IT started innocently enough, with the renaissance of the short-sleeve dress shirt, mantle of the geek, the square, the superhero in disguise.
Marc Jacobs, Alexander McQueen and the influential L.A. label Band of Outsiders offered classed-up versions last summer, and half of Hollywood maledom shrugged off their grungy T-shirts for a look that would've made their grandfathers proud.
By the fall, the cardigan was on the ironic rebound, turning up in collections from Trovata to Prada in cashmere so luxe Mr. Rogers would've wept.
And now, for summer, the style has come into its own, if you can say that about a look that's reminiscent of the fellows manning the desks at Mission Control during the Apollo era -- too immersed in the matters at hand to notice that changing times have pushed them to the outer margins of style and left them betrayed by cuffs hemmed a little too high, shirts tailored a little too tight and spectacles framed with plastic the density of Kevlar.
So why does raiding the IT department suddenly look so hot?
Partly, it's who's doing it. If one needed any proof that the previously unhip has become the dress code du jour, look no further than Maroon 5's frontman Adam Levine's concert uniform of slim, short-sleeve dress shirt by A.P.C., skinny black Dior Homme tie, black trousers by YSL and a clean-cut hairstyle. Or Adam Brody's quirky yet lovable style, honed while he was on "The OC" Or Milo Ventimiglia's on- and off-screen style. Ventimiglia, who plays male nurse-turned-superhero chameleon Peter Petrelli in "Heroes," is a guy who keeps it classic and trim -- and never leaves the house without a pen.
The look implies that a man is secure enough in his skin to wear milquetoast on his sleeve. All hail the beta male -- the guy instantly recognizable to anyone who grew up on comic books and archetypical superhero secret identities. But on "Heroes," Ventimiglia has to go from ordinary to extraordinary without the help of a costume change.
"One of the things they promised on the show was, no capes, no masks," Ventimiglia says. "Besides, Peter Parker is more interesting than Spider-Man and Bruce Wayne is more interesting than Batman -- there is conflict within a real person. As a superhero they can be [tough guys], running around and taking care of business. As a regular person, there's a struggle to do good or change things but from within the bounds of reality."
