Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette! In today's video, we'll discuss the
status of the suit in modern society. Is it a relic of a bygone era or does it
still have a role to play in the world of menswear? As we enter the third decade
of the 21st century, there's been an increasing amount of scrutiny placed on
that most quintessential of menswear ensembles, the suit. Where suits were the
everyday professional attire of most of the Western world in the late 19th and
through the 20th centuries, there have been seismic shifts in the last few
decades in the world of professional attire. So where does the suit stand
today? In order to answer that question, let's start with a bit of history. Stay
tuned for an upcoming video that will cover the history of the suit in even
finer detail but for the sake of today's topic, here's a bit of broader context.
Let's look at the 1940s in which everyday attire for most men was based
on the suit. The typical price for a suit, at the time, was about $50 which averages
to around 917 dollars in today's money. Textile manufacturing in the US was
reaching its peak output around this time and the average American spent
around 12% of their income on clothing. In this era, a man would buy a suit at an
average of about one every two years or so. Not only would he wear his suits to
the office but also in a wide variety of other locations. For example, to watch
sporting events or sometimes, even to play sports. And if we look a decade
earlier at the 1930s, everyone from famous movie stars to working men in
breadlines were wearing suits almost daily. Through the first half of the 20th
century, the suit was largely synonymous with broader ideas about the nature of
masculinity and society but as the counterculture movement of the 1960s
came into its own, there was large-scale rejection of the traditions that had
typified the earlier part of the century and this included menswear. And while the
suit has hung on and continued to evolve through the ensuing decades, there is
still a greater emphasis placed on individuality and in particular, comfort
in today's fashions. So we're long past the days where most men are wearing
suits every day and for almost any occasion but does this actually mean
that the suit is on its way out? Today, evidence of a decline of menswear
and really the apparel industry as a whole is everywhere. In this graph from a
recent article from Bloomberg entitled the Death of Clothing, you can see that
apparel is quickly losing ground in terms of where consumers are spending
their money to technology and experiences. Apparel stores of all kinds
including those that claim to be the future of retail are closing. As an
example, luxury department store, Barneys, has filed for bankruptcy and agreed to
close all of its stores. Financial institutions like JP Morgan and Goldman
Sachs long considered bastions of formality, just think of the phrase "white
collar", are now relaxing their dress codes and American men are buying fewer
suits, overall. Today, casual attire really is the new standard. As just one example,
men can wear sneakers with just about any ensemble. On that note, if you'd like
to learn more about how a gentlemen can successfully incorporate sneakers into
his wardrobe, take a look at this video here. The textile and apparel industries
in America have almost completely disappeared and high-level CEOs of
multibillion-dollar corporations who now see the suit as being too stuffy have
ditched it for more contemporary looks. Think, for example, of people like Steve
Jobs with his turtleneck sweaters and Mark Zuckerberg with his trademark
hoodies. As a brief aside here, it is important to note that there's an
element of socioeconomic status to decisions like these. That is to say,
while a CEO may have the ability to decide what their own dress code will be,
those working below them might not have that same freedom. Also, this speaks to
some degree about matters of personal value. If Mark Zuckerberg wants to wear
the same thing every day so he can maximize his mental energies elsewhere,
more power to him but you can still devote mental resources to your clothes
if looking good is a priority to you and it should be but more on this later. Far
from the days when the average man would buy a suit every two years or so, today's
man buys fewer than one suit every 10 years and many men will only wear suits
on specific special occasions such as weddings, funerals, and congressional
testimony. Mentioning Mark Zuckerberg again, these images of Zuckerberg making
congressional testimony made headlines all over the world not just because of
what he was saying but also because of what he was wearing. To be sure, different
outlets had different responses to these images. A piece from media outlet, Vox, on
the supposed death of the suit argued that Zuckerberg trading in his hoodie
for a suit spoke to the current status of the ensemble as a uniform for the
powerless only worn by those who are trying to appease those in positions of
higher power than themselves. In the words of the author of the piece, Mark
Dent, "unless you live on Park Avenue, the suit brings to mind job interviews,
junior salespeople, hotel clerks, and court appearances." Meanwhile, the New York
Times had a different take on the matter. According to their writer, Vanessa
Friedman, Zuckerberg wearing a suit said to "suspicious, establishment lawmakers; I
am in your house, I will accept your rules. It said I acknowledge the
responsibility I bear and take this seriously. It acceded to the general
interpretation that this was a growing up moment, because in the iconography of
clothing, the suit is the costume of the grown-up, while the t-shirt is the
costume of the teenager ,the off-duty, the breaker of rules." While we agree with
Dent's take that the suit is strongly linked to power dynamics in professional
settings, we also agree with Friedman that while wearing a suit
does say that you're willing to play by a certain set of rules, the effect that
the suit has on your appearance still creates a powerful visual statement.
