Could the 5-inch Inseam Bring Back Short Shorts for Men?
The 5-inch inseam is all the rage, but the trend might not be as new as you think.
Every year, shorts are supposed to be a different length it feels like. For 2024, the latest length being adopted by people could be saying that short shorts for men are back. The 5" inseam is everywhere, and with a bit more thigh showing, it's hard to disagree.
Like most articles of clothing, the popular style of shorts seems to change every few years, and 2024 is no different. For a while, women's shorts were most popular if they were styled as short as possible, but recently it's become popular to wear longer cargo shorts and capris again. For men's fashion, shorts in the past couple of decades have been popularly worn in longer styles. Celebrities like Adam Sandler became known for a style of baggy shorts reaching the knees.
This year, short shorts are trending for guys. Specifically, the 5-inch inseam. The inseam of a pair of shorts describes the length that a pair of shorts is when measured from the crotch to the bottom of the hem.
Paul Mescal has been photographed a number of times sporting what appear to be 5-inch inseams, spurring several trending posts online, and many other male celebrities have followed suit. In a conversation with Dakota Johnson published by Interview magazine, Mescal said that the shorts were “the most ridiculous things on planet earth,” and that he’s “got a pretty extensive short shorts wardrobe.”
Harry Styles joined in the short shorts trend for Gucci’s GucciFest in 2021 with a pair of distressed denim shorts, proving to be an early indicator of the trend.
At Copenhagen Fashion Week this year, many male attendees were spotted out in short shorts to various fashion shows. At New York Fashion Week in 2023, celebrity stylist Law Roach stepped out in leather shorts to attend a fashion show. Clearly, a 5-inch inseam can be dressed up or down depending on the occasion.
Though it’s been reinvigorated recently, this isn’t the first time that men have been wearing shorter-than-average shorts. The trend also looks back at actors and artists like John Travolta and Elton John in the 1970s and 80s. Shorts became regularly worn by men and women in the 1950s, and the creation of swim trunks saw a number of men spending their summers surfing in short boardshorts.
In the 1980s, athleisure clothing was popularized. The style of dolphin shorts became popular among men and women alike, soft terry cloth or nylon shorts named after the Dolfin swimwear company that originally made them.
Men’s fashion has become increasingly less gendered. It makes sense that the styles of shorts available to them would increase. The cropped up short offers more mobility, movement, and the same stylish advantages any trend ever does.
