Below the knee

1. Length is the message

Marie Claire is seeing broad Bermudas cover the knee in Copenhagen, while Vogue places big below-the-knee lengths among spring 2027’s defining menswear signals. The important point is not the shorts category itself but the proportional shift: a summer look for men no longer has to end at the thigh or the ankle. The calf becomes a deliberately framed area.

For a men’s skirt, that creates room for precision. A hem sitting six to twelve centimetres below the knee feels mobile without looking short, and urban without losing the composure of a longer skirt. It lets the cloth move, reveals the entire shoe and gives the silhouette a more compact rhythm than an ankle-length column.

2. A city kilt, not a Bermuda imitation

The distinction should read instantly. A city kilt has an undivided front: a deep wrap overlap, a clean apron with side knife pleats, or a closed column released by a discreet walking pleat. No centre construction should suggest trouser legs, and no accidental opening should turn movement into unwanted exposure.

Tropical wool holds a crisp pleat; cotton-nylon gives a utility kilt dry structure; washed linen needs a generous overlap; wool crepe builds the most elegant column. A broad internal finish gives the hem enough weight to return to position after every stride rather than flicking about.

A good city kilt contains no less construction than trousers. It simply displays it across a different plane.

3. Keep the middle visible

The more deliberate the below-knee length, the more disciplined the upper half. A cropped technical jacket ends at the high hip and leaves the waistband legible; a regular unlined blazer stays open and defines shoulder and chest. An overlong overshirt is less convincing because it conceals half the skirt and creates two competing hems.

Vogue Runway and Wallpaper* describe Thom Browne’s SS27 menswear through light poplins, unlined tailoring, pleated skirts and abbreviated preppy layers. It is not a ready-made Nino Cappello formula, but it proves the proportion: skirt, jacket and shirt can remain exact, separate elements. The eye needs a lucid order—shoulder, waist, hem, boot.

4. Socks and boots make the bridge

The space between hem and shoe must never look accidental. For the strictest line, a ribbed knee sock reaches just beneath the skirt; for a lighter version, leave four to eight centimetres of calf visible. The sock should follow either the skirt or the boot. A loud contrasting colour would chop the vertical line into unrelated blocks.

Polished derby boots sharpen charcoal pleats. Matte lace-ups ground an olive utility wrap. Dark-brown ankle boots bring linen into the city, while a slim black side-zip boot carries a Parisian column skirt into evening. The sole should feel substantial, not cumbersome: authority without armour.

5. Men Can: no alibi required

The city kilt does not succeed because it might be mistaken for a Bermuda. It succeeds because men can choose a hem that combines movement, ventilation and presence. Thom Browne has shown men in skirts for decades; Prada’s SS27 note centres conscious choice, clarity and a controlled linear silhouette. Together, those ideas reach the point: freedom is convincing when it is precisely made.

Men Can therefore does not soften the word skirt. It builds the garment properly and wears it calmly. Made in Italy is visible in the waistband position, pleat depth, hem weight and the way cloth returns after every step. Confidence begins where a choice no longer requires a defence.