Despite the broader decline that we're currently seeing in the apparel industry,
clothes, at their core, can still have a powerful effect on your image and your
perceived identity. So while it may be the case that Mark Zuckerberg felt that
he had to play by Congress' rules in wearing a suit to his testimony, he also
didn't want to look the part of a smug teenager, he wanted to look like the CEO
of a multi-billion dollar international company who was serious about why he was
there that day. Expressions of power aside though, it is a valid question to
ask whether we even have a need for suits as more and more workplaces become
increasingly casual. Let's take Goldman Sachs and their recent change in dress
code as an example here, according to author ,Jay Fielden, in a
piece for Esquire, "This doesn't mean that all suits are dying. Instead, he argues
that we're only seeing the death of a type of suit, that blousey, droop
shouldered, floppy lagged, body swallowing blue mass of fabric thing which has, for
almost two decades, been the obligatory uniform of bank managers, politicians, and
CEOs. What this look said on the behalf of its wearer is "Whatever you do, don't
look at me." In other words, what we may be witnessing now is the death of the
conventional power suit which, as time has gone on, became less about power and
ironically, more about the lack of it, as we discussed earlier.
To quote Fieldman again, "To think a suit is one thing is to misunderstand what a
suit is. Like a Swiss Army knife, it's a multi-purpose tool." So if only the power
suit is truly dying these days and suits, in general, are to take on a new role,
what will that new role be? In our opinion, the suit is probably going to
transition from being an expression of conformity to one of creativity. Fashion
houses have, again, been increasing the number of suits and
suit inspired ensembles in their recent collections and creative suits have been
a mainstay of red carpet looks for years. As another example, consider Justin
Timberlake's 2013 hit song, Suit and Tie, which he performed on the accompanying
tour wearing tailored Tom Ford suits. Off the red carpet, made to measure tailoring
is becoming increasingly popular for the average man as it becomes more
financially feasible. Think of brands like SuitSupply and Indochino who have
brought the personal satisfaction that comes with customized, if not necessarily
fully bespoke garments to new audiences. All of this is to say that more men are
now seeing the suit as a canvas for personal expression. With that, there are
two things to keep in mind here. First is that the suit has already evolved quite
a bit since its inception in the late 19th century. Waistcoats are no longer a
mandatory feature, lapels have widened and narrowed over time, silhouettes have
changed and much more. As we mentioned earlier, our upcoming video on the
history of the suit will cover all of these changes in greater depth but our
point here is to say that the suit has evolved quite a bit over time and it has
the potential to continue evolving. Secondly, the suit isn't just an
accessory that might fall in or out of fashion like a particular style of hat.
Rather, a suit is a full ensemble and it's supreme utility and versatility
have carved out a place in menswear that has made it a staple for over a hundred
and fifty years. Speaking of accessories though and to add on to our earlier
point about suits and personal expression, if you add accessories to a
suit, you can, of course, create a variety of different looks that also speak to
your own personal taste. Men in the early 20th century knew that even though most
of them were broadly wearing suits as an overall uniform, they could work within
that mold to still have subtle touches of personal identity. We, here at the
Gentleman's Gazette, believe that the so-called Golden Age of
Tailored Menswear from about the 1920s to the 1960s contains looks that can
still be leveraged today for maximum confidence and style but that doesn't
mean that we think our preferred aesthetic is the only one that's out
there or the only one that can work best for a variety of different men. So with
all this said then, where does the suit stand today? Suits have become something
that many men wear only when absolutely necessary or when a clear corporate
power dynamic exists but at the same time, as more companies continue to
become more casual in terms of everyday dress and the suit leaves the workplace
as a requirement, these old power dynamics may have the potential to fall
away to a greater degree. In their place, the suit will be able to embrace a new
role as a platform for personal and aesthetic expression either for those
who wish to channel its history, as we do here at the Gentleman's Gazette, or for
those who want to take it in entirely new directions. In other words, the era of
men having to wear suits may be ending but the era of men wanting to wear suits
is just beginning. So the suit is dead, long live the suit! In today's video, it
should be obvious that I'm wearing a suit. it's charcoal gray and has a slight
texture to its weave and you've seen it in previous videos in a two-piece
configuration but I decided to wear it as a full three-piece today both the
suit jacket and its waistcoat are single breasted and they each have their own
notched lapels to go with the charcoal color of the suit I've chosen to wear a
pink shirt which is a natural complement to charcoal you can learn more about
pink and how to wear it in this video here meanwhile my accessories are mostly
working in a red and yellow color dynamic I'm wearing gold metals in both
my pocket watch whose chain is readily visible on the front of the waistcoat as
well as my cufflinks which are from Fort Belvedere they are gold plated sterling
silver Eagle Claw cufflinks with Tiger's eye as the stone and this stone has some
yellow and orange tones to fit into the warm color theme the rest of my
accessories are also from Fort Belvedere today including my madder silk bow tie
which has a Paisley design in red and buff meanwhile my art deco Egyptian scarab
pocket square features several colors including straw yellow antique
brass blue black and cardinal red and also features a brown contrast edge
finally my boutonniere is a relatively new design from the Fort Belvedere shop
it's one of our mini carnations this time in a burgundy color we've also got
it for sale in a full-size carnation so you can pair it with a variety of looks
whether they be suits black tie or white tie ensembles or other looks you might
device rounding out the ensemble today are my socks which are also plain pink
to harmonize with my shirt and my shoes which are cap toed Oxfords in a
burgundy shade similar to the boutonniere that are made by Beckett
Simenon you can find all of the Fort Belvedere accessories that I'm wearing
in today's video in the Fort Belvedere shop