5 Menswear Trends To Avoid This Season

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What designers send down the runway each season dictates what you wear the next. Even if you’re not glued to LC:M updates, fast fashion retailers are, and the moves pulled by luxury names quickly materialise on the high street. But not all trends are born equal. Some of this season’s big-hitters – wide-legged trousers, roll necks and military green, for example – we’d recommend investing in. Others, it’s worth sitting out. Unless you fancy deleting a season’s-worth of Instagram snaps in six months’ time.

1. Bright Orange

Trends To Avoid - Bright Orange

Orange has been threatening a comeback for several seasons. From Katie Eary’s orange-infused range of neoprene sweats, to Kit Neale’s all-over orange ensembles, AW15 is, according to fashion’s powers that be, the time to channel your inner RAC man. Trouble is, bright orange is almost unwearable. Unless you’re blessed with a Mediterranean complexion and possess a wardrobe stacked with anchoring neutral shades, it’s a hue that plays as unhappily with your skin tone as the rest of your outfit. Instead, steer subtle. Shades of rust and burnt orange still look fashion-forward and evoke plenty of autumnal warmth, but are much easier to wear. The future’s not bright.

The Alternative: Darker Shades

Men's Burnt Orange Outfit InspirationHouse of Fraser AW13

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Dark Orange Menswear

BEAMS PLUS BUTTON DOWN BRUSHED VIYELLA SHIRT - click to buy Ted Baker Ramatak Merino Wool Jumper - click to buy Uniqlo Orange Corduroy Long Sleeve Shirt - click to buy M&S COLLECTION Pure Cotton T-Shirt - click to buy

Boiler Suits

Trends To Avoid - Boiler Suits

If it’s vaguely utilitarian and unisex, then it’s on the agenda for AW15. But if androgyny isn’t your shapeless bag, swerve this season’s slew of boiler suits. That goes for dungarees too. They may be comfortable, but it’s a nod to the 1990s resurgence that too quickly becomes a Fresh Prince head roll. If you want to mirror top and bottom, match your fabrics but offer some contrast in colour. Darker jeans with a stonewashed denim jacket drags the eye upwards – rather than turning you into an amorphous mass – but links your textures. If you’re after that unbroken silhouette thing, then know a tucked-in denim shirt, which obeys the same colour rules, is more flattering than a workwear onesie.

The Alternative: Double Denim

Double Denim Men's Outfit InspirationScotch & Soda Amsterdam Blauw AW15

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Men's Denim Pieces

AMI DENIM SHIRT - click to buy A.P.C. PETIT NEW STANDARD SLIM-FIT DRY SELVEDGE JEANS - click to buy Mango Man SLIM-FIT MEDIUM DENIM SHIRT - click to buy LEVI'S VINTAGE CLOTHING DENIM JACKET - click to buy

Oversized Scarves

Trends To Avoid - Oversized Scarves

First your outerwear got levelled up. Then your trousers. Now designers have even inflated what wraps around your neck, taking the scarf from chill-fighter to quick-deploy picnic blanket. It’s warm, we’re sure. But it also makes you look like you’re playing dress-up in your dad’s wardrobe. If you’re going to wear a blanket, it’s better to make like Clint Eastwood and cut a head hole in the middle than drown in it like Lenny Kravitz. Trade up from bulky fabrics to ones that punch above their weight; a slim cashmere scarf will keep you warmer and won’t emulate the Honey I Shrunk the Kids ray.

The Alternative: Cashmere Scarf

Men's Cashmere Scarf Outfit InspirationM&S AW15

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Men's Cashmere Scarves

Uniqlo 100% Cashmere Scarf - click to buy HUGO BOSS CASHMERE SCARF - click to buy John Lewis Made in Italy Cashmere Scarf - click to buy M&S COLLEZIONE Pure Cashmere Scarf - click to buy

Loud Checked Tailoring

Trends To Avoid - Loud Checked Tailoring

Fashion is cyclical, so you should be beyond shock at trends that rise like Lazarus, no matter how deep they were buried. But even though Topman Design decided to intern the checked suits of 1970s porn producers in a pet cemetery, that doesn’t mean you need to embrace their reanimated corpse. Not that you need eschew checks entirely. Deploy them subtly – think a tonal grey Prince of Wales check over hornet yellow, or a chalkstripe windowpane check on navy, rather than lime green – and you tweak your officewear into something less fusty. Rave-inspired colour clashing might be back, but it’s still best left for weekends.

The Alternative: Muted Checks

Men's Checked Suit Outfit InspirationBurton AW15

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Men's Checked Blazers & Suits

Suitsupply WASHINGTON BROWN CHECK JACKET - click to buy J.Crew CROSBY SUIT JACKET IN WINDOWPANE - click to buy JAGGER CHECKED TEXTURED BLAZER NAVY - click to buy Ted Baker Yonkers Check Wool Suit Jacket - click to buy

Drop Crotch Jeans/Trousers

Trends To Avoid - Drop Crotch Jeans/Trousers

If you’re lucky enough to boast the body and bank balance to wear head-to-toe Rick Owens, then we bow to your gratuitous trouser fabric. If you’re just rocking dropped-crotch trousers and not the full street ninja aesthetic, then we question why you think the adult nappy is a strong look. The oft-overlooked tapered cut offers much of the dropped crotch’s benefits, without intimating that you’ve soiled yourself. It’s refreshingly roomy for blokes with big thighs, but who still want the streamlined silhouette that skinny- and slim-fits offer. Wear yours precisely as you would streamlined options – just beware trying to smarten them up too much as the cut’s inherently more casual. Your dress code should never be: ‘rugby dinner formal’.

The Alternative: Tapered Cuts

Men's Tapered Jeans Outfit InspirationLevi’s CT Jeans

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Men's Tapered Jeans and Chinos

LEVI'S 501 CT JEANS 501 CT SLIM-FIT JEANS - click to buy Uniqlo Loose Fit Tapered Jeans - click to buy Dockers Slim Tapered Twill Trousers - click to buy J.CREW TAPERED COTTON TROUSERS - click to buy

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