To close out the year, GQ is revisiting the most fascinating ideas, trends, people, and projects of 2023. For all of our year-end coverage, click here.
Back in the homebound, fleece-addled days of April 2020, my colleague Cam Wolf made a bold prediction: After the pandemic, he wagered, men would be itching to really start dressing again—in suits and ties, trousers and derbies. At the time, menswear was in the midst of its unbridled wild-style era—heavy on weirdo sneakers, bug-eyed sunglasses, and kooky crochet hats—and it seemed likely we’d emerge from that moment of uncertainty craving clothes that projected an air of timelessness, sophistication, and, crucially, elegance. In 2023, Cam was proved right…sort of.
Elegance made a welcome return to the menswear lexicon this year, but it hasn’t precipitated an outright rejection of the exuberant, anything-goes fashion moment that preceded it; instead, it’s a direct byproduct of it. Stylish men aren’t quite dusting off the double-monks yet, but they are embracing a thrilling, genre-mashing sense of refinement. This new elegance, as it were, is at once swaggering, romantic, and slyly expansive—a decades-spanning hodgepodge of influences designed to appeal to a generation of guys more experimental than any before.
Tailoring is indeed enjoying a moment, but its vibe is less Kendall Roy, arriviste Wall Street conquistador, and more Jeremy Strong, newfound Loro Piana obsessive. And rather than stressing lapel gorges or center vents, fellas are decking themselves out like suave ’70s rock gods, blustering ’80s tycoons, and louche ’90s heartthrobs—sometimes in the span of the same week.
For proof, take a quick gander at the new elegance’s foremost practitioners, who spent the majority of 2023 brainstorming novel ways to transform the suit—that lodestar of the reject modernity crowd!—into an utterly modern, idiosyncratic flex. At her kingmaking fall 2023 show, Grace Wales Bonner sent models down the halls of the Hôtel d’Évreux in tuxes and soccer jerseys, enlisting the tailors at Anderson & Sheppard to make it happen. At Fear of God’s Hollywood Bowl extravaganza, Jerry Lorenzo lopped the lapels off his sculptural double-breasted jackets, equipped his trousers with dangly drawstring waists, and topped the whole shebang with decadent, ankle-length furs. And at Saint Laurent, Anthony Vaccarello continued to push the agenda to dazzling new heights, accenting his boss-man blazers and pavement-skimming topcoats with sultry blouses and slinky, languorous trousers.
The new elegance was catnip for a certain type of low-key, cerebral dresser, too. It was the animating frisson behind Yorgos Lanthimos’s preternaturally relaxed press junket fits, Carey Mulligan’s emergence as a bona fide menswear god, and Kendrick Lamar’s humdinger of a Met Gala get-up—makeshift Chanel belt and all. You can see its influence in Jacob’s Elordi’s coquettish penchant for designer handbags, and David Beckham’s mastery of socks and sandals. It’s why you can’t fling a ballet flat without hitting a dude in a rumpled striped shirt, the reason old J.Crew feels so relevant, and why every influencer you kind of hate traded his sweatshirts and cargo pants for pleated slacks and neutral-tone knits.
It is, in other words, the Azelastine our bleary eyes needed after so many years of viral sneakers and bizarro fashion stunts designed to trick them into forgetting what, y'know, actually looks good. It’s also all the excuse you need to tuck your tee into your jeans, throw a sweater over your shoulders, yank those trousers to nipple-grazing territory, and buy, thrift, or dust off a suit. So by golly, don’t waste any more time looking for elegance. It’s impossible to miss right now—all you have to do is seize it.
