Why menswear went mad for the builder’s apron

Fashion has been through the workwear mill many times, from double denim to steel toe caps, passing by the ever-popular bleu de travail. Like sportswear that will never see any athletic activity, this utilitarian garb is just as unlikely to be fixing anything — and it’s everywhere. 

This season there’s an interesting verisimilitude to it. No “Taskrabbit” is going to splurge on one of Fendi’s denim or leather utility aprons for spring, but if they did, they’d find them fit for purpose. Along with all those pockets emblazoned with the label’s top-to-tail Fs — stuffed with genuine tools — they added dynamism to a collection shown at the brand’s shiny new factory in Capannuccia. The setting, a short drive from Florence, was the story: this is where stuff happens, where fashion gets made.

It suggests the wearer lives a certain kind of life — or has the potential for one

“I was inspired by the world of work,” says Silvia Venturini Fendi. “But not just workwear in the ‘blue-collar’ sense of the word. There’s this cinematic vision of the craftsman crouching over a table doing something repetitive, but today the reality is different. The Fendi factory looks more like a science lab. It’s where we do our innovation research and where we teach people all the skills they need to create a product from start to finish. I wanted to celebrate the incredible work they do.” 

Fendi says she made a point of bringing certain details to the fore in the collection: leather and accessories, of course, visible wefts on denim, highly technical braids, and “jacquards that we used to make in my grandmother’s days”.

Fendi leather toolbelt, £2,100

Engineered Garments cotton-mix FA Pants, £599

The new look of utility is as much about a dramatic flourish as it is the romance of craft. It’s been done with wit by some for many seasons: before Rick Owens was maxing out pocket sizes on his Bauhaus vests and shorts, there were zipped pockets in unexpected places on his boots — handy for keys, and anything else you might need to keep secreted about your person on a night out at Berghain.

Engineered Garments’ FA Pants have five pockets on the front and sides, and two on the back, while Hed Mayner’s latest collection took the utility waistcoat to absurdist extremes, the results looking like repurposed luggage. The Prada utility vest this season comes with 10 pockets, with shirt versions available if you don’t want to layer. The black and primary-red garments recall the kind of ’80s indie-scene Kensington Market finds that have inspired designer Raf Simons his whole career.

A certain kind of functional menswear has always offered a bounty of pockets. To construct them well is tricky, essentially adding a garment to a garment. “Useful luxury, from multiple pockets and leather aprons at Fendi, to Sacai’s collaboration with Carhartt WIP, is a nod to a brand’s craftsmanship,” says Bosse Myhr, director of menswear, womenswear and childrenswear at Selfridges. “Through the accentuation of workwear motifs, it throws garment construction into focus.”

Toogood proofed cotton Tinker gilet, £515

Applied Art Forms herringbone cotton twill Pm1-2 overshirt, €490

These utility-accented clothes suggest the wearer lives a certain kind of life, or at least has the potential for one. John Alexander Skelton’s spring collection features jackets and coveralls with substantial, diagonally placed pockets, inspired by the idea of the urban allotment. The designs from Toogood have always been labelled by a suggested profession: The Bricklayer, The Carpenter, The Engraver. This season, sisters Erica and Faye Toogood have done something more nuanced. The Tinker gilet has skewed proportions, with a folk tale in mind of an individual “roving the land dispensing utensils”. The Tailor Shirt has two ghost breast pockets, creating a visual sensation similar to one of Rachel Whiteread’s casts of interior architecture. (It’s particularly interesting in a season where the shirt pockets at Paul Smith, Ferragamo and elsewhere cover most of the front of the garment.)

Engineered Garments’ collection for spring is a mix of utility with preppy tropes. There are florals and baggy striped blazers, but also jackets that look like army surplus, with drawstrings and pockets decorated with stencil zip-code numbering and motifs that seem, from a distance, to be safety instructions. Several shirts from Applied Art Forms also feature graphics that sound instructional: “KEEP RAW EDGE” and “ADD PLACKET” have been chalked on denim, suggesting these are garments that aren’t quite finished yet. Designer Guy Berryman is aware that while utility is, yes, useful, it’s also a contrivance of style. 

“Pockets were clearly born as a functional addition to garments,” he says. “And once they may have been used for storage — images of a US soldier in Vietnam with a field jacket stuffed full with Marlboros, Zippo lighter, ration packs etc spring to mind. But in everyday life these pockets — which we love so much — have taken on a more aesthetic function. A pocket can break up a plain slab of fabric, which elevates the look. Quite simply, it’s ornamentation.” Which isn’t to say you can’t shove a trowel in one, on the way to your allotment.