Forecast for Menswear: Spring Will Be a Little Sane This Year

Spring ’86 menswear will be high on sanity, low on confusion.

Nothing to fear for the mainstream man.

Though trendy young men from Los Angeles to Paris are donning duster coats or culotte pants, top designers aren’t spouting revolution. Silhouettes are merely slouchy, not huge. Neiman-Marcus men’s fashion director Colby McWilliams calls the fit “a redefined bagginess,” marked by flat-front slacks and long, tapered shirts and jackets.

The easy, unconstructed jacket of “Miami Vice” fame is an early spring staple, pulling together separates that otherwise might look like loose ends.

And because designers typically let down their macho illusions for spring--saving their “serious statements” for fall--spring ’86 also will be a time of baby pinks and oranges (thanks, Sonny Crockett), whimsical prints and patterns.

Prints, Plaids and Geometric Designs

Seashell and fish prints--anything salty--compete with India-inspired batiks, plaids and geometrics. Picture-post-card designs cover Jeffrey Banks’ spring pullovers; Chinese porcelain patterns are Perry Ellis motifs.

Shirting cotton makes a jump into casual suits, such as the unlined, crinkle-cotton designs by Los Angeles-based Axis. Rayon also clings and swings its way into casual suits and shirts. And, mirroring the women’s market, a small dose of denim returns for spring.

Menswear remains in a shirttails-out mind-set: Tails peek from under sweaters and jackets and even influence the shape of new cardigan sweaters, which look like long, floppy dress shirts, including tails. Designers also continue to borrow from the underwear drawer, making the kind of lightweight, elastic-waist walking shorts that could only be taken for boxers.

Weather permitting or not, sweaters have become a spring mainstay. This year’s batch comes brightly hued and loose fitting, with boat or crew necks and dropped shoulders, but with few of the shawl-collar shapes of recent seasons.

Surfer styles move from anti-fashion to mainstream, as designers on both coasts inject their lines with a boyish, beachy flavor. On the boards are knee-buster-length walking shorts and aquatic prints along with iridescent swim trunks introduced by L.A.’s Jimmy’Z, a fast-growing firm, founded in 1984, that has a Woody with a surfboard as its logo.

But even surfers can be fickle. Fashion watchers assure that last year’s beach-bound, flowered and Hawaiian prints already look dated.

Neither will this be a spring of hardware. “Road Warrior”-like zippers, snaps and military epaulets are gone.

“The simpler, the plainer, the better--without being boring,” explains Lance Karesh, partner with Gene Pressman in New York-based Basco, which specializes in updated classics.

This lack of detail brings emphasis to clear color combinations, such as bright yellow paired with orange or teal. Black and white have reached the status of “always right.”

Andrew Fezza chooses a more washed-out palette, showcasing instead fabrics with a bumpy, hand-loomed look. He also brings out the knits for everything from ribbed pullovers to stirrup pants with fold-down waists, which he says were inspired by the Olympic gymnasts.

Tommy Perse, owner of L.A.’s Maxfield boutique, says to expect more textured and color-flecked fabrics this season and fewer loud patterns.

“The English influence of flipped-out paisleys and over-the-top patterns is waning,” Perse says. “The trend is going more toward subtle prints and patterns or solids.”

Designers also have stopped mixing patterns with a frenzy, opting for “controlled pattern-on-pattern,” Tina Flammer, a Bullock’s men’s merchandise manager, says.

“It’s much more understandable and reasonable this year.”

And much more reassuring to the middle ground.