The Casablanca man knows how to dress. He wears white trousers like he’s never even heard of red wine, keeps his sunglasses on past sunset, and shows up on a moped to take your daughter out for a date (“But Daddy, I love him!”). From the vintage-inspired sportswear to the loud pastel tailoring, this is sexy, playful, charismatic menswear – all qualities that designer Mr Charaf Tajer seems to excel in when making clothes for Casablanca, and how we all want to dress this season. No wonder that Tajer named the brand after the city that his parents fell in love in. Hmm, wonder if his dad rode a moped…

Dressing like a packet of Parma Violets? Very now, as it happens. This season, lilac showed up in droves across tens of collections, and what was once a colour you may have associated with your grandma’s cardigan now takes on new life as the current muse of the menswear world. Officine Générale, Ermenegildo Zegna, Dries Van Noten and Fendi all did it best, with slouchy lilac tailoring the order of the season.

Mr Riccardo Tisci’s show at Burberry this season showed a true return to form for the designer, who has been at the brand for three years now and is really getting into his groove. Car coats and shirts had their sleeves slashed off at Burberry, Rick Owens continued with giant shouldered jackets, Giorgio Armani showed waistcoats with nothing underneath, and Prada had vests aplenty. In other words, it’s time to get working on those triceps.

Gorpcore – named after “Good Ole Raisins and Peanuts”, ie, what Americans eat when they go hiking – has been one of the biggest trends in menswear in recent seasons. And, though a fishing vest and hiking shoes may just sound like things you could pick up at your local Millets, the best new gorpcore is decidedly fancier than that. At Undercover, Mr Jun Takahashi brought us a collection that was grounded in the simple appreciation of the everyday, made up of brilliantly wearable clothes that felt nonetheless baroque because of their attention to detail, from the attachable gilets worn over checked jackets to louche tracksuits worn with satisfyingly clompy hiking boots.

Where do you think you’re going? Well, after 477 days since the first lockdown (and who’s counting?) absolutely wherever we’re allowed, which perhaps is why there was so much travel gear on the runways this season. Indeed, the most fashionable thing a man can be right now is busy. Plans – those things we nearly forgot existed and thus have a newfound appeal – are sexy. And whether we’re packing a stack of monogrammed cases, or simply a soigné weekend bag, we are outta here.

Newsflash for those at the back: menswear has changed. After a seismic shift in what “masculine” means when it comes to getting dressed – and the proliferation of skirts, pearls and anything Mr Harry Styles wears – we’re reaching a point in menswear where the gender binary is becoming if not obsolete entirely, then at least considerably blurred. From long, flowing tunics at Lemaire to Virgil Abloh’s printed dresses at Louis Vuitton and tiny cycling shorts worn under oversized blazers at Prada, menswear has never felt freer from the shackles of masculinity. Which brings us to…

…The cropped suits at Fendi. While at first glance this looks as though perhaps Ms Silvia Venturini Fendi went mad with the laser-cutting machine and sliced off the bottom half of the collection, this was a refreshingly modern take on tailoring in a clean, muted palate that was less about taking a pair of scissors to your wardrobe, and much more about the increasing freedom we can have with our clothes. You’ll be pleased to hear that the cropped jackets turned out to have bottom-halves that were detachable.

Like many people over the past year, it appears the suit has quit its job to pursue other projects. When we used to talk tailoring, we generally meant smart clothes that would be appropriate to show up to work in, rather than any kind of Studio 54 throwback. The new suit, however, has no boss, no office and no masters. It is instead built entirely for the purpose of partying, with aggressively bright colours, sequins and silk, defining a new age of tailoring to have some fun in.

When baffling new trends start to appear – and when they look like midriff-baring suits, or are a hard-to-pull-off colour, or just seem unrealistic for you to every consider in your day-to-day – it’s comforting to know that there are still those brands keeping it timeless. Brunello Cucinelli, Canali and Brioni continue to push the best in seasoned Italian luxury clothing that is refreshingly free from trends in the conventional sense, but whose slow, sustainable approach to getting dressed nonetheless feels very of the moment. The order of the day from all of them? A (no doubt bank-breaking) beige jacket (bomber, chore or suede) that can be worn with, well, absolutely anything.

Carrying your phone in your pocket? So last season. Instead, designers this season were all about pouches and cases designed to keep your phone safe. We’re not exactly sure on the practical reasons for making bags that carry nothing except a phone – perhaps it’s part of a larger conspiracy to start phasing pockets out of trousers for good in the hope we won’t notice – but we have to admit that a small crossbody phone case actually looks pretty good from an accessories perspective. And if it can eliminate the rectangular trouser-phone-bulge, well, consider us sold.