Smaller luxury menswear brands from Ami to John Elliott are sticking to streetwear to weather the storm. Large luxury brands like Dior and Louis Vuitton are able to balance both, producing tailoring alongside streetwear drops and launches. Luxury’s pivot to more sophisticated menswear, interrupted by the pandemic, is now retreating back to streetwear and the casual wardrobes.
Then Covid-19 hit, and men all over the world hung up their suits and pulled on sweatpants. Other designers known for their streetwear aesthetic, like A-Cold-Wall’s Samuel Ross, underwent a similar transition. Virgil Abloh, after declaring streetwear was dead, leaned into tailoring for his Louis Vuitton men’s collection. Heading into the Autumn/Winter 2020 season, menswear was on the verge of an identity crisis.
