A recurring motif - Think big and make the cut with this year's most wearable menswear trend

Statement placements or splattered all over, the motif is the big story of spring/summer menswear. Lee Holmes decodes some of fashion’s favoured graphics

Prada Spring-Summer 2016 (Getty)

Since the lunar landings of the 1960's, space and the exploration of it, has never failed in capturing the imagination of almost everyone. Fashion designers are no exception; in the same decade Paco Rabanne created the wardrobe for Jane Fonda in the sci-fi cult film Barbarella, while as recently as 2007 the Italian label Dolce and Gabbana sent models dressed as astronauts down their catwalk.

Nowadays, the idea of travelling to the moon has become a little passé. Instead, it's the exoplanets - worlds light years away that may actually harbour other life - that fire our imaginations. And again, designers are quick on the uptake; this summer J.W. Anderson, for the Spanish label Loewe, used space rockets and planets as his motif of choice. Emblazoned across both the clothes and leather accessories, these interstellar patterns gave the collection a Boys' Own sense of adventure. Miuccia Prada was another – if we’re talking Kubrick, the intarsia-knit rockets adorning sweaters at her spring/summer 2016 menswear show last June had shades of Danny Torrance in The Shining rather than A Space Odyssey.

Loewe Spring-Summer 2016

In fact, it is the motif – either a single-placed graphic, or its repetition to form a pattern - that has become one of the easier menswear trends to wear this year. But unlike Prada and Anderson, other designers chose to stay earth bound. Christopher Raeburn used a monkey motif, Paul Smith opted for one of the world strongest animals, the tiny ant, while Alexander McQueen adorned shirts, sweatshirts and shorts with Leviathan-inspired monsters.

By using such imposing motifs, what's blindingly obvious is that it'll take more than a flounce of a patterned pocket square to do real justice to this trend. So, take a deep breath, be brave and like many of the patterns used, think big. However, whatever motif you plump for, you ought to know that you should never wear it from head to toe. Keep your print to just one garment; a soupçon of restraint is always a good thing.