The Suit.

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Suit (n.)

1) Term of abuse for person working in the financial sector 2) Ensemble of jacket, trousers, and sometimes a waistcoat if you want to look like a snooker player or a cocktail waiter.

Is the suit Classic or Dud? Do you wear tailored? Two or three pieces? Can you carry one off with aplomb or do they make you uncomfortable? How many buttons? What are your favourite materials? How should one wear one? How should one not wear one? Do you find them sexy?

I have fond memories of my three button mod days, although now I can happily wear a one button single breasted...

― Will, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Stomach in, chest out, new answers.

― Will, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I wore a suit on saturday, I had a ninteen forties party to attend and then a fetish party so I was struggling how to combine the two. Then I hit upon a brilliant solution. I would wear a three piece mens suit, single breasted, three buttons, with a cheese cutter cloth cap. Then I would not be out of place as a 40's rural worker, and then could go to the fetish party as lady chatterly's lover.

I got a lot of different responses about it, I was called numerous things, miner, burgler, poacher, bookie but all in good humour, and quite a few compliments because it was considered an original move. So I think they are classic. At least when I wear 'em.

How not to wear them? boring. white suits, with the sleeves rolled up. Brown as in pooh bum brown, and double breasted is not my favourite style. no shoulder pads and on no account brogues. No chichi mickey mouse ties. I know some people (fellow phil students) who wear suits everyday because they are trying to look cool and intellectual. What a pity they cut they trousers short so you get more sock and brogue action.

― Menelaus Darcy, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i own 6 suits. A tuxedo i wear twice a year, a black single breasted, a navy blue doube breasted, a brown glen plaid, a lavendar slimline shiny one, a tomato red one. i look good in all of tehm but the red one, i have no idea why i bought them.

― anthony, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Hey, lavender. sounds pretty snazzy

― Menelaus Darcy, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"What a pity they cut they trousers short so you get more sock and brogue action" said Menelaus

I think that a correct-length tailored trouser is urgent and key. That way I can show off my old 1940s style leather straps that help keep your socks up! I hate that baggy skate-wearer trouser that is so long it drags against the floor - although I did succumb to that look in a moment of weakess in 1998/9, and persist with it when I'm just vegging out.

I wish I had the kind of shoulders to carry off a zoot suit... (sigh)
That's a great story, Menelaus - I might nick that idea one of these days...

― Will, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Wow, Anthony - tomato red - tough to carry off but full marks for trying...!

― Will, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Classic if I wear them :) Black/dark grey, single breasted, 3 buttons. Preferably Helmut Lang (although the...ahem...black Prada suit I have is pretty great too). Jil Sanders suits look great too. I think that when I'm hitting 40 I'm finally going to get a white suit for that J.G.Ballard, "I'm very relaxed, enjoying life but stylish!" sorta vibe.

― Omar, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

My pet peeve is short trousers, I like mine to be just about touching the floor so no-one can see the uppers of my bovver boots, or my fleecy farm fleck socks. A matter of preference really, not fashion. Suits with braces are cool, I mean the button brases, but imagine hard to carry off well

― Menelaus Darcy, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

White suit! So versatile! 1940s lit staircase glam! Graham Greene wrought Havana intellectualism! Cosy Ealing understatement!

― Will, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Sock braces = classic with heavyish woolen materials and autumnal colours. Or full tux onslaught with cummberbund etc. Very difficult to match with anything else, I think.

― Will, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I have: one navy pinstripe Hardy Amies suit circa 1950. One Peck and Peck grey tweed suit circa 1955, with deconstructed collar. Both with cool skirts. One dark olive Katharine Hepburn trouser suit. One black wool late '70s pseudo-Yves Saint Laurent suit.

I'm very good at finding nice ones because my grandmother dinned into me the importance of checking finished in the shops. And she'd totally chew me out if I turned up in an acrylic dress where the seams didn't match

― suzy, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I have one suit that doesn't fit me, and won't be getting another til I get made redundant, far too expensive. Sometimes I think I'd like to wear a suit but they're just not me, I'm far too casual. Plus I'm too fat at the moment.

― chris, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I have a cool 3-button mod pinstripe suit and I LOVE it!

Damn! This just freaking reminds me that I never got my father's cool old vintage 3-piece suit back. Will have to make arrangements.

― kate, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

White suit: the man from Del Monte, he say "Yes".

― Sarah, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh yes, I have a suit my stepmother bought me from Debenhams. I've never worn it apart from once @ a wedding. It's blue.

― Sarah, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I wear a 3 piece suit.

― alix, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I am wearing my other suit today in preparation for wearing my good suit tomorrow at my graduation ceremony. Given how infrequently I wear a suit (funerals / job interviews) I needed some practice. Suits, however, rock, and I think (hope / have been told) that I look quite good in one. Those who have met me can dispute this should they wish. Actually Emma & Pete have seen me in Good Suit, so can legitimately comment.

