Uncertain how to suit up for a new depression? Try a safe experiment, menswear designers in Paris and Milan seem to be saying as they deal with declining business suit sales.

Looser lines and super light fabrics dominate, while there's plenty of exotic adventure in Middle East-inspired prints and cuts, sleeveless jackets and unusual suit combinations. And the metrosexual has bulked up and is not scared to let his chest hair show.

Key shades next season are grey, black and white, everywhere from Hugo Boss, YSL and Givenchy to Lanvin – but some red, orange and yellow has popped up on catwalks, particularly at Louis Vuitton, Salvatore Ferragamo and Emporio Armani.



INDIVIDUALISED CLASSICISM

Be unafraid, but not too unafraid. Take a cue from the women in your life and mix and match your look. Pair a classic piece with a trendy accent, or brighten a monochrome ensemble with a mild dash of colour.

Team a blazer with shorts (Icerberg,?Prada), try a kurta (Versace), put a T-shirt over harem pants for an Arabic touch (John Galliano) – multiracial is where it's at. And if you think you've gone too far, pull back just a little: try something new but steer clear of overkill.


RETROSEXUAL

Thankfully, spring 2010 is the end of the road for the thin reedy male counterpart to anorexic size-zero female models. Men have been liberated from the pressure to conform to Hedi Slimane's body-image diktats, and the results are staggering: bulky models complete with eight packs were sent out both by Galliano and Slimane's successor at Dior, Kris Van

Assche. Belgian designer Walter Van Beirendonck went one better, sending out fat, hairy men in bright colours and plastic glasses.


ACCESSORIES

While ties have slipped off the radar, scarves and beads will be everywhere as more men integrate the lessons of metrosexuality with their true personalities. And because we all have so much stuff now, expect shops to stock all manner of bags – in many different shapes and forms. From?Prada to ZZegna, hats are the order of the day – but fun headgear rather than anything as formal as a fedora.

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