Classic menswear is one of this season’s key trends – for women

This season’s must-have items pieces are exactly what you might think of as belonging in a well-rounded men’s wardrobe consisting of timeless staples that blend style, function, and versatility. The best looks cut out all frills and frivolity, and presented a return to sense and function. Anthony Vaccarello’s highly influential showcase of boxy YSL suits (inspired by the boxy suits house founder Yves Saint Laurent wore in the 1980s) set the tone for what turned out to be one of the coolest trends of 2025. The masculine wardrobe seemed to be the antithesis of the nearly naked drift of influencer fashion as seen on Bianca Censori and the Kardashians. It’s about control, and power, in a way.

These looks are what every well-dressed man already has – and what every woman needs today.

THE SUIT

A symbol of elegance and authority, the modern suit originated in the 19th century when the Regency dandy Beau Brummell (he of the five-hour toilette) popularised a fitted, pared-down set of matching coat and trousers as the fashionable uniform for men. By the early 20th century, suits had evolved from heavy, structured designs to today’s lighter, more versatile cuts. As life becomes ever more casual – offices now routinely admit athleisure as acceptable work wear – the traditional suit had been in decline.

This season, however, Vaccarello has made the suit chic again, tailored with rigour and restraint, if not entirely minimalist, with suits, shirts and ties that signalled our collective desire for order and dignity to return to our lives — the rigidity and repetition made you take the suits, and life, that much more seriously. This influential relook at the suit went viral on influencers and celebrities, with Bella Hadid imagined as the reincarnation of Saint Laurent, goggle-y spectacles and all.

The apogee of this trend being the moment was when the newly minted FLOTUS Melania Trump strode out in a sharp Ralph Lauren suit entirely shorn of dainty First Lady femininity (Where are the pearls, Mrs Trump?). Her official portrait was also an angular black suit (Dolce & Gabbana, complete with cummerbund and white shirt) that would have made Beau Brummel unknot his cravat, causing something of a democratic melt-down – make America feminine again!

THE SHIRT

You can trace the dress shirt back to the Middle Ages, when it was worn as an undergarment. By the 19th century, the shirt had become an essential outerwear piece, with detachable collars for practicality. Today, it remains a wardrobe staple for men and is the definitive men’s clothing essential.

This staple of the preppy American look has dominated fashion through the decades, when something wholesome, fresh and conservative is called for – think Martha Stewart in her signature crisp poplin shirts brandishing a ladle or clutching a cabbage.

Crucially, in 2025’s spring runways like Prada and Bottega Veneta, the shirt is having a moment, whether styled straight, or rethought in proportion and style: Collars were enlarged, traditional shirting doubled as dresses, or coats etc. This look says “academic,” “professional,” “I’m working not taking videos,” “I’m not into multiple piercings and nail art,” which can only bode well for society at large. So, button up, it’s going to be a bumpy year ahead.

THE ANORAK

After a pandemic spent in tracksuits and other comforting styles, fashion had become the Big Easy, and fully integrated sportswear into womenswear, right up to the current obsession with oversized streetwear. This season’s menswear-inspired trend brings “athleisure” into sharper focus, with more polished styles based on the men’s utilitarian, and sports tops. Trend-spot the colour-blocked track jackets at Miu Miu (the quirky label which is enjoying a bit of a renaissance), or the be-logoed parkas at Louis Vuitton, or the duchesse satin blousons at JW Anderson, spring runways were awash with sporty utilitarian anoraks and all its variants.

The anorak is a jacket designed to protect the wearer against wind, rain, and cold weather, with or without a hood. Call it an anorak, or a windbreaker, or parka (longer, over the hip version), this utilitarian outerwear had only emerged as a fashion item within the last 40 years. As a functional piece of clothing, however, it originated centuries ago from the Inuit “annoraaq,” a specific type of leather and fur outerwear for keeping out the devastating cold.

Modern anoraks convey can-do practicality, common sense and usefulness. Most modern anoraks are commonly made from nylon, polyester, or blended cottons, synthetic fabrics which are lightweight and easily waterproofed or treated for insulation.

The rise of anoraks as a fashion item is tightly linked to the increasing popularity of sports, and the sportsman-hero as a cultural icon. Spectators and athletes keep themselves warm while still looking fashionable with variants of the anorak. Finally, what is good for the Jock has become good for Jane, and the anorak became adopted into the female wardrobe. And that’s how an essential piece of sportswear became this genderless, stylish, yet undeniably practical garment.

FROM STRUGGLE TO STYLE

Of course, women wearing menswear is nothing new. The history of women wearing men’s clothes is far more complex and profound, and deeply intertwined with themes of survival, rebellion, and self-expression. Across history and literature, women have adopted male fashion to gain access to experiences and freedoms otherwise denied to them. 

One of the most famous examples comes from The Ballad of Mulan, a Qin Dynasty folktale (and not the Disney cartoon) about a filial young woman who disguises herself as a man to take her father’s place in the army. A similar theme appears in The Butterfly Lovers, where Zhu Yingtai dresses as a man to pursue a Ming Dynasty education. These stories reflect social restrictions on women and their attempts to circumvent them through… cross-dressing.  Shakespeare played with gender through disguise with Viola in Twelfth Night and Rosalind As You Like It, both wear male clothes to move freely in a patriarchal world, often finding unexpected agency, and a beautiful prince, in the process. Centuries later, Yentl, a story by Isaac Bashevis Singer, echoed these themes. Imagine Barbra Streisand wearing a porkpie cap, and belting out hysterical ballads in the title role in her movie version of Yentl to see how crossdressing crossed into campy fun. In the 19th century, women writers like George Sand (born Amantine Dupin) and George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) adopted male pseudonyms — and men’s clothing — to navigate the literary world. Later literary crossdressers would be Virginia Woolf, Vita Sackville-West, and in our times, Fran Lebovitz.

By the early 20th century, wearing menswear had become a matter of personal style and fashion statement. Actresses like Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo (and Madonna in the 1990s and 2000s) donned tuxedos and suits, exuding power and androgynous glamour. Coco Chanel’s menswear-inspired designs revolutionised women’s fashion, proving that comfort and elegance were not mutually exclusive. Katharine Hepburn championed wide-legged trousers, while Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking tuxedos in 1966 cemented the suit as a powerful new item of women’s fashion.

As gender parity progressed, what arose from necessity and defiance has evolved into fashion, but we must remember that fashion is never just fabric — it’s a many-splendored cultural expression.