Getting your knees out is fashion’s latest power move, which pushes Prince Louis to the top of the royal family tree of trendsetters, following his stylish appearance at Windsor Castle for the first Easter Sunday service of King Charles’ reign.
By mirroring the Chanel, Hermes and Brandon Maxwell autumn/winter runways in tailored shorts, worn with long socks and chunky black loafers, Louis upstaged his mother Princess Catherine in her sensible sapphire blue coat dress from Catherine Walker
While Louis, 4, is blindly following the posh tradition of reserving trousers for boys once they’ve turned eight years old and is more likely to be caught reading The Gruffalo than thumbing through British Vogue, the royal with a reputation for personal expression has stumbled onto this season’s boldest look.
For her February appearance on NBC’s Today show supermodel Gigi Hadid wore a monochromatic beige short suit straight from Brandon Maxwell’s autumn/winter 2023 runway, with stockings and gold high heels. Designer Thom Browne successfully defended his use of stripes against sportswear giant Adidas while wearing tailored shorts and long socks in January. The relaxed business look of a crop top and baggy shorts from Max Mara was adopted by actor Lana Condor at an Oscars party last month.
Sydney designer Jordan Gogos showed shorts at last month’s Melbourne Fashion Festival and will include them in the upcoming Australian Fashion Week show for his label Iordanes Spyridon Gogos.
“When a man chooses shorts it can immediately be interpreted as him taking a more considered approach than just wearing trousers,” Gogos says. “It’s the same as when men started wearing pink a few years ago. It shows that they’ve thought about what they’re wearing and they’re truly comfortable with it.”
Gogos has braved shorts on the red carpet and while taking bows for his acclaimed shows.
“It also taps into my Greek heritage, where skirts and shorts culturally cross over more easily into formal wear.”
