The louche look has infiltrated pop culture, too: See HBO’s “Minx,” a show about erotic magazine publishing in the ’70s, and R&B duo Silk Sonic’s Bruno Mars and Anderson. Brands like Gucci, Celine and Japan’s Kapital are tempting post-WFH hedonists with flared pants, beastly prints and slinky silk shirts that seemingly refuse to be buttoned.
Benson has plenty to choose from: A ’70s disco-meets-glam-rock look is permeating men’s fashion like clouds of Marlboro smoke wafting across the dance floor at Xenon, the even sleazier rival to Studio 54. Plus, he says, he’s found this high-octane style “very fun” to embrace. Whether rendered in “buttery” lambskin, slippery silk or “tough” snakeskin, they stimulate the senses in ways the cotton sweats of the WFH era cannot. Benson, a marketing director in Edmonton, Alberta, started emulating 1970s rock stars and “Boogie Nights” extras because he likes not just the look but the sensual feel of these finds. These slithery numbers joined other items with a whiff of debauchery in his wardrobe: a prowl of silky animal-print shirts (tiger, leopard) crocodile-embossed-leather loafers and olive-green leather pants from the in-house line of Swedish store Très Bien. SIX MONTHS AGO Justin Benson, 38, purchased a pair of boots in faux-snakeskin with cream-and-black scales.
