No one could have predicted that the white-hot centre of American fashion for the past decade would be New York City's most unassuming borough. Queens never became a commodified cultural export like Brooklyn did, nor did it ever compete with the cosmopolitanism of Manhattan or give birth to a dominant culture like the Bronx did with hip-hop. (Staten Island's pastoral otherness is its own thing.) But maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that a brand like Aimé Leon Dore could emerge from a Queens apartment and become one of the world's most influential brands. It is the World’s Borough, after all, home to more than two million people in the city of 800 languages[DDE1] , where an unmistakable hum of energy runs from Jamaica to Woodside, the Rockaways to College Point. And Queens’ own Teddy Santis knew there was a power in that patchwork. He turned the borough’s modest gravity into the powerfully unaffected cool of ALD. When Santis launched the brand in 2014, he was betting that there was room in menswear for something that walked up to the timeline of American heritage brands and looked both ways. These were clothes that felt like they’d been pulled from your cool uncle’s closet but cut to have modern shapes and drapes.

Let it be writ in the history books: throughout the 2020s, the most stylish men wore wide-leg trousers. Swinging away from the skinny trend that conspired to cut off our collective blood supply from the late 2000s to the mid 2010s (thank you Hedi Slimane), trouser silhouettes have been getting progressively wider over the past decade. They’ve now reached a point where they are the dominant silhouette of the moment. Running the gamut from simple straight-leg fits to ones that are loose and all-out baggy, the best trousers nowadays have plenty in common with the Oxford bags that university students wore in the early 20th century. The menswear runways, too, are filled with brands offering their own takes: Dries Van Noten and Grace Wales Bonner are two designers who have helped pioneer the trend, creating richly draped trousers that feel elegant, luxurious and breezy – as comfortable and easy to pull on as a pair of sweatpants, but eminently more sophisticated.

Yes, we all remember the “puffy vest” scene in season two of Succession. And while things didn’t turn out too bad for Tom Wambsgans in the end – maybe his hopes and dreams really were stuffed in that Moncler bodywarmer – the show served as a reminder that there’s a right time and place for even the most versatile item of clothing. Or, rather, there’s the right gilet. Because, whether worn as outerwear in its own right or as a mid-layer under a jacket, blazer or coat, a gilet can be the piece that keeps you warm while also making an outfit sing. But also: context. Certain situations require certain items. So, while a voluminous down vest really can adapt to most meteorological conditions, there are always social rules to consider. In short, read the room. As we enter the biannual phase we like to call “the gilet window” – when the gilet might be the first outer layer you turn to – it becomes paramount to know where yours will take you. What works on a weekend hike might not swing it in the boardroom. (Unless you own the company, in which case knock yourself out.) With that in mind, here are five gilet tribes and the items to hope and dream for.

September has arrived, and with it autumn… maybe, or at least the gnawing sense that summer is fading away. That week in Milos or Tinos or was it Paros? It feels like a while ago now. It’s now time to start thinking about our autumnal wardrobe rotation. Though we loathe to describe anything as transitional, September poses a challenge when it comes to getting dressed – the sort of month that can swing from glory to gloom, often in the same day. More than anything else, it can be especially hard to know what shoes to wear.

No one could have predicted that the white-hot centre of American fashion for the past decade would be New York City's most unassuming borough. Queens never became a commodified cultural export like Brooklyn did, nor did it ever compete with the cosmopolitanism of Manhattan or give birth to a dominant culture like the Bronx did with hip-hop. (Staten Island's pastoral otherness is its own thing.) But maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that a brand like Aimé Leon Dore could emerge from a Queens apartment and become one of the world's most influential brands. It is the World’s Borough, after all, home to more than two million people in the city of 800 languages[DDE1] , where an unmistakable hum of energy runs from Jamaica to Woodside, the Rockaways to College Point. And Queens’ own Teddy Santis knew there was a power in that patchwork. He turned the borough’s modest gravity into the powerfully unaffected cool of ALD. When Santis launched the brand in 2014, he was betting that there was room in menswear for something that walked up to the timeline of American heritage brands and looked both ways. These were clothes that felt like they’d been pulled from your cool uncle’s closet but cut to have modern shapes and drapes.

Let it be writ in the history books: throughout the 2020s, the most stylish men wore wide-leg trousers. Swinging away from the skinny trend that conspired to cut off our collective blood supply from the late 2000s to the mid 2010s (thank you Hedi Slimane), trouser silhouettes have been getting progressively wider over the past decade. They’ve now reached a point where they are the dominant silhouette of the moment. Running the gamut from simple straight-leg fits to ones that are loose and all-out baggy, the best trousers nowadays have plenty in common with the Oxford bags that university students wore in the early 20th century. The menswear runways, too, are filled with brands offering their own takes: Dries Van Noten and Grace Wales Bonner are two designers who have helped pioneer the trend, creating richly draped trousers that feel elegant, luxurious and breezy – as comfortable and easy to pull on as a pair of sweatpants, but eminently more sophisticated.