Ever since the advent of the web, which is mostly user-generated, it is become increasingly easy to get inspired by clothing styles from around the world. There are so many street fashion blogs and websites available out there, that knowing what’s in style in Miami, Toronto, Helsinki or Tallinn is just one click away.

Cool Male Urban Clothing Trends for Winter 11-12

However, if you feel like you can’t spare your precious time on surfing the great Internet to keep updated on current street fashion urban clothing styles, don’t worry. That’s what we’re here for. This feature has collected and organized advice, tips and trends in all matters of cool attitudes and trending fashions, for your convenience and comfort. So get scrolling to learn what’s hot and what’s not on the urban fash scenes for the guys.

Drainpipe Denim Duds

Luckily, current urban clothing trends have veered away from the second-skin jean trend that swept hipster haunts a few seasons back. The daring design was, indeed, groundbreaking, but highly unflattering for most body types. Guys who don’t boast supermodel legs can now rest at ease (if they were ever worried to begin with). Current jean trends for guys are all about the drainpipe cut. It is, indeed, still a form-fitting cut, but the looser fit allows for a little leeway, some variation in design and, generally speaking, more variety to be seen when one walks down the street.

Regular old boot-cut jeans are still in, while wide-leg models seem to be fading out of style, making one wonder if the parachute pants phenomenon in the nineties ever happened or was just a bad dream. The main denim trend that can be noticed, however, is not about cut, but about colour. Darker blues, grey-ish blues, petrol blues, granite and graphite hues are the hottest ones this season. They create an optical illusion of longer, slimmer lower bodies, so we gladly welcome them to the scene.

Knitted Comfort

Knits exploded on the urban clothing scene roughly two seasons ago, when most ready-to-wear designers featured them on the runways for their fall/winter collections. One year later, knits don’t seem like they’ll be gone too soon, which is quite good news. Not only are they perfect to keep warm in winter, as well as very comfortable, but they also add a touch of class to any guy’s outfit. Collared cardigans with big buttons and a V-neck scoop are recommended for those feeling awful dashing, as well as those who are going in for the collegiate look.

The collegiate trend, as big as always with preppies, has also brought emblazoned or varsity cardis to the forefront of the fashion scene. Button-less, pull-down sweaters in neutral colours are also a big trend for this winter season, with various shades of khaki, brown and beige heavily featured.

Cool Kicks

While the urban clothing scene is constantly altering guises and coming up with new concepts, not much seems to have changed during the past few years in terms of cool guys shoes. Lace-up ankle winter boots are still all the rage, with somewhat bolder colours featured this season, such as red-brick brown, navy blue, camel beige and burgundy. In terms of trainers and sneakers, it’s still all about brand names. Nike’s line features several high-top models in suede that are more elegant than what they’ve gotten us used to so far. Puma trainers are available in bright, vibrant colours such as red, yellow and green.

The Nike 6.0 collection is evidently geared toward the more urban set, as most featured footwear will go great with wide-legged pants and hoodies. Meanwhile, this season’s innovation from Vans is their range of products in Italian black leather, which features slip-ons, low-tops and high-tops, too.

Guest blog by Paul Estcott