The year is 2224. AI Donald Trump is entering his 50th term. Polar bears have gone the way of the dodo. Happily, Cher remains entirely unchanged. A magazine headline asks: “Should men be allowed to wear shorts?”
It’s my belief that the perennial debate over whether men can wear shorts should have been put to bed the moment Paul Mescal was papped in a minuscule O’Neills pair, sending the global happiness index soaring by approximately 10,000 points. Here was a way for a man to wear the equivalent of Diana’s revenge dress – or Beyoncé’s freakum dress, for younger readers – while looking like he’d made no effort whatsoever (leg days at the gym notwithstanding).
Earlier this summer, Mescal sported a dressier version of the look at the Gucci menswear show, pairing striped cotton shorts with a blue Oxford shirt, white crew and the brand’s horsebit loafers. Stunning, no notes whatsoever, thank you Paul for your service.
Heartbreakingly, we can’t all be Paul Mescal. But it’s my belief that no man should have to swelter through a summer heatwave in a pair of trousers just because … well, I’m never entirely sure of the reasoning. Is it that we associate shorts with childhood, so struggle to take a man in a pair of them seriously? (And if that’s the case, wouldn’t the solution be for more high-powered men to wear shorts?)
