The best shorts for men: Whether striped, belted or covered in flowers, this summer's styles are tailored to perfection
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Your support makes all the difference.Who wears short shorts? It's not a song lyric but a genuine question.
Photographs by Luke Kirwan
Styling by Lee Holmes
Model Chris at Models 1
Although hemlines have been inching up blokey thighs for a few seasons now – not only on the catwalk, but on the high street (actually on real-life legs too, and not just Rootstein's fibreglass finest) – most of us are more comfortable with something hovering around the knee.
That's about the only conservative thing about them though, because the relative brevity and uniformity of shorts invites a multitude of interpretations.
Maybe it's the fact the fabric is scarce, and hence the effect not quite as full-throttle as a full-length leg, but shorts allow a gentleman to express his wilder instinct, splattering the leg with prints, peppy colour of just a fascinating fabric.
Christopher Kane scrolled his with a webwork of digital print this season, while other opted for more traditional Hawaiian florals, influenced by Miuccia Prada’s sinister vacation-inspired show.
Raf Simons coloured his in block hues of bottle-green or blue – shorts being virtually ubiquitous in his spring/summer 2014 show dedicated to the Belgian gabba scene of his youth.
Youth is what shorts often indicate. That scares plenty of men off them, branding them as a choice only suitable for those pre-GCSE. Not so. Especially as temperatures are hitting the thirties even in London, shorts are a sure-fire way to stay cool and look cool.
Click on the gallery above to see a few of the season's finest.
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