A DISTINCTIVEman

Wearing a suit, no matter how infrequently your life may require it, always seems to beg the question: Who could be responsible for creating something so torturous? The combination of a trouser, jacket, possibly a vest, and traditionally a suffocating necktie is enough to make you feel like you’re being carted off to an asylum in a straitjacket. Indeed, there are days when it does feel just plain crazy to be forced to wear such an irritating invention. Ironically, men’s suits were created for comfort. They represent a 17th century departure from the elaborate, jewel-adorned formal wear that men traditionally wore during the Victorian Era. In the subsequent Regency Period of the early 1800s, British sartorial sovereign extraordinaire Beau Brummell is credited with establishing a men’s suit with a necktie as the standard for smart dressing.

Since then, the suit has followed a variety of evolutionary paths with many (thankfully) ending in at least near-extinction. The nudie suit, an embroidered, rhinestone-covered creation a la Elvis Presley in his latter Vegas years, is a good example of just how bad a suit can get. While trends change over time, all suits should be considered in terms of the cut, button closure, lapels, and venting of the jacket.

The cut refers to the basic silhouette of the suit. The two primary cuts are double-breasted, where the jacket overlaps when buttoned, and single-breasted, where both sides of the jacket meet at the front. Six buttons are most common for double-breasted suits, and single-breasted suits can come with as few as one button and up to as many as six buttons for zoot suits that were popular during the 1930s and 1940s. Lapels are either notched (pointed at a downward angle), peak (pointed at an upward angle) or shawl (a continuous curve). There are also less common collars such as the Mandarin, which stands up and rose to fame in the eponymous Nehru suit care of India’s prime minister during the 1950s and 1960s. The last major element of a jacket is the vents. They are the slits on the bottom rear of the jacket, and there may be two at each side, one in the center or none at all. Suit trousers are far less complicated, and should simply be considered for their leg width, pleating and cuffs.