Honestly, after Rick Owens sent down NSFW looks (as in: full-frontal nudity) during Men's Fashion Week three seasons ago, we can safely say that it takes a lot to shock us now. When it comes to menswear, there's this stigma that it's somehow less creative or inventive compared with women's. And while yes, there are fewer styles and fewer colors that some consumers are willing to experiment with, today's gender-fluid mindset has given designers the creative fuel to stretch their imaginations and break boundaries, norms, and aforementioned stigmas.
Menswear isn't just a suit and tie anymore. Judging from the spring 2017 collections at Men's Fashion Week, it can mean plasticky capes worn with nothing but a thorny crown and boxers, jeggings layered with lots of denim, or very Prince-like purple damask separates. Even though no one went crotch-less this season (though Owens did up the shock factor with a pair of billowing high-waist pants—and nothing else), there were some great out-there moments that challenge menswear as we know it.
From super-sheer, nearly nude tanks to fuchsia utilitarian jumpsuits, see the most outrageous looks from the men's runways.
Dior Homme
Designer Kris Van Assche went hardcore punk for the Dior Homme spring 2017 menswear collection, with baggy pants, streamers, and harnesses (that kind of looked like bralettes, not going to lie). But the most memorable? These intricately vein-like laced-up separates that give us the shivers.
Thom Browne
Ever the showman, the designer staged his show in a post-apocalyptic beach setting and casted his models as sharks and seagulls, all of whom wore dapper suits to match.
Balmain
Meet the new Canadian tux—a denim jacket over a lace-up chambray shirt over loose shorts over a pair of skintight jeggings. The finishing touches? A tasseled pendant necklace and gilded slides. It's flashy, it's out there, and according to Ricky Martin, it's the future of fashion.
Givenchy
Silhouette-wise, there's nothing ground-breaking here, but the fact that designer Riccardo Tisci manipulated dollar bills and treated them as camouflage is something that's out of the ordinary.
Balenciaga
Purple damask is hard to pull off. Even harder? When it's cut as a sleeveless tank and slim-fit pants.
Kenzo
Nineties fashion has been making a comeback for a while now, but this solidifies it. Humberto Leon and Carol Lim paid homage to the decade with tops tucked into printed boxers. But instead of Jnco-level baggy jeans, they modernized the look with hip-hugging cropped kick flares—a sign of the times.
Maison Martin Margiela
The little ribbed top and shorts are attached from the front to look like a romper, and to look like racy crop top separates from the back.
Rick Owens
The designer may have been more tame this season by foregoing full-frontal nudity, but he still inspired shock with a model who wore a pair of billowing high-waist pants and little else.
Ann Demeulemeester
Designer Sebastien Meunier took an emo approach for spring 2017 and scrawled the words "I Am Red with Love" on super-sheer, nearly nude tops (pieces that are as transparent as the message).
Comme des Garcons
Designer Rei Kawakubo found inspiration in fairy tales and interpreted "The Emperor's New Clothes" in the most out-there, yet in the most regal way possible, like with plasticky capes worn with nothing but boxers, a black crown, and sneakers.
