At 30, Drake is still broadening the styles he absorbs and revises.Ethan Miller/Getty Images
When you reach a certain age, you tend to keep dressing yourself the same way. People – not all people, but a lot of people – find a style that works for them and stick with it. For many men staring down 30, the slim silhouette is here to stay: Having come of age in trim suits, sleek streetwear and skinny jeans, they'll be scouring for Levi's 511s and begging tailors to take in jackets for decades to come.
Sticking to one style, however narrow, can be narrow-minded. For all that skinny jeans can claim their origins in punk, they're hardly its only icon. Kim Jones, artistic director of Louis Vuitton's ready-to-wear men's wear, designs with the broader feel of punk, including its ethos of challenging what came before. While he kept things relatively trim last year, at his Paris Fashion Week spring-summer 2018 men's show on Thursday, he hinted at a more relaxed, easygoing future, with a billowy, bulkier, broader collection. With a new song, Signs, Drake gave it a fitting soundtrack.
Curating the show's music was Oliver El-Khatib, Drake's long-time co-manager, who used the opportunity to premiere songs from their OVO Sound label, including by signees Majid Jordan. Signs closed the affair, showcasing a Drake that wants to slow down and stretch out. "I gotta catch myself / I can't play myself / I need to take it easy," he sings.
The song is a natural extension of Drake's variations on the junction of Caribbean dancehall and pop that make More Life, the playlist-slash-album he released in March, one of his most interesting projects to date. But unlike the neon Nintendo night ride of Passionfruit, More Life's pop standout, Signs splashes synths more sparingly over its dancehall rhythm, building out the sound by giving it more space. If Passionfruit doesn't become 2017's song of the summer, Signs might go for the throne. "Vacation's done," he sings, "but I'm not finished."
It's a relaxed song to soundtrack Jones's relaxed look. Some of Drake's nineties-kid peers might conflate such styles with dated memories – Val Kilmer's 1995 portrayal of Bruce Wayne comes to mind – but they offer room to breathe. Just like the spaciousness of Signs, and the growing expanse of Drake's palette, the approach is less confining. At 30, Drake is still broadening the styles he absorbs and revises.