Earlier this year Gen-Z canceled skinny jeans and now we're delivering another blow to slim-fit advocates — enter the oversized suit.
The days of the skinny tuxedo seem numbered as celebrities are continuing to go by the motto "bigger is better" when they are asked to dress up. Most recently, Kendrick Lamar stole some of the limelight at the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2023 menswear show not only through his live performance from the front row but also from his custom-made look.
We've seen the rapper create headlines with a custom-made Louis Vuitton suit before, with his Super Bowl outfit arguably being the real big winner of that event. But this time, he took the oversized look one step further.
Beyond its big proportions, the unconventional grey-colored blazer featured double lapel detailing, a hood, and a ribbed hem at the bottom, while the huge trousers puddled on top of a pair of cowboy boots.
It's only the most recent of many oversized tailoring moments from recent times, the most notable of which have come from Justin Bieber. The Canadian popstar turned up to the 64th Annual Grammy Awards wearing a grey two-piece with huge proportions, the pants being so wide that they came over Balenciaga's massive platform Crocs rendering them only partially visible.
Pairing the suit with a white vest, pink hat, and black sunglasses, it was a red carpet look that will no doubt be spoken about in years to come.
It was one of many hugely oversized looks for the singer — in fact, there's been so many of them that we've affectionately created the nickname "baggy Bieber." From huge pairs of jeans to channeling the Y2K fit king that is Adam Sandler, we suspect that this latest oversized suit moment comes from a similar place of late 20th-century inspiration.
Like the resurgence of Ed Hardy and Moon Boot, Fashion's Y2K obsession is most likely behind the slew of big suits that are walking red carpets and runways. Back in the 80s and 90s, offices began to get more casual and their attire followed suit (quite literally) with tailoring becoming increasingly baggy. Think about the type you would see in early episodes of Friends or on Miami Vice.
The oversized suit has largely laid to rest since then with Hedi Slimane’s efforts to keep tailoring skinny proving successful. However, fashion will always be cyclical and it’s not just baggy Bieber who has taken the move towards huge suiting.
Recent fashion collections from the super ironic world of Balenciaga to the height of luxury at Hermès have seen blazers get roomier and pants have the freedom to flow. Even Hedi Slimane, the man who made everyone obsessed with skinny suits back in the mid-00s, included some tailoring for CELINE's recent collections that were, by his standards at least, very slouchy fitting.
And while we were all making memes about that infamous Will Smith slap at the Oscars, there was a host of looks from this year's award show season that further make the case for oversized suits. There was Kid Cudi in a brown suit with white sneakers and Donald Glover in a pastel yellow two-piece with a short sleeve blazer. Uniting both of the looks was their decision to go topless underneath their blazer (joining Timothée Chalamet in his agenda against shirts) and the exaggerated wide cut of their garments.
Just in case you were looking for even more evidence of suiting getting big: we've also seen Robert Pattinson's Batman tour deliver a grey oversized suit moment not hugely dissimilar to Bieber's and, as with all things fashion, you can expect that A$AP Rocky got there first. His pink Loewe tuxedo from 2019 foreshadowed Glover's recent oversized pink suit look.
The world of tailoring is set for XXL proportions and Lamar's fashion week look was likely just the tip of the iceberg. Fashion, in general, is enjoying its experimentation with big-fitting silhouettes and it doesn't look like slowing down any time soon.
See our favorite big suits below to get in on the action and stay posted for more oversized tailoring moments.
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