Nicholas Higgins 05/05/2020

In Praise of the Suit

‘Cause every girl’s crazy bout a sharp dressed man’, ZZ Top

Is not a suit the very visible expression of western capitalism’s monopoly on fashion? The suit standardises how we present ourselves in a work setting. They express dull conformity, that everyone should look, dress and be the same. The suit smothers man’s desire to express his individuality. They are a bourgeois tool of oppression, a corporate noose around the neck.

Suits are undeniably associated with ‘power dressing’. In the 20th century, they were worn by those who ‘ruled the world’; Mad Men’s Don Draper chooses the suit to shamelessly exude his manly virility, machismo and power. If what we wear articulates our beliefs, then wearing a suit seems an especially toxic way to do it. Not to mention that they’re expensive and uncomfortable.

The collar, jacket and tie have thus been heaved into the sartorial scrapheap of history. Reserved only for weddings, funerals, court appearances and job interviews. According to a study of 2000 office workers, only 1 in 10 now wear a suit to work. J. P Morgan and Goldman Sachs both lightened their dress codes to ‘business casual’ in 2016.

Where wearing a suit used to be a necessity, now its actively discouraged. 43% of office workers believe the business suit no longer has a place in the office, and if they saw a colleague wearing a suit to work, they’d stick out like a soar thumb. This stands for outside the office too. Where people used to dress up big time for restaurants, movies and even flying, now the maxim ‘anything goes’ reigns supreme.

These critiques are the child of cynical modernity, one that worships comfort and individual choice, and chides elitism in any shape or form. They are in my mind misguided.

Maybe suits enforced a ‘mass conformity’ a century ago, but this does not stand true today. Now we have a choice in what to wear, and to consciously choose a suit is to go right against the grain. The suit wearer is a needle in a haystack of sneaker collecting, chino sporting, Ralphy worshipping, yuppies. He shows the world that he might have a sense of fashion, and its corollary, identity, that is unique and his own. He’s marked out from the drab, identikit hordes on the morning commute.

And contrary to popular belief, wearing a suit need not mean resorting to some dismal M and S sack. Tailoring has always been remarkably diverse. From the small jacket and floppy trousers of the thirties to the zoot-suit of the forties; from the Beat suits of the Beatles to the the Disco-flared suits of the seventies. Our most recent trend has not been so pretty, note the billowing Donald Trump ‘dad suit’. In 2020 however, a suit should be whatever you want it to be. From pin-collared and pinstriped to relaxed and unstructured. Cut, material, combinations, accessories, all can be swapped or combined like a true Swiss Army Knife. All’s it takes is a good dose of creativity and confidence.

Confidence is key, since however much we may want to disregard external opinions, fashion is unscrupulously tied to them. People do judge on appearance, it’s well known that indelible impressions of character and personality are made within the first 60 seconds of a meeting. Today, when human contacts are quick, fashion is ‘instant language’. Here, a suit makes a hell of a bigger statement than ‘business casual’ ever could. 

Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne or Patrick Bateman, would not have half the gravity had he been filmed wearing jeans or sweats. Actors in Hollywood’s aptly named ‘Golden Age’, Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, stand out today as the epitome of glamour, class and charm. It’s a well known fact that a well tailored suit to a woman, is what lingerie is to men. A recent study even found that 78% of women swipe right for men in suits on dating apps. This is not a call to arms for snobby or lusty men, rather to show that suits can endear elegance without the former and attraction without the latter. Confound me if any man would not want to resemble these gentlemen below!

Scientific studies show that tailored suits can make you feel more confident, mature and powerful. This probably has a lot to do with socially constructed notions of ‘masculinity’. You also run the risk of being labelled some conceited show off. But really who cares if the suit induces healthy, positive emotions? Who would you rather be, Cummings or Draper?

Whenever I wear a suit I do seem to carry myself in a different manner, my actions and behaviours are modified and elevated to reflect my attire. I can brush off any hesitations, criticisms or annoying complications that might’ve otherwise bogged me down. Master fraudster Frank Abignail Jr, utilised the same power of the suit. Played by Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me if You Can, he faked as an airline pilot, physician and lawyer. How? I can’t help but think it was his immaculately turned out suits that inflated his ego and turbo charged his charm, to the extent that everyone really did think he was a pilot, doctor and lawyer. Suits scream confidence, competence, trust. For what other reason are they worn to every job interview across the country?

This is about body language too. The trimmed waist and bigger shoulders, command the enviable V-shaped body so associated with good health and high testosterone. Your posture and movement are both enhanced and restricted when you wear a suit. You will tend to stand taller and with your chest puffed in a look of confidence.

A suit is also a timeless look. Zany trends and fashions come and go, but a sharply dressed man in a suit will always be stylish. James Bond wore suit in Dr No, he will wear one in No Time to Die. Modern, fly by night fashions, are also more tasteless. A suit is anonymous of its maker, and depends on its cut, quality and finish to impress. A Supreme sweater on the other hand, relies on superficial branding and labelling, to sign to the rest of the world that you’re wealthy and ‘cool’ enough to wear a garment that was made in China.

Donning a suit, in short, shows that you care. Sure, they might be a little uncomfortable and take more time to put on. But the thought and effort that goes into it, shows you’re no slovenly teenager. It speaks of respect, for your own person and your workplace. If you dress like you’re at home when you work, does it not suggest you don’t value your work enough to bother getting changed for it? This is why its so charming to see people dress up when they go to restaurants or theatres. This is using fashion to say to a waiter, clerk or manager, ‘I appreciate what you’re doing here so much that I’ve gone through the faff of putting this suit on!’ In our postmodern world, however, old words like ‘respect’ and ‘deference’ imply social structures that should be torn down, not honoured.

Of course leather jackets, Hawaiian shirts, rolled up Levi’s, these are iconic and all have their proper place. But why relegate the suit to no place at all? The suit must be championed and held up for what it is, the defining menswear garment. Sporting a suit today speaks volumes about who you are - you’re distinguished from the vulgar herd and marked out as an independent man of respect.