Have We Re-Entered the Era of Gentlemanly Dressing?

My first memory of my father is of him wearing a blazer. It was a velvet Calvin Klein number that he often donned for our Sunday visits to Grace Church on-the-Hill, in Toronto’s Forrest Hill neighbourhood. I felt a quiet awe at how his all-black silhouette stood out against the beige church walls. Watching him move through the vestibule—shaking hands, listening intently and guiding seniors by the arm to their pews—taught me that looking the part was almost as important as playing it.

Whether he was walking confidently from his downtown office in his Ferragamos, jostling the cufflinks on his collared shirt while clapping at my ballet recitals or bringing out the wool trousers for date night with my mom, my father never wavered from his formalwear. It’s a dressing tradition my grandfather taught him amid the racial inequities of the 20th century. For Black men, sharp clothing was a kind of armour—it communicated that they wanted to be treated with respect and that they’d return that consideration. Their spiffed-up style didn’t just help them stand out; it distinguished them as gentlemen.

As decades have passed, this debonair approach has faded from cultural consciousness—in matters of both manners and dress. If the relationship reports I get from my girlfriends are any indication, chivalry has died, too. Anecdotally, I can draw a direct line between the endless stories of doors left unopened and first-date bills gone Dutch and the complaints of cargo shorts and graphic tees worn on anniversary dinners. The truth is, these days, minimal effort seems to be the norm.

I’ve grown tired of the trendy indifference infiltrating the zeitgeist

Fashion-wise, this could be a symptom of the post-COVID hangover that pushed loungewear into everyone’s closets. In the wake of pandemic isolation, The New York Times famously declared “sweatpants forever” the overarching fashion sentiment du jour—reporting that sales for baggy, drawstringed bot- toms had spiked by 80 percent. Since then, athleisure brands have dominated the clothing conversation, with matching sets from Alo Yoga becoming status symbols and hoodies from Fear of God Essentials praised as aspirational everyday luxury. Ultimately, this era influenced us to opt for easy-to-throw-on staples that could take us from the couch to cocktail hour.

It also feels as if the 2020s have seen a rise in rudeness—especially when it comes to men in the public eye. On TikTok, there is no shortage of viral compilations showing Justin Bieber being inconsiderate to his wife, Hailey. From closing the car door in her face to walking steps ahead of her, his brusque behaviour is mirrored by his apparent refusal to dress up. Still, he’s hailed as an aspirational modern menswear figure.

Personally, I’ve grown tired of the trendy indifference infiltrating the zeitgeist, and if recent runways are any indication, I’m not alone. At the Spring 2026 shows, many designers made dressy clothing the heart of their collections—reintroducing the gentleman to a very different generation.

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Egonlab Menswear, photo via launchmetrics/spotlight

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Jonathan Anderson’s debut for Dior combined bow ties and embroidered vests with streetwear staples like oversized cargos and sneakers. Wales Bonner brought a 19th-century Parisian aristocrat to Bushwick, pairing floral silk blouses with dirt-wash denim. Saint Laurent revisited the 1980s via stacked shoulders, cinched waists and serpentined collars—showing that good suiting can thrive in all sorts of silhouettes. Meanwhile, Junya Watanabe proved that you don’t need to be silent to be sophisticated, sending shirtless models down the runway in loud, colourful blazers for a suave finish. This renaissance has begun to have a trickle-down effect, with men’s dress-shirt sales booming in 2025 and a reported rise in the demand for brands that specialize in thoughtful tailoring and old-timey wide-leg trousers.

The growing efforts to cultivate a more courteous culture extend beyond just the fashion world. Some of the most highly anticipated films of late hinge on the importance of good old gallantry. In 100 Nights of Hero and Wuthering Heights, Maika Monroe’s and Margot Robbie’s characters, respectively, struggle to commit to men who are gentlemen by aristocratic birth but not in spirit, proving that fine clothing means nothing without couth. In music, braggadocious songs from male artists no longer reign supreme, as sensitive, introspective crooners like Lewis Capaldi, Dominic Fike and Jon Batiste trend across the internet.

But back to my father for a moment: It didn’t matter if times were tough or terrific—he always showed up in his brilliant blazers. Case in point: My mother could guess he was a stand-up guy the moment he arrived at their first date in an Oscar de la Renta suit. Without my father saying a word, his formalwear made him a walking green flag.

Read more stories from FASHION’s March 2026 issue here.

This article first appeared in FASHION’s March 2026 issue. Find out more here.