Fifteen years ago, “Primary Colors” meant politics, in the form of the novel written anonymously by Joe Klein.
But with the United States primary season on the horizon, the phrase has taken on another meaning: bright pants in sizzling shades that are on offer for more than vacation wear.
This is the first period in recent memory when vivid colors have hit the conventional male wardrobe below the belt. There they were on the runways for the fall season — each pair brighter than the next. Ginger pants came from Band of Outsiders; ripe melon from D&G; vivid orange at Bottega Veneta. And if that violent splash seemed too much of a contrast with a neutral top, there was always the possibility of going full-on. Dior Homme had a scarlet suit from top to toe, and Jil Sander’s offering was a cocktail of coral and orange.
A brightly colored suit makes a big fashion statement, and it is hard to believe it will ever catch on in winter in the Western world. But the pants could be for real. They started last year as fancy versions of jeans, then got a more sophisticated look from brands like Acne, which served up pants in royal blue, turquoise and purple at the fall 2011 shows. It may be a slow trickle of style, but what is worn this season on the weekend might yet invade the workweek.
I recently saw a fashion exhibition that runs through Oct. 9 at the Château de Versailles in France, where 20th and 21st-century clothes by Martin Margiela, Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood are in a standoff with 18th-century outfits. Forget the ballooning ball gowns: it’s the frock coats in Mozartean colors, embroidered vests, fancy hose and buckled shoes that look so fab — at least for women.
Men’s wear has never really escaped the great 19th-century renunciation of anything colorful, decorative and fun. I grant that common sense suggests that changing lifestyles require different clothes: hence the powdered silver-gray wig morphed into the silver-gray Zegna suit. But why the 20th-century male had to be so totally bland is a sartorial puzzle.
There must have been a rock/hip-hop color chart through the 1970s and ’80s. But most men were so timid that it was left to their wives and girlfriends to introduce classy cashmere sweaters in shades like apricot and lilac, in an effort to convince the doubters that pastels could be heterosexual.
That was the same era when the necktie became a boardroom narrative — all those jokey and colorful Hermès animals (think bunnies) to prove that men in suits could be deliciously daring.
Male fashion has come some way since those delicate beginnings — but it may be a while before orange pants take over the office. I think that colored trousers should become the fanciful pantyhose of the male wardrobe: a chance to challenge sobriety without rejecting the formality of the conventional jacket or casual sweater. There is a template for this in England: moleskin trousers. As a child I thought that the pants with a velvety, stroke-able surface really did come from the skins of underground creatures that heaved little pyramids of earth onto our lawn. But the cotton fabric is really a men’s-wear adaptation of velvet: tougher, more durable, but often vividly colored. Moleskin pants spoke of upper-crust young men braying for attention.
Sex is, of course, at the soul of fancy pants. Why would any male wear blood red, peacock green or hazard-warning orange unless it was to draw attention to the lower half, to manhood? I don’t remember any of this winter’s designer trousers being pleat front, severe and straight — except maybe at Dior Homme, worn with a high-crown Amish hat. You could find low-crotch pants, but those were for casual wear and drew their shades from ethnic patterns. Most of the colorful pants were slim fit, shapely and tailored.
If the bright new fashion — which included some vivid coats from Burberry Prorsum and Raf Simons — survives the gray, grim winter, there is another color shock in store for men next spring: the revival of the Hawaiian shirt. Ever since Miuccia Prada came up with a bit of monkey business in tropical patterns for summer 2011, men have been buying and wearing the women’s collection. A Hawaiian shirt with colored pants would definitely be a vote for the primaries.
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