Simplicity Supplants: Gadget-Crazy Cargo

August 22, 2003

Guys on the other coast will tell you they look forward to fall all year — the shorter days, the crisp nights, the autumn palette, the warm sweaters. But men in the Bay Area have the luxury of a year-round fall, never too hot and never too cold, where layering isn’t just smart, it’s stylish too. The time and energy those New Yorkers spend raking leaves, we use to develop our own personal style.

So that said, what’s on the fall fashion horizon for style-savvy sirs? According to the style watchers and trend dictators over at Citizen and fashion mainstays Macy’s and Nordstrom, a hip blend of simple shapes, clean lines, soothing, natural colors, warm fabrics and traditional patterns used together in not so traditional ways.

Functionality still reigns supreme. Cargo is sooo 2001, but, hey, ya gotta have someplace to put all that stuff of yours. So expect to see garments with a rugged but refined military vibe in durable yet luxurious cottons and soft leathers and denims with plenty of pockets, snaps, zippers and big, honkin’ buttons. It’s a little bit MacGyver and a little bit MacArthur — commanding, comfortable and, most importantly, sexy.

Get prepped! Pair simple jeans or corduroys with a plaid button-down and a tailored blazer or a cool zip-up cardigan. Badminton, anyone? But remember, when it comes to pants, you should avoid pleats, weird denim washes and that crack-happy low-rise business whatever you do. Too stuffy for you? How about a patterned pant or tweaking tradition altogether and mixing patterns?