Impractical, ill-fitting and genderless, exaggerated length sleeves may be the new wave. Although the style used to feel better suited to moody high school sophomores, elongated sleeves that create a lumbering, slouchy silhouette now are in peak trend within fashion. It’s come a long way since Hot Topic hoodies with thumb holes for added swag. Nearly every runway collection this season showed a multitude of extra long sleeve looks as the comfortable, non-functional garments are essentially a luxury streetwear staple. The key is to make sure that the sleeves are the only oversized element of the look, pairing them with form fitting jeans or tights and miniature jackets. Although most of the current extended sleeve trend is derived from Vetements and Hood By Air’s SS15 collections, there have been a couple other instances within the history of fashion that are worth noting.
Vetements FW16 Runway Show
photo credit: Imaxtree
In 1992, Martin Margiela showed his collection at a Salvation Army depot in Paris. Favoring venues like abandoned lots, derelict hospitals and decaying supermarkets, Margiela was a designer whose eye was permanently trained on the marginal. Not surprisingly, his sleeves were habitually and inordinately long. Perhaps this had an influence on Vetements creative director Demna Gvasalia, as he used to work for Margiela, and is most certainly influenced by the brand.
Another instance of extended sleeves entering the luxury market was in 2001 via Raf Simons, whose namesake underground label became famous in the late 90s and early 00s for incorporating punk and industrial styles into high-end menswear. Some would argue that his most famous move was his elevation and exaggeration of the mass-market hoodie. For his 2001 “riot, riot, riot” collection, he designed one with massively extended arms of nearly rococo proportions, bunching up over the tops of the models hands like pirate sleeves.
Around 2014, the mindset within fashion shifted to designers focusing heavily on street wearable, unisex fashion rather than dressing women exclusively in tight dresses and high heels and men in classic tailored garments. Presenting a cast of models that truly represents a full spectrum of gender, race, age sexuality and identity is now the standard. More and more designers have been opting for clothing that flows, hangs off, and distorts the body and its proportions in a playful way. Deliberately ill-fitting clothing means commanding attention while remaining indifferent to what’s considered normal. The stand-offish trend started trickling down the runways back in FW14 when brands like Stella McCartney, The Row, and Céline put exaggerated sleeves on oversized knitwear and structured blouses. Hood by Air and Vetements made more gender-removed, classic graphic ultra long-sleeved garments among other pieces that had been subverted to distort the standard fit for human bodies. Season after season, more designers followed suit.
JW Anderson SS17 Runway Show
photo credit: Kim Weston Arnold / Indigital.tv
Vetements FW16 collection was full of the exaggerated, super long sleeves that are the direct inspiration for a lot of the streetwear being worn by musicians, designers and artists within the underground scene. FW16 also saw more traditional brands such as Michael Kors and Proenza Schouler adapting the new sleeve length into the mainstream luxury consumer market. SS17 saw pretty much every brand imaginable incorporating the extra long sleeves. In fact, at JW Anderson’s show, the sleeves nearly touched the ground. In London, Liam Hodges’s collection was a patriotic homage to Britain’s blue-collar culture. He did classic punk-stitching type experiments that patched Dickies’ workwear pieces together with oversized sleeves finishing at uneven angles. Off-White’s SS17 runway show featured lots of rock and roll graphic intarsia knit sweaters with extra long sleeves. Chanel, Dior, Marc Jacobs, Nicopanda, and pretty much every other brand has been toying with the long sleeves ever since.
Some aspects of the extended-length sleeves are utilitarian and comfort-based. They keep your hands warm, save you money on gloves and act as a makeshift cloth, ensuring your surrounding areas are always clean. Long sleeves are also good for hiding chipped nails, wrist scars, tattoos, lack of jewelry, etc. The extra long sleeves also have an association with wealth because of the price points of the garments and popularity within the luxury market but even more so from its association with the opposite of wealth: dearth. The extended sleeves are the fashionableness of being marginal; the edginess of living on the edge. On a darker note, overly long sleeves also connote poverty, cold and insanity.
photo credit: Above Heaven, model credit: @heshnigga
The obvious reference point attaching the sleeves to the underground music scene right now is the schlubby ’90s, specifically grunge and skate culture. With the recent popularity of Kurt Cobain as an icon and subject to rap about and dress like, it comes as no surprise that a resurgence of grunge styles are also emerging. The hyper long sleeve trend seems to translate really well to the underground music scene as plenty of artists have been caught wearing the extra long sleeved garments. It all started with Horsehead and Lil Tracy wearing these particular distressed grey and white horizontal striped shirts with super long sleeves what seemed like every day for months. This all happened in September 2016 when LA-based designer, Above Heaven, released a super limited edition of only 6 shirts. A perfect layering piece, they both styled the shirt to go underneath smaller t-shirts and wore it with a variety of outfits. All types of photos that would later become immortalized by social media were taken in the shirts and they became an instant classic.
photo credit: Young Thug
Another popular brand that has been making waves within the underground scene with great extended length sleeves is Menyelek. They managed to get Young Thug draped up in one of their distinct saturated color hyper-grandma knit sweaters. Menyelek also makes the ultimate one of a kind shredded thrash punk patched up band tee conglomerations with asymmetrical, extra long sleeves. Italian streetwear designer Demian Renucci was another early designer within the underground scene to put the extra long sleeves sleeved shirts into relevancy. His consistent branding features lots of bold taping with supergraphic typography. His classic super long sleeved shirts emerged in the spring of 2016 and were spotted on all the Instagram fashion influencers for the season.
photo credit: Demian Renucci, model credit: @i.ndyamaria_
Perhaps the extra long sleeve trend leverages sloppiness as a signifier of power. Baggy clothing reflects a feeling that one is so independent and untouchable that there is no longer a need to dress up for anybody anymore. With sleeves so long that texting, holding drinks, and shaking hands are impossible, it is assumed that somebody else will take care of those things on your behalf. Everyone is going to the gym to work out and you’re hiding away in thick cotton from the neck down to your fingernails.
It’s an ultimate luxury to be able to look bad and appear completely unbothered in a world that is constantly trying to bother you. Though they hint at destitution, excessive sleeves also convey the opposite, which is the hands-free existence of the ultra-leisured class. A staple piece to be reworn, extra long sleeved shirts add a bit of flair to any outfit and can be mixed and matched with almost anything. Ultra comfortable, this trend is perfect for days where you just want to hide and have fun.