Hi listeners, it's Lila. Today we are bringing you an episode from our archives, one of our favorites about men's fashion. It aired in July in summer season, but it's full of insights about men's clothes and even masculinity that go far beyond just summer clothing.

Rob and Eric are so insightful about this stuff, and we hope you enjoy it. We'll find each other again on Friday.

Welcome to Life and Art from F.T. Weekend. I'm Lila Raptopolis. Today we are talking about men's

fashion. It seems we have found ourselves in a season where boys just want to have fun. We're seeing short shorts, bare midrifts, bright prints, men are showing off their bodies

and having a chaotic time sartorially.

Just recently a photo emerged from Milan Fashion Week that really put a definitive point on this

trend.

It was the Irish heartthrob actor Paul Mescal wearing a dress shirt unbuttoned at the bottom

with a pair of striped boxer shorts, tall white dress socks, and black horse bit Gucci loafers.

It was a little preppy, a little oops I forgot my pants, and it quickly made its rounds on the internet.

The first person I texted when I saw that photo was my colleague Eric Platt.

He writes about

corporate finance for the F.T. But is also a fashion expert. So we have invited him on today to talk

about it. Eric, welcome. Thank you so much. We're also so happy that I was the, that you thought of me

when you saw that picture. That's beautiful. It's very important. I have also invited in the

FT's true Renaissance man, Rob Armstrong. He writes financial commentary in the unhedged newsletter and hosts this podcast, but he also writes a men's fashion column for FT weekend. Hi, Rob. I'm a little hurt. I wasn't the first person you emailed, but that's okay. We're not on personal. One day. One day at a time. After this, we're all on a group chat. Thank you both for being here. So this is actually our first chat on the podcast specifically about men's fashion. And my first question for you both is just what you think about this trend big picture. Eric, what do you think?

I am so happy to see this.

Last year, or earlier this year when I was on the podcast, I said I wanted to see more crop tops. I wanted to see shorter shorts. Yes. You know, we've talked about this idea of like we're all working on ourselves constantly, and we want to be showing it off now. I also think there's so much else going on in the world that like, I don't know, you want to be a little feral.

You want to be a little chaotic right now.

And so that's why it's kind of fun to see this actually filtering into the mainstream. Yeah, you did predict that this would happen. Yes, and I'm normally late to a trend, so this is really nice to see. Rob, what about you? Well, on a personal level, I like the short short.

I think five or four inches of inseam in your shorts is plenty.

The reason for this, I'm going to turn 53 this summer, and decrepitude has really arrived in my physical self.

...