: think an off-duty Audrey Hepburn in a slim-fit black trouser paired with a colour-match crew-neck cashmere and ballet pumps. Or you can take your cues from Prada and experiment with a cowboy boot and a blazer. Borrowing from the boys never looked so tempting.
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Saint Laurent crepe-trimmed wool straight-leg pants, $1,857
Available on Net-A-Porter
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Marks & Spencer slim fit ankle grazer trousers, $59
Available on Marks & Spencer
This article was originally published by British Vogue.
