History Of The Black Suit For Men

March 22nd, 2006

General History and Evolution of the Black Suit for Daywear

If black was against a rule at some point for daywear, that rule is now dead. Although, according to one quite knowledgeable fashion historian, even in the past, you would occasionally see a very proper Englishman in a flawlessly cut black flannel suit for town. Rare perhaps, but certainly bringing into question whether there was ever a “rule” against the black solid suit. Solid black suits are now commonly seen in almost every profession and the only ones who think it wrong are equivalent to the same pince-nez and spat wearing fellows whom Fred Astaire tapped around in many of his movies.

However, even if the rule against the black solid suit is dead, if it ever existed, does not mean that the black solid suit is sans controversy. Au contraire, the black solid suit is at the absolute epicenter of conjecture. The controversy does seem to cut across generational lines to an extent. It seems that many, older, well dressed men consider the solid black suit to be both _outré _and the realm of the parvenu. To wear a solid black suit, even for the evening, is to their eyes, wrong. Rather than a black solid suit, they consider a darkest charcoal suit the richer choice. The reason? The black suit only looks good on a certain physical type with certain coloration, the high contrast person. Generally, people with dark brown or black hair and medium to light skin complexions (not pale it is important to note) are the ones who look best in black suits, every other physical coloration either gets drained or disappears in too unrelieved a manner with the black solid wool’s ensemble which represents a lack of depth, warmth and humor. Sometimes, this camp admits, a pair of black pants or a black jacket is acceptable for a more modern look at a club, bar or a hip new restaurant, but generally, the black suit is to be avoided. At the other end of the dressing spectrum, the younger minded dressers are promoting black as something their fathers do not like. To the up and coming generation, a black suit stands for counterculture and night life… for youth. We are a generation of trying to live an eternal life of exterior city partying and black is slimming, mysterious, sexy, modern and defensive; all the characteristics that generation X’ers and Ys have decided define them. Thus, we’ve learned to learned to don noir as a protective mantle. But how, you may ask, does this all translate into the black solid suit appearing more and more at the office? Social lifestyle contaminates work lifestyle more than it ever has before. You are what you play. Young men wear black at night, all their idols wear black suits, those older dudes don’t wear them. That’s all the recipe one needs to see the black suit is a way to look professional and still not submit to the Man.

Now let me make one thing absolutely clear. I do not own a single solid black suit for day wear. To be honest, I think there are so many more interesting choices that it has never occurred to me. I have black suits with patterns on them (window panes, bird’s eyes and chalk stripes) in white or in “hot” colors like alternating white and orange pinstripes. For after hours stepping out downtown style, I have two black suits and an assortment of black jackets. However I need to confess that I do have a predilection for midnight blue solid suits. I feel midnight blue with something black underneath covering my torso makes a tres sophistique contrast. Why? It is a faux pas for women to mix navy (or midnight blue) and black in their dressing. However, in spite of this female rule, it is such an interesting and rich combination that it creates something a little different and, at the same time, something 100% male. Female influences have made themselves so felt in American and Italian male style as of late that I thought it as well for us to reclaim a toehold for ourselves. I come clean about not wearing black suits for daywear because I admit that the solid black suit is making inroads for daywear in spite of how I might feel about it as a choice (that is, not a negative but rather an uninteresting neutral) and that it is a symbol of my generation for going out in the evening to that hot new club, or bar or to wear while entertaining that girl you finally asked out to that trendy restaurant with the candlelit tables on those balmy spring evenings in the city. Sometimes trends and acceptability are not about what we like but about what is. For now, the black suit is us, old but new, what our great grandfathers wore and our fathers eschewed. Old but new, just as the term “hipster” has reappeared in the lingo, the solid black suit separates us from our fathers, and may yet from our sons.