This Frank Ocean Fit Was Ahead of Its Time

In January 2019, Frank Ocean was doing what most stylish perfectly-related people today do: attending exhibits at Paris Fashion 7 days. But a person outfit, in individual, struck a chord with the internet’s menswear obsessives. It was a vibrantly shaded puffer jacket worn with blue jeans and hiking boots, accessorized with a beanie and a massive leather bag. Practically 4 yrs later on, the glance is still bouncing close to online—and, notably, feels just as attractive these days, a testament the two to Ocean’s ability to keep forward of the curve and to the way he’s quietly helped reshape big swathes of menswear according to his preferences.

Present day, this everyday outdoorsy glance is more or fewer unmissable in the elegant corners of basically any town on earth: you see Salomon sneakers paired with Comme des Garçons trousers, or Stone Island puffers with sought-immediately after classic Levi’s. Wander through New York’s SoHo neighborhood, and you may see adult males dressed in a combine of tried-and-accurate out of doors labels with substantial trend brands. Ocean was not the initially to do this, but when he does something, it can be usually with thought of finesse—and people fall what they’re doing to shell out focus. Accordingly, the model has replaced the normcore fad of yesteryear the purpose is to no for a longer time gown like Jerry Seinfeld but like George Costanza. (Nevertheless a different noteworthy puffy jacket icon.) It is also, unsurprisingly, enormous on Instagram and TikTok. Phone it Instagram Examine-main.

The crème de la crème of Ocean’s look is his huge, darkish green leather tote bag. It is Celine—and not just any Celine but Céline, from when the label however experienced an accent mark and was helmed by the feverishly admired Phoebe Philo. (A extremely IYKYK flex, even back in 2019.) Ocean’s shiny do-it-all down jacket, in the meantime is by Mammut, a Swiss business for clued-in adventurers, and his beanie is Arc’teryx, the critically tech-ahead outdoor brand that is now a present-working day name drop between fashion bros. The outfit will get rounded out with straight-leg blue jeans and navy climbing boots. Now, why did this singular outfit warrant coverage from GQ and Vogue and just about each individual other manner title on the web?

To commence, the outfit surely stood out amidst the regular manner 7 days fare.

One particular image from the day finds Ocean sitting down upcoming to Timothée Chalamet, who is dressed in a more standard ensemble of all black. It drives household the eccentricity—at minimum a couple years ago—of donning a puffer jacket and denims to sit entrance row at a Louis Vuitton exhibit. The fit also feels increased than the sum of its elements every posting performs beautifully into the next, elevating the ultimate head-to-toe search. The look is also heightened by Ocean’s MFA-degree eye for shade principle, pairing identical and complementary colors without having becoming as well matchy. (This easy-yet-amazing brown and blue match however bounces all over in my head.)

Wanting back again, this outfit felt like the start of a monumental shift—the singular drip that burst the perfectly as rugged, specialized wares went from menswear’s far more obscure corners into the mainstream. Now, as tumble turns into wintertime and the heavier coats arrive into rotation, it is all but assured that we’ll see plenty of fashionable dudes dressing like Frank Ocean, no matter if they suggest to or not.