How the street-style set work sportswear and technical clothing into their wardrobes.

Even if you are particularly stringent with the formality of your wardrobe, you probably own some streetwear. Over the past few years, streetwise clothing has proliferated massively, transcending its roots in Californian and Japanese street fashion worn by skaters and subcultures into something appropriated by some of the world’s biggest designers. Louis Vuitton collaborated with Supreme and later hired Off-White’s Mr Virgil Abloh as its head of menswear, and any fashion brand worth its salt now produces sneakers (many of which are the most covetable items on the market). Indeed, nothing characterises the current moment as much as belt bags, hoodies and slides. But with new stuff comes new challenges, and streetwear-specific faux pas already exist. So for a bit of healthy inspiration – and a few pointers – we’ve done some sartorial analysis on five stylish streetwear-clad men snapped, well, on the street, below.

One of the most enjoyable things about streetwear is its versatility. While the term used to just mean hoodies and printed sweaters, in 2018 it’s acceptable – encouraged, even – to pair casual, sporty stuff with something smarter. A structured wool blazer worn with sweatpants and New Balance sneakers? Not something that sounds good on paper, but look – it works. For something simpler (and easier to pull off), the guy on the right has teamed a smart striped shirt with some work pants, and looks great. See? Easy.

Actor, model and influencer (shorthand for lots and lots of Instagram followers) Mr Luka Sabbat might be fresh out of teenhood, but he has already established a reputation as somewhat of a streetwear savant. His outfit here is essentially a white T-shirt and some black shorts, but it works as modern streetwear because of the utilitarian details – a seatbelt-buckle belt, a white strapped Louis Vuitton belt bag, and asymmetric pouch pockets on the shorts. Deceptively simple, and practical, too.

Here’s a lesson in layering: with streetwear, as long as it’s layered, almost anything goes (also see hoodies under blazers). These baggy trousers have a subtle stripe that complements the bolder stripes of the zip-up top, under which is layered a nylon hooded jacket.

For a quick and straightforward streetwear update to pretty much any outfit, invest in a belt bag. How you wear it is up to you, but across your chest seems to be the generally-accepted mode of belt-bagging at the moment. Also an easy update: camouflage-printed sportswear. What do you mean you can’t see anything?

There’s a lot of indignant brouhaha that goes on when anybody mentions socks and slides. However, this is the kind of thing that’s been going on for long enough now that we think it’s not just a flash in the pan trend that lives and dies on influencers’ Instagram feeds, but something that will very soon become acceptable, whether the detractors like it or not. Still, that doesn’t mean you can wear any old socks – white tube socks are the only choice here. The chap above has even co-ordinated his with the Fila logo on the slides. Attention to detail: just because it might look like casualwear, that’s no excuse for sloppiness.

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