Peek at men's S/S10

Even though I have barely realized it's summer here now that I still have to wear a jacket when outside, I'm already focusing on summer 2010. And not the least on men's collections. Somehow they got me more excited than the women's. I will be writing about those eventually, but now that I got started on men in my last text, I can't stop there.

It seems that many of the trends that men will be wearing in spring/summer 2010 are just continuation of the trends that us, women, have been wearing now for a couple of seasons. To quote men.style.com, their picks for the top 10 trends for men in s/s10 are: double down, gun show, roman holiday, berber shop, in the red, black & white, tights fit, sheer audacity, shorts suit and parka life.

To broaden the view on these I might have to explain a bit more. Double down: double breasted jackets i.e. a suit jacket with two rows of buttons but in just one line. And no need to leave the lowest button open.

Gun show: bearing your arms. Many designers opted for the sleeveless look, including such as Hermes and Prada. The sleeveless tops were paired with straight pants and many went for the vest option to layer on the top. In these ways the sleeveless look was at the same time relaxed but clean.

Roman holiday: this one was my favorite. The gladiator sandals are now here for men! As strappy as the sandals were, they were still made a bit chunkier than the women's and will not be mixed for a women's shoe. They were paired with about knee length shorts or at least cropped trousers to show off the ankle. The look can be clean, relaxed or slouchy. Your pick.

Berber shop: this is a great look to pair with the gladiators. The idea is to get a nomad/North African vibe. The silhouette is often airy and scarfs were used a lot. The scarfs usually had no prints to keep the look airy, not stuffed, and were wrapped around the head or neck. Colors were muted, light greens, browns and beige, often reminding of the safari look that women have every year. So the man dressing up in this style should keep in mind either the nomads or then the adventurers of the African safaris.

In the red: no wrong conclusions here. The it-color of the season is red. Whether you dress it from top to toe or just as your top, bottom, shoes or scarves. The decision is yours. Different shades of red are to be used but not in the same outfit. On the catwalk the look was pulled together by using the same shade of red all over.

Black & white: the name tells it all here as well. The so called monochrome look that the women are so familiarized with is hot for men also. You can try it in the form of navy stripes but the trendiest look is got together when wearing your black or white separates on top of each other. I.e. just clear segments of black and white. 

Tights fit: I suppose that this one will be the hardest one to swallow. The saviour of women, leggings, are here now for men. AND to be worn the same way: under shorts. The easiest way to pull this off is to wear quite loose and long shorts, choose the leggings in a shade darker or lighter than your shorts and pull them up just under your knee so that only a little of the shorts are visible.

Sheer audacity: in large amounts this can be worn by only men who've got a figure to flaunt. For others, keep it to your hands or just small area of your shirt. This is also a look that will need a bit of getting used to but can look nice when worn the right way. For example a light weight shirt with white shorts on the beach.

Shorts suit: I am honestly not sure what to think of this. This is kind of like a skirt suit with separate parts for each leg. So a suit with shorts instead of the trousers. This can be really hard to pull off in a business meeting so I suggest you try it first in a family celebration or out about town. Maybe the easiest way to start is by using non-matching shorts and jackets, like the way jeans and a suit jacket look casual cool but formal together.

Parka life: no worries, this means only changing your jacket into a longer, slouchier one that will keep you dry in case of rain. Kind of like a rain coat but in a thinner more comfortable material and in a shaplier form. I bought mine three years ago in London, now it's your turn.

That was the top ten for s/s10. The reasons why I'm telling you these now are that you might need time to get comfortable with some of the thoughts, some of you might want to be so fashion forward and get going with these already now and then third of all you need time to find these since this is still only so big of a city and does not provide all of these, not at least yet next summer.

To get the visuals and some inspiration, go to http://men.style.com/fashion/top_ten.