The looks that came out of nowhere to take over the world this year.

As anyone with access to the internet will attest, 2018 has been a strange and chaotic year. Parsing through it all and taking stock of where we’re at is a hard job, but mercifully we’re in the business of clothes and not politics, so analysing what happened this year is all part of the fun (and actually possible). That’s not to say, however, that we haven’t had some chaos of our own to contend with. From false layering to chameleons as accessories, menswear has had its own share of sartorial upheaval this year…

The fashion watchdog Instagrammer @dietprada put this trend on its stories this week, dubbing it “dangly sweater parts”. We don’t mean to brag, but we called it months ago after Raf Simons’ AW18 show and gave it a slightly more flattering name: “false layering”. Still, it’s essentially the same thing: knitwear and jackets worn over each other to create, well, layers of dangly sleeves that look as though you’ve put a sweater over your head, but not put your arms through it. Still following? Well, just look at the pictures.

First, they came for the belt bags… Before we knew it, designers were slapping industrial-looking buckles on everything (Heron Preston and 1017 ALYX 9SM, we’re looking at you), and made it fashion. What followed was a wave of bulletproof-style vests and flak jackets that appeared on the runway, with Off-White’s Mr Virgil Abloh taking the trend to Louis Vuitton, and streetwear brand Anti Social Social Club creating an actual riot shield. A sign of the times?

Brown has been a trend for a while, but this endurance is exactly what gives it “surprising” status. Not previously considered the sexiest colour, nor the easiest shade to pull off, it’s one that has been around for the past few seasons and has now usurped black as the fashion set’s go-to shade. From caramel leather coats by Berluti to conker-coloured tailoring at Officine Generale, forget everything you know – whether it’s shoes or suits, this is the colour that should always be seen in town.

Mr Justin Bieber’s bumfluff moustache and Mr Jonah Hill’s scumbro looks garnered so much attention this year, thanks to their irreverent way of dressing. But while sleazy dressing might look lazy at first, it is a spectrum on which exists a much more rarefied dresser. Mr Ben Cobb, the editor-in-chief of Another Man, has been making traditionally “sleazy” fabrics such as silk and leather look the picture of sophistication for years (teamed with a proper moustache and occasionally a baker boy cap). If you want (read: dare) to give this look a go, that’s the man to try to emulate.

When a brand sends its models down the runway carrying decapitated heads, dragons, and vibrant green chameleons, well, that brand is probably Gucci. Mr Alessandro Michele continues to delight and shock the fashion industry, and his AW18 show was even more proof that the designer was taking the Italian fashion house in an interesting direction. Will the models be carrying something as exciting next season? We live in hope. And fear.

Also known as the one where Balenciaga was turned into a meme for making a coat that reminded everyone of that episode from Friends where Joey wore all of Chandler’s clothes at once. The brand’s uber-layered outerwear might have elicited ridicule at the time, but now that it’s actually cold outside, we’d quite like one for ourselves.

Shop the trends here

The men (and reptile) featured in this story are not associated with and do not endorse MR PORTER or the products shown

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