Why Short Shorts Are Summer's Number One Look

From tiny, thigh-baring shorts like those worn by Paul Mescal to loose, baggy shorts, there's a style for everyone.

Move over, Dad, summer body. It’s little dad summer season. Everyone’s favorite dad-in-training, Paul Mescal, who played a father in 2022’s heartbreaking Aftersun , has often been seen in soccer shorts. The airy garment leaves room for movement. Think: What you (or your dad) wore in the ’90s.

Mescal's advocacy for short shorts appears to have inspired luxury fashion houses this summer, particularly Gucci, which presented 40 pairs of shorts on the runway of its Spring/Summer 2025 men's show in Milan, and where Mescal was seen sitting in the front row in a dressier outfit. , a white pinstriped version of his go-to shorts, replete with white socks, horsebit loafers and a blue Oxford shirt that matches his eyes, unbuttoned just to the navel.

“I am a strong advocate of men wearing shorter shorts,” Mescal said GQ about the look. “In my opinion, it's a question of proportion: shorter shorts with maybe a longer top. »

But British Vogue editor Chioma Nnadi disagrees that Mescal got the proportions right. She told Vogue's The Run Through podcast that she “feels[s] like he's on the verge of not making it.” Nnadi's co-host Chloe Malle warned “not to [to] “Try this at home, boys!”

Tom Fitzgerald, half of the Tom and Lorenzo Lorenzo Marquez's podcast and website, along with his husband, agrees, telling the BBC that while the couple generally enjoy seeing Mescal's “Irish moneymakers,” the Gucci outfit seemed “a bit ridiculous” to them. To be clear, we don't think a man should care whether or not he has Mescal-level legs if he wants to air out his thighs for the summer. Too many people are too concerned about men having to show a little skin, and we think everyone should just relax and let the breeze hit them where it never goes. The Earth is on fire. Let the guys calm down.”

“I don’t know if I’m ready for a man in his underwear,” Nnadi continued on The Run Through. “And I should be, because you see it on women all the time.”

Who else remembers the days of wearing boxer shorts under their school uniform? Yes, but maybe my high school was just lax about uniform enforcement. Women's fashion seems to be bringing back boxers and board shorts, as seen on the Miu Miu catwalks.

Darnell Mitchell, a New York personal shopper for a suit company who has dressed the likes of Taye Diggs and Anderson Cooper, typically helps style men, but when working with women, he “love a nice pair of short shorts, and play on whether they were dressed up or not,” he told the BBC. “Take a pair of shorts, throw them on with a nice jacket or a third layer of some [kind]a pair of heels and a cute camisole top or classic white shirt for men! I was just like, “How would Carrie Bradshaw dress this?” »

Many of us will be delighted to see shapely thighs on display this summer, but an even tougher trend is resurfacing alongside short shorts: long denim shorts, or “jorts” as they're commonly known.

Writer and improbable model Jason Diamond kisses the Jort now that he's a new dad. While his wife begged him to abandon cut-off jeans in his thirties, considering them childish, she recently asked him to bring them out again.

“I guess becoming a dad is like a sort of fountain of youth where you can wear jeans turned into shorts again,” he told the BBC.

Colman Domingo, who normally does nothing wrong, donned a pair of dark pleated denim pants at the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2025 menswear show in Paris. It’s very difficult to make the Rustin star look like a bad person, and he just barely managed it (I just want to talk about those cowboy boots, though), but how can mere mortals avoid resembling American actor and wrestler John Cena while also following the trend also highlighted by Bally, Balenciaga and Loewe X Paula's Ibiza?

“We’re sorry to say that Jorts will never truly go away, which means they are, by definition, a modern classic,” Fitzgerald says, warning “enthusiasts” not to try the version seen on Domingo, but instead to dress them up. Pair them with a knit polo and casual Vans. Mitchell, meanwhile, says the angel is in the details: “Large-scale artwork, frayed bottoms, sleek drawstrings, thoughtful patches—all of these take them from John Cena to intentional.”

But ultimately, the biggest asset is knowing your body. “I’m a big believer in the principle that anyone can, for the most part, wear anything, regardless of gender, as long as it feels good,” Mitchell continues. “Honestly, it’s just a matter of confidence.”