For or against Paul Mescal’s (very) short shorts?

“I’m a strong advocate of men wearing short shorts,” Paul Mescal told the media GQ: on June 17 during the Gucci Spring-Summer 2025 fashion show presented in Milan. The 28-year-old Irish actor appeared at the Italian house’s show that day wearing a blue shirt, white socks and moccasin combo and micro shorts that stopped just above his thighs. Short enough to set social media on fire. “She better not wear shorts,” said one user of X, “The King of Shorts,” tweeted another. As a last act of courage. the bottom of his shirt was deliberately opened, delicately exposing his lower stomach.

This is not the first time that the actor has publicly admitted his passion for short shorts. Very tight models that he chooses are either striped, like pajama bottoms (or boxer shorts, it depends), or synthetic when he’s photographed mid-run. Jogging pants are not in Paul Mescal’s fashion vocabulary. for the star Normal people (2020), there’s nothing better than super short shorts and an athleisure hoodie. A sketch that is shared even within the editorial staff Madame Figaro.

“For Hanu”, journalist Augustin Bougro’s opinion.

Men’s shorts have a bright future, which is justified by two points. First, and several netizens share this opinion on social media, it’s changing and it’s sexy. Fashion has taught men to hide in suits for centuries. it offers them useful, functional and, admittedly, slightly boring clothing. In contrast to the increasingly bare women on the fashion week catwalks, the trend has been sparked by ‘it-girls’ like Anya Taylor-Joy, who are having a lot of fun with the very short and see-through. If Emily Ratajkowski can rock a sheer dress at the 2024 Met Gala, why shouldn’t Paul Mezcal be allowed to show a little skin on the front row of the Gucci show? Whatever you say, it is very fashionable. The trend on TikTok is called “Slutty shorts” and refers to these athletic shorts, which were sexualized by stars in the 80s when fitness was on TV, like Tom Selleck, who wore them in tight versions.

The mini-short is also subversive in its scale, as men’s fashion tends to invert gender codes over the seasons. A phenomenon that reached unprecedented proportions during the imprisonment spread by Harry Styles and immortalized today by Jacob Ellordi or Jeremy Allen White. This change can also be seen in fashion shows that increasingly promote gender confusion. And make “too short” your new ally in men’s fashion. Three pieces no longer visible and reviewed. hello, the colorful micro-shorts we wear with a long coat, as seen at Gucci, or the shirt we associate with the low-rise jeans seen at the latest Dsquared2 show.

“Against”, journalist Alexandra Marchand’s opinion.

We may not object to the idea of ​​a man wearing cut-off shorts, especially if they’re well-dressed. Like Paul Mescal, this outfit takes on a preppy look when topped off with a well-ironed shirt and a pair of buckled loafers. But, in my opinion, these new standards of “sexual” do not pass. Let it be said that the shorter the shorts, the greater the risk of revealing private parts. Especially since spicy underwear is not very pleasant for a man to wear. All body types should also be considered. if paul mescal’s protruding thighs are a sensation on the nets, will success taste the same if a thinner man wears said shorts? Because right now the trend is more towards a muscular butt. “Over time, the view of the practice of bodybuilding has evolved. Today, men are less shy about working out their glutes,” trainer Nordin Attab told us at the beginning of the year. And what’s better than short shorts to accentuate a rounded butt?

Finally, this garment is not without its associated clichés. It may resemble the typical uniform of the golden youth of St. Tropez. The one who proudly wears powder pink Ralph Lauren mini shorts while popping a bottle of champagne on a yacht. Not forgetting “manspreading”, a concept coined by American feminists that defines masculine behavior consisting of sitting with your legs open in a public place to take up all the space. It’s hard to imagine glamorous shorts if a man chooses this crotch-sculpting sitting position.

So, microshorts for men, a clothing revolution or a bad genre?