Southern Style: Charleston Menswear is on the Move

Charleston, South Carolina, like the rest of the Deep South, lives at a leisurely pace. The weather's steamy down there, and it doesn't pay to move too fast. This seems to apply to men's fashion as much as anything else; traditional looks have long ruled menswear racks on King Street, the city's swankiest shopping district.

But if the South as a whole has become the surprising stomping grounds of a new breed of American designer (Nashville, Tennessee, is now home to highest concentration per capita of fashion companies outside of L.A. and New York), Charleston's fashion scene is flowering, too.

Slow and Steady

"We do have some menswear companies now," confirms Cadyn Scott, spokesperson for Charleston-based accessories company Brackish. "J. Stark is a unisex bag company, but I think it appeals a little bit more to men. Fashion in general is growing here. Taxidermy handcrafts python and leather bags out of Charleston, and they've gotten a lot of attention lately. We have a fashion week that has expanded significantly. It started out as more of a local thing, but now we have people like (New York Fashion Week creator) Fern Mallis coming for the shows."

That's not to say that Southern men's fashion generally, and Charleston men's fashion specifically, is suddenly looking like Stanley Tucci's duds in "The Hunger Games." This is a more gentle evolution, according to Jordan Lash, who just debuted the haberdashery Jordan Lash Charleston on King Street.

"Southern men's fashion to me is no longer just 'preppy,'" Lash notes. "I truly feel it has evolved past that. The Southeastern customer is starting to understand the word contemporary -- or at least partially what it means -- and gets the trimmer fit pant, just not the trimmer tops. I don't blame them, because it's way too humid and too hot most of the year. The younger clientele is starting to jump on this short sleeve woven kick that has a bit of a retro vibe -- (Atlanta-based) Southern Proper has wild prints in short sleeve button downs."

Reimagining a Classic

Meanwhile, Brackish, five years old on April 25, has mashed up quintessential Southern style with new millennium charm to create a line of brilliantly hued feather bow ties and accessories that is going gangbusters. Handmade in Charleston, they're priced at $165 and up. Sales are in the millions, thanks in part to their availability in Neiman Marcus stores and a 2014 Oscar appearance courtesy of presenter Bill Murray. The feathers, which are sustainably sourced, give a nod to the South's much-ballyhooed huntsman heritage. Brackish also exposes its roots with its signature accessory.

"Throughout the South and in Charleston specifically, the bow tie is an everyday thing," says Scott. "We have customers that wear them to work, or wear them casually, and that's a really Southern-inspired idea, that a bow tie isn't specific to formal dress. I think people like that our ties are a modern twist on something so classic. We see those two elements coming together in Charleston all of the time -- preppy and more fashion-forward. Our brand is a good example of that."

Suit Spot

Even longtime King Street clothier Ben Silver has been tinkering with their menswear to suit the evolving Southern style. "Milk and sugar" seersucker suits are still all the rage in Charleston, along with white linen pants and bright, cheerful colors in cotton for summer. Spring, however, is bringing a shift into more muted hues than usual for the company, including cranberry, tan and teal; this isn't the only update.

"Men's fashion in the South is definitely headed toward more of a casual, sport-driven look," explains Allison Waters, Ben Silver sales and customer relations representative. "For example, we just started a new line of jackets last year called The Threads Collection that are unlined, with more natural shoulders, and we have a two-button jacket as opposed to three, because it's more comfortable."

There's no telling precisely where Charleston's fashion scene might be headed. But chances are that it will arrive with sophisticated flair, in its own good time.