On a sweltering afternoon early last month, Adam Newman, a 25-year-old Park Slope comedian who works for CollegeHumor.com, made a life-changing decision: He took scissors to a pair of brown corduroy pants and fashioned them into shorts.

“It’s getting hot and I’ve made up my mind. This summer, I’m wearing shorts!” Mr. Newman blogged recently. “I’ve always been an exclusively-pants guy, but I’m ready for change. No more sweating under the jeans at the park, I’m letting it breathe this year!”

Mr. Newman is not alone. A growing number of style-conscious men are becoming more comfortable with the idea of showing some leg during the hot summer months. No longer does it seem remarkable to see men—straight men—dressed in slim-fitting shorts that hang well above the knee, from conservatively dressed 9-to-5 Manhattan types, to Williamsburg hipsters who wear their cutoffs so high, it evokes the lyrics to the 1993 R&B hit “Dazzey Duks” (or The Dukes of Hazzard, depending on one’s age).

Famous fellas are flashing their thighs. Gossip Girl star Ed Westwick was photographed recently in a dark blue nautical pair of short-shorts; indie rock sensation
Devendra Banhart has been spotted in bright, retro-’70s athletic shorts; and professional hockey player turned Vogue intern Sean Avery has donned a plaid gray shorts-suit by Astor & Black for the office.

Mr. Avery’s building mate, Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter (who famously hates the word “donned”), was on the forefront of the shorts revolution. “I used to wear them on hot days at Spy, where our air conditioning was primitive,” he wrote in an e-mail, though he noted that he rarely wears shorts to his current job. “Condé Nast is quite generous with its air conditioning,” he said.

SWAYED BY SEERSUCKER

The slouchy khaki cargo short for weekends and the “on the way back from the gym” (or “on the way to softball”) nylon short has long been a staple of the urban male’s wardrobe. But fashion experts say there’s a new wrinkle to the trend.

“Guys are becoming more body-conscious, so shorts are a lot more prevalent this season,” said Lam Nguyen, a buyer at Barneys, where the men’s shorts stock has about doubled in quantity since last year. His preferred brands: Mason’s, Band of Outsiders, Prada and Thom Browne, which retail, on average, for between $140 and $160, and co-op Barneys own walking short, which goes for $75. And it’s not billowing pleats you’re paying for. “The newer silhouettes are all slimmer, chino types of shorts, fitted to the thigh,” Mr. Nguyen said. “A lot of designers have always tried it, but this summer it’s finally catching on.”

Why has it taken New York men so long to get over our deep-seated shorts aversion? Does it make us feel more masculine that we can withstand the heat even with stiff denim suffocating our calves and thighs? Or is it just that some of us are embarrassed of leg hair? Is it, as Mr. Nguyen surmised, a fear of seeming touristy in a high-fashion city? Or does it have more to do with the hypothesis, as Michael B. Dougherty, a research editor at Gotham magazine, put it, that there’s “something really defeatist” about shorts, kind of like wearing sweatpants when you get to the point of not caring how you look?

Until recently, Mr. Dougherty, who is 32 and lives on the Upper East Side, hadn’t owned a pair of casual shorts since he was in high school. Visiting his parents in Connecticut one hot Saturday a few weeks ago, however, after downing a few cocktails in one of the local shopping mall’s “fine-dining” establishments, he found himself wandering into J. Crew to purchase a pair of blue-striped seersucker shorts.

“It just seemed like a good idea,” said Mr. Dougherty, a self-proclaimed “anti-shorts guy” (he renounced them at age 21 while studying abroad in Italy, where skin-tight Diesel jeans are the norm). “I’ve been enjoying them, but there’s definitely still a bit of a moral dilemma, and a few minutes of standing in front of the mirror asking myself, ‘Can I go outside like this?’"

Mr. Newman, the comedian, admitted that he does indeed feel sort of funny wearing shorts in public. “I think shorts in general look pretty ridiculous.”

‘VERY FREEING’

How short is too short seems to be the question of the hour. And if you ask John McSwain, who works as an assistant editor for Vice magazine’s online television network, VBS.tv, he’ll tell you that four to seven inches above the knee (or perhaps even higher!) is about right.

Mr. McSwain, 27, of Greenpoint, is a shorts enthusiast who loves all styles, from Fred Perry tennis shorts to those little cutoff jeans that, when worn by women, are sometimes referred to as “boom-booms.” (Mr. McSwain alternately calls them his “redneck cutoffs.”)

“They’re very comfortable but sometimes completely impractical. I definitely also have some fun with them,” said Mr. McSwain, recognizing the ironic aspect of wearing shorts that look like they belong on an episode of Welcome Back Kotter. “They can be very freeing.”

The L.A.-based chain store American Apparel has been at the forefront of the men’s short-shorts trend, offering an array of skimpy vintage designs ranging from tiny poplin running shorts to thigh-hugging corduroy stretch pants that rise just above the knee.

Mathew Swenson, a spokesman for the company, said the male audience for short shorts, once exclusively the attire of trend-setting hipsters, has widened to include more mainstream types of guys who’d previously limited themselves to the baggier cargos and board shorts dominating the market—these days considered, perhaps, a bit dorky. “Now you prove your masculinity by wearing short shorts or pink underwear,” he said.

Some women, like Mr. McSwain’s friend Melissa Burgos, a 24-year-old fellow Greenpoint resident, enjoy the look.

“I’m totally into the denim cutoffs. Like, well above the knee. Thigh-grazing,” Ms. Burgos said. “A guy who is able to pull those off is obviously a confident one.”

But for other gals, shorts are and always will be a turnoff.

“There are two types of guys. There’s the guy who would not find himself dead in a pair of shorts, and then there’s the guy who would jump at the idea of wearing them, and I’m probably more partial to the first type of guy,” said Victorya Hong, the Brooklyn-based designer and former Project Runway contestant. “I’ve just always felt that shorts on men in the city is a big no-no. I guess I’m trying to stay true to the old school of thought that little boys are the ones who wear shorts, so the idea of an older man wearing them seems kind of juvenile to me.”

jpompeo@observer.com