MENSWEAR TELLING STORIES FOR FALL-WINTER 2025

by John Russel Jones Feb 19, 2025

Storytelling is the buzzword in marketing today, and there were three brands that I saw during the New York collections and Chicago market week that I thought did a particularly good job of it. Of course, each of the collections measured up to the presented tales, too, so no matter what script you’re putting together for your store this season, I hope you’ll give each of these a look.

The Italian Job

I’ve been consistently impressed by the progress Cecile Revah and her team at Bugatchi have been making, especially under the creative direction of Anthony Keegan. This season the collection was inspired by the creativity of the Italian fashion photographer Paolo Roversi.

The collection itself took a significant leap forward as the brand introduced a handsome Made in Italy capsule that was deftly folded in with the rest of the clothes.

While the suggested retails are as much as 50% higher than the non-Italian pieces, the price point still offered attainable luxury, a perfect offering for a store looking to steer its customers towards investment dressing. The pieces add a whole new level of sophistication to this already elegant collection.

Artist’s Guild

A new version of workwear seems to be taking its place at the center of next season. It’s an elegant, luxurious motif that reinterprets the classic tropes we’ve come to love into easy, wearable pieces that extend from the workplace into the weekend. At AG, the aesthetic was expressed beautifully, riffing on the story of an artist in his studio, working right up to opening night. (The event was held just off the Highline, Manhattan’s thriving arts district.) Some favorite pieces include a suede Western-style shirt, complete with a yoke and snap closures, as well as several fabric shirts and work jackets that would make any cowpoke proud. A slightly wider silhouette jean was directional without being so voluminous that it might scare men off.

Something fishy in Amsterdam

Finally, there’s a Dutch brand I’ve checked out twice now at the Chicago Collective called A Fish Named Fred. While the name evokes a popular comic film from the late 1980s, the collection itself is anything but a throwback. The owner, Rob Schalker, has an admirable, almost ADHD approach to branding, translating whimsical prints into everything from the shirtings and lining fabrics you might expect to rugs, plates, notebooks…even packaging for co-branded liquors and cocktails!

Take your pick! Whimsical shirt print or throwaway cardboard stool!

This season’s theme is “Exploring the Highlands,” so, of course, Scotch is on the menu, along with some lovely tartan suits, a range of prints from liquor bottles to chess pieces, and avian designs. We love a royal blue fisherman’s sweater and the faux suede puffy vest (complete with a hood).