Welcome to the Himbofication of High Fashion
Hollywood's recent taste for himbos is infiltrating fashion, and I couldn't be happier.
Typified by Channing Tatum in Magic Mike, Kronk of The Emperor's New Groove, and essentially every Matthew McConaughey movie, the himbo is, in essence, an air-headed hunk with a heart of gold.
The himbo is kind, ripped, and stupid. He is not desired for his stupidity, though — he is irresistibly attractive because he is beautiful (obviously) and endearingly devoid of the traits inherent in toxically masculine archetypes like the tortured, misunderstood genius (Jesse Eisenberg's Mark Zuckerberg) and the charming narcissist (Don Draper from Mad Men).
Unlike the Y2K-inflected aesthetic of the new age bimbo, a phenomenon birthed by TikTok, himbos don't have an identifiable "look," aside from washboard abs and a nice smile.
That's where the Fall/Winter 2022 menswear season stepped in.
At LOEWE, Jonathan Anderson presented skin-tight tops printed with man-scaped, shirtless torsos, a kind of high-fashion antidote to the ubiquitous bikini body cover-up.
There were also short-shorts aplenty, sweaters with nipple cut-outs, and belts with giant buckles suggestively advertising "HELLO."
Anderson showed similarly revealing designs under his namesake label, JW Anderson. Among the collection's himbo-iest designs were ultra-cropped sweaters; shiny, belly-button revealing tank tops (advertised on Instagram with the slogan "SEXY"), and one-shouldered mini-dresses.
GmbH also dabbled in the risqué, pairing thigh-high boots with blazers (sans bottoms).
Y/Project also got in on the action with Jean Paul Gaultier's torso-printed shirts, cut-out tops and slouchy jeans, held up at the waist by garter-like belts.
Though labels have long experimented with body-baring menswear, the full-on himbofication of high fashion traces back to June of 2021. Starting off the Spring/Summer 2022 menswear season with a sizzle, Prada introduced ultra-mini skorts and Fendi debuted crop-tops paired with belly chains.
If our embrace of the himbo is indeed indicative of a collective shift towards softer, less toxic masculinity, then by all means — bring on all the short-shorts, crop-tops and revealing menswear fashion has to offer.
