Flower Power

Floral mash ups at Dries Van Noten SS 2014 and Hawaii inspired florals at Prada SS 2014

Sometimes its difficult to find out whether the ‘street’ is inspired by ‘fashion’ or is it ‘fashion’ that is inspired by street. Case in point: the mens spring 2014 shows are awash with floral prints of all types. At Dries Van Noten, florals upon florals were piled spectacularly while at Prada tropical florals took a twist. Coming off a trip to New York, prints were all over the high street and why not, its summer! Appropriately there were lot of Hawaiian style prints with ubiquitous hibiscus flowers over shirts and shorts. There were wild tropical blooms on tees and shirts, which in my mind flowed off from a hit Givenchy menswear 2012 offering (this also flowed off onto womenswear on the high street). So were designers inspired by men on the street wearing florals? Come 2014, it will be the other way round; high street will definitely fall in love with all the heavy-duty flower power shown on the runways.

Tending to be minimal, I restrict my prints to my tees (come to think of it, I don’t even own any camo in my wardrobe!). But when change is all around, one can be tempted to change. Anyways, how does a normal man wear florals? Restrict it to a single piece and team it with typically masculine staples. Or choose a piece that ‘butches’ up the pretty print.  I bought a pair of floral shorts from Uniqlo – they are in a dull blue colour with a faded hisbiscus print in the most unfloral shades. They come in a comfortable cotton-linen bend and just end above the knee. I might get the hems folded to make them a bit more casual and wear them with a plain white shirt, sleeves folded and pushed up; add a pair of loafers or deck shoes and it’s a perfect weekend outfit.

 

Hibiscus print shorts from Uniqlo SS 2013

Zara had plenty of floral options but my recommendations include a tropical print sweatshirt (a very masculine item with a very un-masculine print). They also have floral shorts and floral shirts. More unusual treatments came at Ralph Lauren's Denim & Supply line where florals were stencilled or hand painted onto denim shorts.

Tropical print shorts or delicate tonal floral sweatshirt, both from Zara SS 2013