Americans are ‘less tailored’ than their Euro counterparts for 2 main reasons. First and foremost, formal dress has been and is still losing its social status, and is no longer de rigeur in many environments where it was once necessary and expected. A lot of office jobs that were formerly white-shirt-and-tie are now ‘business casual’ khakis at best, and jeans/shorts/tshirts for almost anything that isn’t customer facing or in the law/finance areas.
Second has to do with a topic someone else posted about recently: something like 75% of US adults are ‘technically’ obese. Having gone through a significant weight loss in my 30’s and a gain in my 40’s (and about splitting the diff now in my 50’s), I can say absolutely that the traditional men’s suit, two or three piece, single or double breasted, pleated trousers or flat, is far more comfortable and flattering to wear closely tailored when one is on the slimmer side. The bigger you are, the more one has to rely on belts/suspenders to keep pants up (since one’s hips/waist no longer provide a natural resting spot.) Guys, with few exceptions, are not pulling on ‘foundation garments’ to suck everything in.
All this leads to a group of men that have, at best, a suit, for the occasional funeral/wedding/formal work function, and when they buy it, they’ll tend to tailor it towards comfort, rather than style.
So you end up with a bunch of slightly pudgy middle-aged dudes slumping around in baggy suits that they hate wearing, and do so as little as possible.
My suits never fit properly because my body is weird. 5"2" tall, 38" chest, but 27" arms. 31" waist, but 29 or 30 inch inseam. The jackets in my size always have wide shoulder pads, for some reason.
I haven’t worn a suit since 2004, though, for a funeral.
Mine was 2023, but yeah. Same reason. I expect the next time I wear it will be another funeral. After which, I think it’s likely I might never wear one again.
When I first started working, suits were the norm. Casual Friday was just starting. There was this article I read and for the life of me I can’t remember what magazine it was in but the author had a theory as to why suits weren’t popular. I won’t go into it in detail but essentially it made a somewhat class based argument that you had this generation of men wearing suits who became professionals but did not come from a background that included knowledge of how to dress or even tie a tie. He went on to describe how he learned and how he grew to appreciate how to pick a suit and have it tailored. I still wear suits. Not every day but often. There are occasions that demand a suit that’s not a funeral. Most of my suits are made to measure with a few custom. Ready to wear fit most men poorly without significant alterations which most aren’t willing to pay for. But a properly fitted suit looks good on a guy no matter the build. I will tell you that when I am out and about in a suit with a snazzy tie, I get a lot more attention and noticed than when I am in jeans and a t. There’s a reason why James Bond still wears a suit.
My amusing party trick was primarily mid 90s to about 2003…when you wore a full suit and tie to a trade show (skirt and heels for me).
Even in the last century, American suits just werent cut as well as those worn by the rest of the world.
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
108
Dad spent all his working life in the local rag trade. The company he worked for manufactured and wholesaled women’s coats. He obviously had contacts with other local businesses, including a small tailoring business which did made to measure mens suits. I remember, as a teenager, being with him when he went to get measured up - I presume I was also getting one but have no recollection. So, there’s two guys. One doing the measuring, the other writing down the details. Guy #1 looks Dad up and down and round and describes him to guy #2 as a “short, portly”. I’ve never forgotten that, as I reckon they’d make the same observation of me now. The old man never forgot it either and, over the years, he’d periodically mention how pissed off he’d been at it.
I cannot recall when I last owned a suit. Must be getting on for 30 years ago. I’ve been retired for 21 and my last job was in a fairly casual environment. I was in that for 7 years. Prior, I was at the Service’s HQ where it was more formal - jacket & tie commonplace but not required. I kept a couple of “work ties” when I retired, just in case, but have never needed them. I do keep a black tie for funerals but I think that’s more a generation thing - doesnt seem to be obligatory anymore.
And i don’t think most guys (and an awful lot of girls) realize how really attractive a well fitted suit makes them…or how much a cheap suit makes them look like theyve been sleeping in their clothes.
WRT suits, I still have several in my closet, and pull them out once or twice a year for weddings or funerals. Every time, I find the damned things have SHRUNK in the closet!
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
112
A few weeks back, I discovered a jacket from before I retired. I had forgotten it was there. It had shrunk considerably.
Wore a suit and tie today! Had to attend a conference.
I have a thing for men’s wear, but when I started working in the corporate world, after graduating, I hated wearing suits. They were just so far away fromthe things I liked to wear as a ‘normal’ person. This was 20 years ago. Then after a few years, in my late twenties, I decided if I needed to wear suits in my line of business I might as well dress nice.
So, I started buying made to measure suits, expensive ties and shoes and all. Then life happened, I got older, and then covid hit. My casual dress changed in that I started wearing sport jackets with trousers, so not only jeans, and hence becoming more formal. This also coincided with me moving to a different part of the sector I work in, where wearing suits was not common (in fact even detrimental to your career!). Now I can seamlessly wear an outfit to go to work, have dinner with friends, and even do casual work events.
So, I mostly wear semi-formal clothing, eg a nice sport jacket or chore coat, and then once in a while I wear a nice suit with a tie, for things like formal conferences and so on, where I will meet a lot of sales guys…
Had to attend a conference.
