Men’s Style Predictions for 2024

Note: These aren’t necessarily endorsements or wishes. Nor will all of these apply to us, the Dappered “audience.” They’re just predictions.

Trouser, Chino, and Jeans fits continue to expand.

Even Suitsupply, they of super European-style, ultra-tight trousers are starting to make and promote straight leg pants. (Although those don’t look oversized, they just look… normal. Suitsupply fits boggle the mind.)

The influence of social media influencers begins to crumble.

Both advertisers and consumers are starting to realize that influencers on Tik-Tok, Instagram, and Youtube are good at selling… crap.

Influencers are nothing more than the smartphone-age’s regurgitation of late night infomercial pitchmen and QVC saleswomen. The first question these types ask themselves will always be “how much will I get paid?” instead of the critically more important “is this thing any good?” If any of them could see four inches beyond their iPhone camera, they’d realize that if they prioritized their viewers and readers by first asking and valuing the “is this thing any good?” question, then compensation should follow.

Did Professor Harold Hill take Affirm?

Maybe the money will flow at a slower pace than the financial sugar rush that is selling knock offs and snake oil, but the people that will look to them for entertainment and advice will be smarter, financially more secure, and more likely to be sustainable repeat customers for the brands and shops they point to. That’s what good businesses want, not broke-arse dopamine-fiends buying $6 shirts in “4 easy payments” via klarna. C’mon now. We all know how The 3 Little Pigs ends. And it doesn’t end well for most.

Banana Republic & Spier have a great looking year.

They’re not Target nor Old Navy cheap, but the materials, construction, and looks can be depended on to help you be taken seriously. And that’s well worth the investment. They’re classic yet contemporary. Grown-up stuff that’s sharp and not stodgy. Both brands are knocking it out of the park in the eyes of many of us.

Some of BR’s Fall/Winter line from this year.
Sharp > Flash

The A.I. boom leads to even more apps or services claiming they can dress you better and cheaper than your brain ever could… and they’ll fail catastrophically.

They just don’t get it. For a fee they’ll ship you overpriced clothing that doesn’t really fit your personal tastes (because the AI stinks), which robs you of the fun that is the hunt and the eventual self expression of assembling and cultivating a sense of personal style.

Who wants this stuff? What is the use case? Is it the kids who ask Zoltar to be Big and then overnight need to dress like a CEO?

The Lounge-Louche-Look finally dies.

Bowling shirts open to the fourth button & chains. Baggy trousers & Gucci-style loafers. Rayon. “Y’know what vibe I wanna project? Cosmo Kramer.” – Said nobody ever, yet said so many in the last year. I think they/we were going for classic-Hollywood/Rat-Pack casual, but instead we ended up with Charlie Sheen in Two and a Half Men. It’s not that far off from Guy Fieri either.

Style icon. Or not.

Neckties start to make a (small) comeback.

Because when the defecation hits the ventilation, for the guys, a necktie is called for. A suit and tie projects power and competence. No matter the field you work in day to day. Sorry but it’s true. From delivering a eulogy, testifying before a legislative body, or standing up for yourself at work, in court, or before some group of knuckleheads who want to push you around… put on a suit and tie. And know that practice doesn’t make perfect, but it does make comfortable. So wear a tie when you don’t have to (as long as it won’t alienate or ostracize you) and you’ll feel all the more prepared on that day when you have to mean business. Even if your business rarely (or never) requires a suit and tie.

Only if wearing mutliple neckties at once would mean one would fare better in a crisis.

J. Crew continues to either smash homeruns or strike out wildly.

In one corner we have their Kenton Boots, garment dyed henleys, and customer favorite stretch chinos. In the other we have… overalls and bucket hats. Of course those are the most extreme examples, but the bifurcation of J. Crew’s product catalog seems to be resilient.

When something new hits the J. Crew site, it’s often (but not always) obvious that it’s either gonna be a hit, or it’s destined for being liquidated by way of an extra 70% off in the final sale section. Why this is the case, I have no idea. But lately J. Crew has been more Reggie Jackson, and less Ichiro. First ballot style hall of famers for sure. Yet you’ll have to live with the “whiffs.”

January goes by in a flash!

Where’d that month go? So much for getting this predictions post published immediately after the New Year. Whoops.

Got a prediction of your own for men’s style in 2024? Got some inside intel you’d like to share that proves one of these predictions wrong? Send those in to joe@dappered.com.

January. It is a month. A month on the calendar.
Here’s to the (eventual) arrival of spring.