Menswear's New 'Nice' Era --- Here's our five-point plan to stand out and show some individuality -- from adding a splash of unexpected color to using a variety of textures

 

“For the past few seasons, the clothing that has swished down the runway at the men's fashion shows in Paris has been hard to describe. Not because the deluge of oversize, neutrally toned shirts and trousers were profound or avant-garde, but because they summoned the famously flaccid adjective writers avoid at all costs: They were nice.

 

This observation has not been unique to me. An article in The Business of Fashion characterized the trend of nice clothes as an "epidemic." Much of the menswear now is so nice, in fact, some in the industry are frustrated. "The clothes are inoffensive, but there's no point of view," said Turner Allen, a personal stylist in New York. While versatile and easy to wear, many pieces can feel generic, he added. "The downside isn't bad taste, but the erosion of individuality."

 

If the quiet luxury movement was about looking understated and expensive while wearing cashmere baseball caps, the trend for nice clothes is more about pure simplicity. The good news? The proliferation of brands that trade in understated looks, from Uniqlo to Buck Mason to the Row, means there's much less room for error.

 

But how do you distinguish between what's "generic" nice and nice in a way that shows some individuality? "A perfectly cut trouser or an unexpected color can be just as expressive as something flashy," said Taylor Okata, a well-dressed creative director in Los Angeles.

 

Here's how to look nice -- without eliciting a yawn.

 

KNOW WHO TO EMULATE: Instagram accounts can provide guidance -- if taken with a grain of salt. At the end of the day, Allen said, most influencers are "selling you something." Follow folks who aren't hitting you with a deluge of affiliate links. When you find someone whose style you admire, don't copy them straight up. Instead, said Bruce Pask, associate vice president of the men's fashion office at Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, "take note of items you respond to."

 

It's worth following Pask to see how he blends the casual with the polished -- combining, say, tweed jackets with striped business shirts and baseball caps. Other accounts worth checking out: @fits.of.fatherhood provides "style inspiration for busy dads"; @tomhoystyle plays with Japanese Americana and Ivy style; and @fitting_in_now, the workwear-focused account by Houston-based influencer Loren Fizer.

 

ELEVATE YOUR UNDERSHIRT: Cameron Golshani, 31, a style-conscious energy consultant in Oklahoma City, often asks himself: "How do I make what I'm wearing more interesting without adding a bunch of insane things?" He recently landed on a simple trick: switching up his plain white undershirts. He now favors the $62 off-white knit T-shirts from Buck Mason -- their ribbed weave works well layered beneath a beige button-up shirt or a chore coat. "When the fabric underneath has character, it adds more dimension to something that would otherwise look very normal," he said.

 

PLAY WITH TEXTURE: Beyond undershirts, texture plays an important role. "I think about texture probably more than silhouette," said Jeremy Kirkland, 40, the founder of menswear podcast "Blamo!" He recently went to dinner in a mostly black ensemble of silk ripstop coat from Japanese brand A.Presse, faded canvas carpenter pants and a matte poplin shirt. "If I'm wearing the same color, the contrast of textures is so important," Kirkland said, adding that dressing in one tone can otherwise read cartoonish.

 

If everything is minimal, said Allen, introduce one lived-in element, like a worn leather or suede jacket. He recommends Todd Snyder's $998 Dylan suede jacket; its eight silver buttons, slightly cropped trucker fit and color range from pistachio green to dusty pink take it beyond plain old nice.

 

ACCESSORIZE SIMPLY: Accessories are the easiest way to inject personality into an outfit, said Allen. That's not a signal to channel your inner Liberace. A black or brown leather belt, a textured bag, a silver bracelet or a pendant necklace are "low-risk, high-impact ways to introduce character without disrupting the overall ease of the outfit," Allen said. British jeweler Monica Vinader's simple silver bracelets, starting at $175, hit the right note, as do Miansai's $75 bracelets made from woven gray cord with a silver closure detail.

 

FIND SUBTLE WAYS TO STAND OUT: While the untrained eye may dismiss Parisian brand Lemaire's chinos as near-identical to a far less expensive Uniqlo pair, certain clothes possess subtle variations in fit, color and fabric that can justify a higher price. Kirkland favors the roughly $300 wool shirts from Batoner, which look plain from afar but have a supersubtle stripe or houndstooth pattern. "I do like to buy things that not every single person has," he says.

 

Pask calls nuances in color, pattern or shape "quiet indicators of style." He recommends an unstructured double-breasted jacket with soft shoulders, worn open with a casual knit polo or crew neck sweater, and denim or cotton pants. The formal-casual pairing delivers what he calls a "cinematic style."” [1]

 

1. OFF DUTY --- Style & Fashion: Menswear's New 'Nice' Era --- Here's our five-point plan to stand out and show some individuality -- from adding a splash of unexpected color to using a variety of textures. Ashley Ogawa Clarke.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 09 May 2026: D4.