The Ovie effect: Hawaiian shirt and bucket hat among ‘hottest' men’s products this summer

'Luxury beachwear is becoming an increasingly powerful menswear category'

(ITV)

Love Island might’ve come to an end, but it seems that the hype surrounding islander Ovie Soko’s idiosyncratic wardrobe lives on.

Soko was a sartorial hit throughout his stint on the ITV2 reality TV show, boasting an impressive collection of bucket hats and Hawaiian shirts that made him stand out in a group of men who mostly favoured white skinny jeans and polo tops.

According to the latest quarterly index from global fashion search platform Lyst, the 28-year-old's style choices seem to have hugely influenced consumer habits in recent months, with two of his staple looks making their way into the “hottest men’s products” list.

Prada’s banana and flame-covered Hawaiian shirt has been named the third hottest men’s product this quarter and the luxury Italian label’s nylon bucket hat ranks in sixth place.

While the clothes worn by Soko in the Mallorcan sunshine might not have necessarily been from Prada, they are strikingly similar from an aesthetic point of view.

“Luxury beachwear is becoming an increasingly powerful menswear category, with demand growing worldwide in terms of both search and sales,” Lyst’s report reads, citing male celebrities such as Jeff Goldblum and Pusha T for driving the trend.

Morgane Le Caer, fashion insights reporter at Lyst, adds that although Soko's influence is undeniable, his signature style has been popular for several months now.

"While Ovie might have come out of the Love Island villa as one of the British public’s biggest summer style inspirations, the Hawaiian shirt started its quiet comeback a few seasons ago," she tells The Independent.

"Along with the bucket hat, Hawaiian shirts have taken a place of pride in numerous spring/summer 2019 collections, benefiting from the industry’s current obsession with anything that would have belonged in our dads’ wardrobes back in the 1990s."

There have been more than 155,000 searches for printed shirts over the last three months, Lyst's report notes, with searches for Prada shirts up by 36 per cent in June.

Lyst’s quarterly index is compiled based on the online shopping behaviours of more than five million shoppers a month searching, browsing and buying fashion across 12,000 designers and stores online. The report also looks at social media metrics, taking into account follower growth, brand mentions and keywords.

As for the “hottest women’s products”, Off-White’s Virgil Abloh 1.4 Jitney bag leads the way in first place, followed by Teva’s Hurricane XLT2 sandals and the Chloé C mini croc-effect leather shoulder bag.

Usually the list of most-searched for products is occupied solely by designer labels, but Topshop has managed to find its way into this quarter’s list thanks to the high street retailer’s Strippy sandals, which rank in sixth place.

Elsewhere, Lyst has named Beyoncé and Rihanna as the “most powerful forces in fashion” this quarter thanks to their respective fashion ventures.

In April, Beyoncé revealed she would relaunching her athleisure brand, Ivy Park, which was formerly owned by Topshop. The "Run the World" singer announced she would work with Adidas for the range and had been appointed "creative partner" for the sportswear giant.

As for Rihanna, the singer made headlines in May for launching a new luxury fashion house under LVMH, Fenty, making her the first black female fashion designer to lead a brand under the French retail conglomerates.

In Lyst’s ranking of the hottest brands for this quarter, Gucci claims the top spot, followed by Off-White, which ranked first in last quarter’s list, Balenciaga, Valentino and Prada.

You can see the full report on Lyst here.