John Legend Hails Beginning Of A Men’s Suiting Revolution

The future is flared.

John Legend Hails Beginning Of A Men’s Suiting Revolution

Image: @davethomasstyle

John Legend is a man of many talents. Besides being a record-breaking singer-songwriter, TV presenter, and now publisher, he’s always got his eye on the next big thing in men’s fashion. So take note: now he’s looking to revive a quintessentially 70s suiting silhouette.


Never one to be far from the frontiers of fashion, John Legend has previously done the unthinkable with combat boots and revived long-overlooked 1960s style trends. Now, at the launch of a new book on his very own publishing imprint, he’s announced the return of a killer seventies silhouette.

The newly released book, Rosewater by British writer Liv Little tells the story of a young woman struggling to navigate her late twenties in South London. Coming out Get Lifted Books — the publishing arm of Legend and his unfortunately-named business partner Mike Jackson’s Get Lifted Film Co. — the books was officially launched this weekend.

WATCH: Legend’s watch game isn’t too shabby either.

Though the book is doubtlessly excellent, it was actually Legend’s outfit for the launch event that caught our eye here at DMARGE. Shared on social media by Legend’s stylist Dave Thomas, the immaculately assembled look consisted of a long-forgotten silhouette that Legend rightly believes is overdue some time in the limelight.

The Tom Ford shirt and Christian Louboutin boots are wonderful pieces in of themselves, but it’s the forest green Gucci suit that takes centre stage: a double-breasted jacket with hefty lapels and black buttons alongside the high-waisted green flares are a style statement that we’re strongly behind.

For the better part of a decade, slim-fitting suits have dominated much of mainstream men’s fashion, aimed at creating a sleek and slender silhouette that was all the rage in the early-2010s but has since come to look a little hackneyed. On top of this, though it may look good on muscle-bound Ryan Gosling or Zac Efron, it’s a little less flattering on your average beer-drinking bloke.

Lucky for the rest of us, Legend is right on time with this return to seventies sartorial standards: more “out there” fashionistas like Harry Styles have been gauging the public’s reaction to this look and — thanks to an overwhelmingly positive response — have inspired high-end collections that are beginning to pop-up across the board.

Take Ben Cob’s new collection for Tigers of Sweden as a perfect example: consisting of single and double-breasted peaked lapels, flared legs, striped and colour-block shirts along with cropped v-neck knits, this aesthetic is a joyous but stylish homage to everything that began in London’s swinging 60s and spread like fashion wildfire through the decade that followed.

Ben Cobb’s new collection is stone-cold seventies. Image: Tigers Of Sweden

There’s also something about the shifting definitions and expectations of the modern man here. Though I’m not saying that the world is calling for a return to the cigar-smoking, honey-groping arrogance of fifty years ago, these silhouettes represent a definite turn away from the card-carrying masculinity that 2010s figure-hugging suits represent.

This is a move towards softer, flowing silhouettes that are no less sharp than their predecessors but significantly more fluid, both in their materiality and the kind of man they represent. So buckle up people, the future is flared. Thankfully, the moustaches are very much optional…