Mariyam Meeran There’s a very specific chaos to a blazer that’s two sizes too big, sleeves swallowing your hands, shoulders somewhere around your elbows, and somehow, it’s the best outfit she’s worn all month. Welcome to “dad style,” the trend where looking like you raided your father’s closet is the entire point.
That denim jacket from 1998 was never bought with fashion in mind, it was just a good jacket that happened to last. He’s worn the same leather belt since her childhood. His old varsity sweater has survived more decades than most Instagram trends will ever see. And somehow, none of that stopped it from becoming the exact aesthetic everyone’s chasing right now.
This isn’t the first time menswear snuck into womenswear (thank you, decades of borrowed blazers and boyfriend jeans), but dad style hits different. It’s not “inspired by menswear” in some abstract runway sense. It’s inspired by one very specific man’s closet, worn-in, a little dated, and somehow exactly right. The baggier, the more “why does this still exist,” the better.
Here’s the secret nobody tells you: the fit is supposed to look wrong. That’s the whole bit. A jacket that swallows her, jeans that pool at the ankles, a tee so oversized it could double as a nightgown. It’s giving “stole this on the way out the door” energy, and somehow that’s exactly the vibe.
There’s also a sneaky little rebellion buried in here. In an industry obsessed with next season, dad style says: nah, this jacket is older than some of the people wearing it, and it still slaps. Thrifted, hand-me-down, borrowed straight from the source, it’s proof that clothes don’t need to be brand-new to look like you know exactly what you’re doing.
Styling it is basically a game of contrast. Throw the giant jacket over a tiny top. Pair boxy with fitted. Add a heel or a bold lip so nobody thinks you got dressed in the dark. The bigger and clunkier the borrowed piece, the more intentional the rest of the outfit needs to feel.
At the end of the day, dad style isn’t really about the clothes. It’s about walking around in something that’s lived a whole life before you, a little worn-in, a little oversized, a little “this doesn’t quite make sense but I love it anyway.”
And turns out her dad, who’s spent years telling her to “get those ripped jeans fixed,” has literally never once complimented an outfit of hers, except the times she’s wearing his old jacket. Joke’s on him: turns out his was the style all along.
