the curious case of the man-boy

A reader recently brought to my attention an issue that has been nagging me and is very valid for discourse and examination. What is with the very boyish look happening in menswear right now? Age appropriateness is something I think about a lot because sometimes I feel like I dress my age really well, but I wonder what direction it could head when it's no longer comfortable or cool to run around in slim cut jeans and BDG t-shirts. I also look at my peers and wonder what happened to us and why we became the cargo short and sweatpant generation for grownup life. Clothes should be a security blanket, but not make us look like school children. Don't get me wrong, nothing is more comfortable than the right pair of shorts or the right t-shirt, but is there some sort of stylish middle ground we can ascribe to? The Paris and Milan shows don't help resolve this matter with shows featuring models so young you wonder if they're allowed to drive a car and clothes that pander to this crowd, suggesting that this is the way every man should and will want to dress.

Examples:
Junya Watanabe
Prada
Lanvin

These are well-conceived and well-made clothes, but they could very easily be found on an eight-year-old boy (well, a very wealthy and very stylish eight-year-old boy). They all looked dressed up for a sleepover or a morning trying not to fall asleep in church. Could you imagine a thirty-seven-year-old man wearing these clothes, or for that matter twenty-three-year-old? Maybe or maybe not, but this could be high fashion's response to the world in which we live in where men are conflicted, confused, and fearful of their impending adulthood. I'm not sure when this trend happened but it's been captured on film most recently in Judd Apatow's "Knocked Up". If men can no longer confront things such as sex, power, and the general bullshit of being an adult, then these clothes will complement the movement into casual boyishness. Why act like a man when the world expects you to be a hapless child bent on videogames, soft-core porn, and misplaced feelings of disenfranchisement and poor self-identity? Next thing you know Miuccia Prada is going to send cashmere footed pajamas down the runway.