If Mr Virgil Abloh is to be believed, streetwear may have had its day. In an interview with Dazed at the end of last year, the Off-White designer said, “I would definitely say [streetwear’s] gonna die, you know? Like, its time will be up. In my mind, how many more T-shirts can we own? How many more hoodies? How many sneakers?”

Although Mr Abloh is seen by many as the soothsayer of streetwear, thanks in part to his still-nothing-short-of-revolutionary-whatever-you-think-of-it installation as menswear director at Louis Vuitton, his collections have incorporated less and less of it over past seasons. At the showing of his most recent Off-White collection in Paris, which took in belted blazers, softly handled shirts printed with paintings of vegetables, and leather trousers, you’d be hard pushed to call any of it streetwear. And after spending the past few years getting used to hoodies costing almost as much as well-tailored jackets, the sportswear pendulum seems to have started its swing the other way. This month, the auction house Sotheby’s launched a line of old masters-inspired “streetwear” in a bid to entice the younger market into taking an interest (and thereby potentially purchasing) older art. Which begs the question: what does streetwear even mean anymore?

At worst, the term has become a dismissive label. Mr Everard Best, the designer behind EV BRAVADO, speaking at a recent ComplexCon panel on streetwear, said, “When you think streetwear, you think hoodies or T-shirts or graphic design, but that’s just like everyday clothes and to call it streetwear, it’s kind of demeaning in a sense. They try to put us in a box like, ‘Oh, we’re streetwear.’ But we’re in Italy, making custom fabrics.” He’s got a point. Is our preconception of streetwear outdated? Do we just use it as a term to explain designers who are doing something different?

“It really depends how you define it,” says Mr Iolo Edwards, founder of online fashion community High Fashion Talk. “Streetwear in the general understanding of the term refers to a way of dressing that stems from hip-hop. However, some use it as an umbrella term to mean all fashion inspired by youth, under which you could categorise most designers, including Hedi Slimane’s rockers and Raf Simons’ teenage summer campers.”

The general consensus is that menswear is smartening up, at least in part. “Formal jackets are seen as upgrades from work jackets and denim jackets and are expected to make a statement as an individual piece and work within their wardrobe, not considered as a whole suit,” says Mr Edwards. At fashion week, the most buzzed-about brands aren’t showing logo prints and sweatpants. They’re making clothes that feel a little more permanent. See Bode, the American brand known for its sourced vintage fabrics and intricate embroidery, or 1017 ALYX 9SM, which, alongside its collaborations with Nike, makes some of the sharpest tailoring on the market. Balenciaga has been doing something similar for years under the directorship of former Vetements’ designer Mr Demna Gvasalia. Belted trench coats are worn with Track sneakers, no questions asked.

So yes, tastes are broadening. There’s more tailoring, more louche fabrics and vintage influences. Oversized blazers and horsebit loafers now share wardrobe space with chest rigs and Converse. And perhaps that was the way it was always going to go. Mr George Archer, MR PORTER’s Menswear Buyer, says, “Streetwear, or whatever you want to call it, already has and continues to evolve over time. Skatewear goes into techwear, techwear goes into modern tailoring, etc. It’s all streetwear at the end of the day. It’s just how you want to interpret it with current trends. Yes, we all own too many T-shirts, but does that mean we’re going to slow down on buying more in the future? I don’t think so.”

In other words, streetwear isn’t dead, it just wears its hoodie on rotation with a double-breasted jacket sometimes or swaps its track pants for corduroy on occasion. The resulting look might be harder to define, harder to box up and the designers setting the agenda – when they put out great tailoring as well as hype-worthy sneakers – become harder to dismiss. And perhaps that’s the point.