What? Bad Bunny is evolving!
The weirdification of menswear is ongoing, and we approve this message. Guys should be able to wear whatever they want and feel good doing it. But there's also been a wider return to nice, normal, classic suits. At the month-long calendar event that fashion types often refer to as The Shows, Canali, Emporio Armani and Givenchy were but three brands to luxuriate in suits everyone can wear. And the guests were at it to: Theo James, in Armani, being one particular highlight.
Of all the big names to go normie though, we didn't have Bad Bunny at the top of the list. And yet that's what we got at the Grammys 2023: a founding member of the big fit set in clothes that were, by Bad Bunny's standards, pretty quiet (but still pretty good, and still inherently Bunny).
The black suit was a power lift that didn't try too hard. The fit was slightly boxy. The cuffs hit in all the right places. And the shirt: crisp, and traditional. As in 'you're the plus one to a wedding where you don't really know the bride or groom and thus don't feel it's appropriate to show off crisp and traditional. And it's a solid move. Men have worn the same kind've single-breasted suits for years. That's not because we're inert dolts – there are tonnes of alternatives to the classic suit – but because they just look sick, and always have.
Bad Bunny's normie evolution is, true to form, slightly ab-normie. North of the suit was a Green Dodgers cap. Backwards. Normjock, if you will. While it gives a small nod to the early-00s exaltation of Fred Durst fratboy era, it's the sort of IDGAF mixing that's an integral chapter in Bad Bunny's playbook. This is a guy that's usually dripping in Versace. He wears checks and florals and knits and prints in one look. He wears massive trousers. Topping a classic suit with a baseball cap may seem like a quieter take, but it's a combo that works – and it's still an unusual one.
Opening the Grammys 2023 with an explosive act, and then collecting the gong for Best Música Urbana album, you could think that the red carpet look was quiet in comparison. And you'd be wrong.
