Suit jacket & blazer tails finally grow back to a classic length
It’s starting to happen. Brands and designers are finally getting the message that it’s time to stop making sportcoats, blazers, and suit jackets with oddly short tail-lengths. The “shrunken suit” of the 2010s was an understandable nail in the coffin of the gigantic suits of the 90s and 2000s. But as is often the case, the truth/best-path lies between the two extremes. A suit jacket doesn’t have to cover your entire backside, especially if you have a longer than average torso/shorter legs. (I can speak to this.) But it should come close. Try the curled fingers test to find a good length.
Less of the left. More of the right.
Classic length (but not droopy) jackets have always been dignified and handsome.
Mid-sized “GADA” watches dominate the market
Thanks in part to the trend of post-pandemic travel, 2022-2024 was all about GMT watches. 2025 seems to be the year of the go anywhere / do anything (aka GADA) watch. These are watches that are both sporty and dressy, and are usually sized in the 38 – 41mm diameter range. That means they’ll fit the vast majority of wrists, while also looking appropriate with almost any outfits the wearer could assemble around it.
The Nodus Duality. 40mm diameter, 11.5mm thick.
Looks great with a t-shirt and jeans, a suit, and everything in-between.
Clean shaven makes a comeback
There’s too many beards. They’ve proliferated across all styles and social categories. Corporate or “rebel.” Old or young. Doesn’t matter. Even the new Vice President has a beard. The last time either the President or the Vice President of the United States had any sort of facial hair was Charles Curtis, Vice President in the Hoover administration. And even then Mr. Curtis sported just a Ned Flanders style push-broom moustache. Pre VP Vance, The most recent President or VP to have a full beard was Benjamin Harrison. Once something over-saturates the style market, there’s always a pullback. Plus with return-to-office, there might be a cleaned-up trend on the rise.
2025 may be the year some of us get reacquainted with our razors.
Tattoos begin to fall out of favor
See beards. And see Post Malone/Jelly Roll/etc. Same deal. Started with Mike Tyson, later on David Beckham chucked gasoline on that (self-expression) fire, and a few decades on everyone has ink. You have to think we’ve reached the point where at least some of those ink wells start to run dry.
Banana Republic Factory & Brooks Brothers have a great looking year.
BR Factory is on the rise with interesting but still simple, inexpensive styles produced at a level of quality significantly above drop-shipped fast-fashion trash. Brooks Brothers has settled into a nice mix of younger leaning looks as well as classic styles thanks to chief designer Michael Bastian.
L: BB. R: BRF
(doesn’t look like that gray coat is in stock yet)
The Pro-Sports “tunnel fit” fully embeds in the mainstream
Remember when sports were so macho that the idea of a player dressing in an intentional (let alone experimental) way for a game-arrival would be anathema to the culture and its fans? Here in 2025, the “tunnel fit” strut has become the new Hollywood awards show red carpet arrival. Nobody watches the Oscars or the Emmys anymore. The Grammys are often only caught the next day in clips on social media (if that). Sports, so far, has been one of the few forms of entertainment which still commands a live audience. The arrival of fashion-conscious players (and even some coaches) has become part of the pre-show warm up, as well as the post-day consumption cool down. Complete with outfits going viral, no matter the score. Basketball has obviously lead the way, but football is now picking up steam and even hockey is catching up. Official team social media accounts are covering arrivals with as much if not more effort than the release of the starting lineup. And yes the outfits can get wild, which can be great fun too. Long may this show continue.
Sure the craziness is giggle-worthy. Yet couture also makes sense for these guys.
It’s not like a professional athlete’s dimensions will fit off-the-rack stuff.
The consumer economy continues to slide towards a predatory environment
Companies used to try to sell stuff that would leave you feeling pretty good for a reasonable amount of time. Because if they didn’t, you wouldn’t come back. Now it feels like an enormous amount of the market is trying to sell a bunch of sketchy crap as fast as they can to as many as possible before their customers figure out their never-ending stream of purchases has left them feeling like shit, broke, or both.
When did buying a thing, ANY thing, become an all-to-often predator vs prey construct? One of the reasons why the website you’re reading right now (hi) has stayed the size it has (medium at best) is because we’ve refused to interact with brands, shops, apps, or platforms which we believe treat their customers as fuel for an unsustainable commerce conflagration. Yes we have a low ceiling, but we also have longevity. The refusal to play in the uglier arenas is why we’ve been around for almost 16 years.
Those predatory platforms and brands which burn hot as hell for a couple of years (if that), will fizzle out as their customers degrade, and the founders will then take their profits and data and move onto another category of good, service, or addiction they can hyper-engineer using psychology and tech to suck in then suck the cash out of another demographic. And those on the customer side who get drawn into these consumption sink-holes will be left with little more than a pile of ash. Bottom line: keep your guard up. It’s ugly out there.
To quote a very smart man: “I hate everything.“
Tik-Tok (eventually) gets banned, causing a decline in cosmetics/grooming sales
Mrs. Dappered and I were out to dinner the other night and as lovely as the waitress was, she was wearing a distractingly large amount of makeup. Not in a theatrical/artistic way. Just the sheer depth of it all. Like, she had 3 pounds of makeup on trying to look “natural.” Mrs. Dappered identified these widespread airbrushed-in-person looks as “filter face.” And don’t kid yourselves… it’s happening on the men’s side too. Digitally ignited grooming obsessions are even happening to children. It’s fair to assume if there’s less digitally manipulated selfie-shot videos circulating, then there will be less goop, powder, and dyes flying off the shelves.
The first part of January goes by in a flash
So much for getting this predictions post published immediately after the New Year. Whoops.
Note: The above aren’t necessarily endorsements or wishes. Nor will all of these apply to us, the Dappered “audience.” Got a prediction of your own for men’s style in 2025? 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.