Should a Man Buy a Black Suit - Men's Style Fashion Advice - When to wear 2-Piece Black
Suits
Hi.
Iím Antonio Centeno, the founder of Real Men Real Style.
And today Iím going to be talking about the black suit.
All right.
Thereís a lot of people out there who will say the black suit is something that you shouldnít
do, you shouldnít wear.
Itís hard for me to take a stand on this because I used to be in the camp of you do
not wear a black suit.
But having been a custom clothier for a while now and seeing that itís still one of the
most popular fabrics out there, and having been exposed to a lot of me who actually look
great in a black suit, even during the day, even under unnatural indoor lighting, I have
to say that for the right man, the black suit is a great piece ñ is a great suit to own.
I still do not think it should be the first suit a man owns.
Because I think a charcoal gray or a navy is going to be a bit more visual, isnít going
to be a stark with contrast.
But the fact is, it looks great on some men.
So my answer, you know, whenever anyone asks me you know, what do I think about the black
suit, I say for the right man, itís one of the top three suits you should own.
But again, it has to be the right man.
So let me tell you about who that right man is and if you fit that description, great.
Consider it.
If not, I would avoid it.
Okay.
So the black fabric.
Itís traditionally is a very formal fabric.
You would see it in evening wear.
So you would see it in black tie, basically the tuxedo.
Thatís where we see black and wear it.
You know, you do occasionally see tuxedos in midnight blue but black is traditionally
the fabric of evening wear.
So thatís where thereís a bit of, you know, people feel it needs to stay there.
Also a thing with black is itís for stark high contrast individuals.
So you need to have very dark hair.
I mean my hair, I donít even think itís ñ well, I donít like my black when I wear
it because I donít feel that my hair to my skin, thereís enough contrast there.
Iím a medium contrast individual.
If youíve got really dark black hair, a lot of Italian men, it looks great on them because
they got that black hair, theyíve got that olive skin, a black suit looks amazing on
them.
And theyíve got that color within their skin.
So the black doesnít ñ because black tends to suck out color and thatís why it looks
great with a white shirt because youíve got a ñ you know, where it reflects all color
and then youíve got the black which is soaking up all color.
And that contrast right there is very powerful.
If youíre an Irish gentleman, youíve got letís say, black hair with lighter skin,
you can pull it off.
But itís going to be a bit harder indoors and under unnatural lighting conditions.
It can pull a little bit too much color out of your skin.
But if youíre wearing a tie which has a little bit of vivid color, that will help.
So itís for formal wear.
Thatís one of the argument thatís, you know, itís a bit dated of an argument.
The other one is the stark high contrast.
This still applies.
So if youíve got red hair or light-colored hair, light-colored skin or basically, between
your hair and your face, thereís not a whole lot of contrast, youíve got medium-brown
hair and reddish skin, the black suit is probably something youíre going to want to avoid.
Itís just ñ I would go with lighter color.
I mean a charcoal gray is going to be fine.
A medium gray is probably better, maybe great suit for you.
But black almost just too much to stark for a contrast, not going to be probably the best
suit for you.
The other one that ñ and I started talking about it, is how black absorbs color.
So if youíre going to wear other, you know, other things with it, like a dress shirt,
which of course, youíre going to be hopefully be wearing a dress shirt with a blue or black
suit.
But youíre going to want to pay attention to, is the black suit sucking some of the
color out of it?
So youíre going to want to avoid a lot of the pastels.
Theyíre just going to make it almost look like an off-white which is not going to look
right.
Instead, go for ñ the only thing you want to go with is either a white or go with then
something that has some strong color and that which can kind of offset that absorption that
the black does again.
And you can also pull it off with a tie so you could actually wear ñ you could wear
a pastel-colored shirt, a pastel is nothing more than a color that has a lot of white
in it, you could pull one of those off if it reflects well with the tie that youíre
wearing.
Another great thing about black, and why a lot of men are drawn to it, is it is one of
the most flattering colors for forming a very lean silhouette.
So if youíre a little bit heavier of a gentleman, if you got a little bit of weight in the mid-section,
itís not going to make you look thin, but what a black suit will do, is it will help
trim you up.
It will not make you look fat.
So women know this in a little black dress, all that stuff.
A black suit for certain men under certain conditions, especially if it fits his body
well, maybe he doesnít have bends on the back, itís just really ñ itís a good fit
there.
When you look at the guy head on, itís going to actually maybe build up the shoulders just
a bit, tighten that mid-section, heís going to look lean meat.
Okay.
So whatís my final conclusion?
What am IÖ
Ögoing to say about the black suit, again, for the right individual, the black suit,
one of the three suits that you should own and definitely you can pull off.
Itís not just for funerals, itís not just for weddings, you can ñ look at Tom Ford,
the guy wears and rocks a black suit, everywhere he goes, you know, whether heís walking down,
you know, the streets in New York City or he is Vegas, I mean the guy has always got
that black suit with that crisp white shirt with the high color, you know, color ends
here, it looks great.
And a lot of it is about confidence too.
You know, donít ñ youíre going to read stuff on forms, youíre going to read stuff
on websites where people are going to, you know, tear up the black suit.
Again my opinion, if you have the right hair, if youíve got the right contrast, go for
it.
All right.
Antonio Centeno with Real Men Real Style.
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