By Gerald Ortiz

Copyright gq

I posted up outside Ray’s Hometown Bar in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, for three days. Aside from the all-day happy hour for the freaks who genuinely believe it’s always five o’clock somewhere, my intentions weren’t merely for the burger-and-martini deal. A recent obsession led me to this specific watering hole to confirm a hunch: that certain style-minded men are wearing capris now.
The Ray’s bartender assured me that if there’s any place where I’d find capri camaraderie, it would be here. So I set up camp at one of the outdoor tables with my adult happy meal and a camera, and I scoped out the crowd. I spotted several cool guys in calf-length trousers over the course of my gin-soaked sleuthing, but I was too shy and didn’t drink enough to ask any of them for photos. Regardless, the experience validated my hypothesis. Here, capris are firmly on the menu.
Menswear is approaching a transitional moment, both seasonally and spiritually. When it comes to warm-weather dressing, it wasn’t long ago that five-inch shorts reigned supreme. Shorts of the Patagonia Baggies variety flooded the discourse summer after summer before trickling down to the average consumer who needed a reason to bare legs. In recent years, men began to explore varied inseams, as shorts rose ever upward, dangerously close to where the sun don’t shine. (See: Paul Mescal’s thighs.) Meanwhile, an undercurrent of shorts pioneers went in the opposite direction, inching toward the knee and daring to blow straight past it. Meanwhile, the shoe-to-pant interaction has become an ever-increasing gap. Pants have been shying away from the Balenciaga-level of oversized and ultra-long inseams. Even as we’re heading into autumn on the East Coast, I’ve seen more guys embracing cuffed and rolled pants around New York.
Whatever you call them—capris, culottes, pedal pushers, Bermudas, short-ass pants, or long-ass shorts—calf-grazing trousers for men are having a moment. They’ve made a comeback in women’s fashion, too, with celebrities like Hailey Bieber and Dua Lipa sporting retro culottes on their seaside summer vacations, styled in a Y2K-redux way.
I spoke to several up-and-coming designers who have integrated masculine-leaning capris into their collections. For New York designer Aaron Cooper, who is also a cycling enthusiast, capri-style pants are a pragmatic garment—a frequent sentiment I encountered amongst the city-dwelling capri-wearers I interviewed. Beyond the cycling- and fashion-community crossover, the capri also has a subversive appeal. Amsterdam-based designer Camiel Fortgens says the silhouette is more about his creative curiosity. “I always like to play with scale and contrast in volume,” Fortgens said. “This is something we did before with long-length pants and it worked out really well.” Other indie labels such as Our Legacy, Rier, and Enfants Riche Déprimés have broken away from the mainstream and introduced versions of the three-quarter-length short-pant in recent collections, many of which have sold out completely on trendy retailers like SSENSE.
Conventional proportions dictate that men should follow the golden ratio, which rules that one’s outfit ought to be divided into three equal segments: the top third goes from your neck to your natural waist, while the lower two segments are for your pants, thus naturally following the body’s features. But capris fly in the face of that wisdom. They both lengthen the torso and shorten the legs, severing the body into awkward proportions that don’t play as easily with other garments. You may be wondering, But why would men put themselves in such a complicated stylistic position? Now, our boldest dressers are counter-arguing, Well, why not?
Joseph Quiñones, co-founder of Los Angeles menswear store Departamento, has been stocking capri styles in his store, which he hopes will open up a stylistic door for men. “First, it offers a sense of proportion play that aligns with the larger menswear narrative of volume and silhouette experimentation. Second, it reintroduces an element of effortless coolness without reverting to full trousers—making them appealing for transitional seasonal use,” Quiñones says. “I really believe it’s that simple.” Plus, he adds, “those who have chosen to explore the style are already delivering it with precision and confidence.”
Capris are an artier alternative to the internet-boyfriend silhouette of short shorts and cropped hoodies, though you’ll still see both styles in droves at menswear-minded places like Ray’s Bar. And while capri-length pants don’t quite exclude you from “dressing for the algorithm,” they at least say, Hey man, my algorithm is different.
But the trend is gaining traction enough that it’s not just niche designers who are nudging capris into the zeitgeist. Well-known dressers like Justin Bieber and Marc Kalman (whose fashion label, Still Kelly, sells capris) are already riding the wave. The label Off-White showed men wearing capris with tall boots during their recent New York Fashion Week show. Even Levi’s has introduced a variation to the market—and while many others brands have designed their versions without such a bold distinction, Levi’s called it like it is and named its product “the 478 Baggy Capris.” With the ability to purchase capri-length pants at such a huge retailer, that sort of access could embolden even more men to experiment.
That said, whether or not capris will catch on with men on a larger scale remains to be seen—and if it does, it’s even less certain how long (or short) the trend will last. Quiñones thinks the next big pants trend will be more “architectural,” and will be embraced mainly by fashion purists. Fortgens says he’s done with the oversized look and believes that three-quarter-length pants will stick around for a while in slimmer cuts. “Not for too long though,” Fortgens adds. “It’s too difficult.”
Personally, my curiosity for capris is steady. So long as they continue to offer a counterpoint to the menswear mainstream, my infatuation shall remain. I like that they’re weird. I like that they’re difficult. I like that they’re not major TikTok fodder just yet. But I also agree with Fortgens—I don’t think they’ll last long as a trend, and I’m not convinced that they’ll ever get as popular as baggy pants. There’s a high chance that I’ll look back on my capri exploration with regret. But I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.