When it comes to beachwear, fashion brands are missing a trick. Their summer collections for men focus almost exclusively on eyewear and swim shorts, leaving the entire top half of the male anatomy uncovered. Frescobol Carioca from Rio de Janeiro and Ripa Ripa from Milan rely on linen shirts and regular T-shirts to fill the gap. Orlebar Brown and Vilebrequin both have a rashguard range but these handful of items – compared with literally hundreds of pairs of shorts – can kindly be described as an afterthought designed to be hidden under a wetsuit. It’s high time that they smarten up. Sun protection has become a hot trend and there’s clearly a gap in the market for beautifully designed beach tops made from breathable materials that suit a languid day on the sand.
I speak from personal experience. I’ve been covering up for the past few years and my default top is a rashguard made by US diving brand Scubapro. I acquired it to report a Monocle story on kayaking in Hong Kong and I’ve been wearing it in the seas around Asia ever since. I also have a few Uniqlo Dry-Ex sports T-shirts on rotation. Not ideal but better than my poor back getting another roasting on the boozy beaches of Bali or while snorkeling in Lombok. Now that I have two kids to look after on the sand, I spend most of my time in Thailand standing in as a sunshade while slathering SPF50 onto the tiny slithers of young skin that are not covered by a waterproof hat or rashguard (which they wear like most other children as a matter of course).
The “dad bod” is another factor. A friend and fellow father in Dubai has started wearing a rashguard for this reason – getting in beach shape is one of the first things to go out of the window in parenthood. Two Western swallows with flabby tummies may not make a summer but how about a few hundred million Chinese, Japanese and Korean men? Both of us live in the East and this has certainly helped normalise our beach style choices. Since moving to Asia in 2014, I have been amazed by the lengths to which people will go to avoid getting a tan, protecting their faces and elaborate hairstyles with sun umbrellas and wide-brimmed golf visors. South Koreans lead the way. Beach parasols sit on street crossings in Seoul so that pedestrians waiting for traffic lights to change can stand in the shade. I once did a story about a surf town called Yangyang and the tiny amount of skin on display among the novice longboarders would make a Saudi Arabian beach look utterly debauched by comparison.
Some parts of the world will take more convincing than others – and there will be holdouts. I was recently back in Wales and the men in my hometown, Swansea, need little excuse to walk around with their tops off. But give it time. Fashion trends increasingly flow from east to west and this particular one taps into several major global shifts, including wellness and sustainability. Sunscreen is a smart choice for exposed skin but reusable hats, sleeves and rashguards are even better for our bodies and for the planet. They may even work out cheaper too, especially when factoring in all the lotion-damaged linen shirts and T-shirts hanging in wardrobes around the world.
Don’t get me wrong. Youngsters heading to the beach this summer can still flaunt their gym-sculpted torsos and reckless disregard for their skin health. Just spare a thought – and some fabric – for the rest of us.
James Chambers is Monocle’s Asia editor, based in Bangkok. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.