― alext, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

all i can think of is the biog black cock in the mapplethorpe photo.

― geoff, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

big big big big big

― geoff, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It's easy to look great in a suit when you're tall and thin, but don't hate me because I'm beautiful.

― Sean, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

woss all this poncy palaver baht suits n that iz poncy poofy ponce worabaat workurs dungarees an t-shirt wos wrong with u mid claz poofs an my tshit yeah it says UNIVERSITY OF LIF on it coz thats wor i went to nannayah oxjeffbridges poofy poncy collig suitz gawd elp us

mind u ladiez wearin suits omigod where me kleenex tissues n that

― Chingford Tor Ascender, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I have a reasonable enough dark suit combination that I wear for weddings and the occasional fancy dinner. Beyond that...

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Hi Marcello! Chingford Tor Ascender is my favourite creation of yours to date!

― Will, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I have no suit. I feel VERY self-concious wearing one, my shoulders ain't broad enough for me to look even remotely cool in one. I hate the idea of wearing one to work, I will not wear a tie, I hate doing the top button up. I will never get very far career wise.

― james, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

James, you don't need broad shoulders to look good in a suit. I'm 5'11" and wear a size 36, so I'm proof of this.

― Sean, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It must be that I've always bought badly fitting suits (plus school uniform hangover!) :)

― james, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Is it a pastiche of a particularly vulgar Tebbit / Duncan Smith- voting suburban Tory, Marcello? Well done! They let our great party down!

(out of interest, as a member of the Conservative Party for 50 years, I abstained from voting in the leadership election because I could find nothing to identify with in either of the candidates. Michael Ancram was the man.)

I think it is vitally important to his sense of identity and belonging for the Englishman to own and regularly wear a suit. I currently own three.

― Anthony Sanderson, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I must tell all you handsome chaps out there that it is a wonderful treat to see a man in a tuxedo... Santa are you out there? Do you have Randy Quaid on the ready? I want them all delivered with a nice bow,(like on the Miss America Pageant! P.S. Don't forget the mistletoe! Thanks Santa! Wooo wooo

― Gale Deslongchamps, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

erm i long ago promised to dig out a snippet from the Arcades Project on suits and mourning, except i can't find it again (perhaps i dreamt it): can the massed AP- freighed massive help me out here (Josh I now you have time on yr hands)? I am going spelunking again in its endless mossy reaches NOW.

Sanderson I think it very bad form that you hail people you have not been introduced to by their Christian names. Spine, sir! Bearing! Manners were not optional at *my* school.

― mark s, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Good point, Sinker. When I was at Winchester surnames were obligatory: however, things had changed dramatically at Oundle last time I was in the town (as readers to these forums may know) and perhaps I was subconsciously picking up the declining standards.

But I found Marcello's pastiche of the vulgar working-class Thatcherites who sunk our great party to such a low ebb of Americanism and each-to-his own ambition in the 1980s so amusing that I gave him the compliment of reference to him by his first name, as we did to a couple of the nicer and friendlier juniors during Toytime at school.

― Anthony Sanderson, Tuesday, 4 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I've got three suits. Four if you count the tuxedo covered in 8-yr old vomit.

I used to spend like stupid (on my wages) money on suits - £350 or something. Now I don't bother cause I don't wear them. I have about 20 ties too.

― Nick, Wednesday, 5 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Four if you count the tuxedo covered in 8-yr old vomit

You've kept a tuxedo covered in vomit for all this time? What are you, Monica Lewinsky? Is it Belle and Sebastian vommo or something that you feel the need to preserve it?

― Nicole, Wednesday, 5 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm more interested to know why 8 year olds would be vomiting on him.

― Ronan, Wednesday, 5 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Dry cleaning is still not provided by the state, and I have had no need to wear it since 1993's barffest. Perhaps it has now cleaned itself. I will have a look.

― Nick, Wednesday, 5 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

How many days in a row can I wear my suit for before drycleaning it?

― DV, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It depends how many of those days you have ended up vomiting on it.

― Nick, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Does anyone know where I can get a new, cheap and reasonable suit from? Because suddenly I need one...

― Bill, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Is it for a court appearance? If so I hear Top Man is the place for the sartorially conscious young crim.

― Emma, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Next time I go to court, i'll be heading straight to top man then. but I've started thinking seriously about good old m+s now, which I seem to have done a lot more of now I'm heading for 20...

― Bill, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I have no suits, I WILL ROCK AND ROLL ALL NIGHT AND PARTY EVERY DAY. SCREW THE MAN. er I borrow my brothers shirts and ties if necessary.

― Ronan, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

same. & i'm nearly 39 yrs old! is it time i started dressing like a adult? oh i guess!

― unknown or illegal user, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Now i spent my first year in my current job in shirt and tie (unless i was going straight out after work) and they were always on at me to be a bit more casual. then at the start of the summer hols i switched to casual and i've never looked back. my suit was actually bought for me in my previous job, it was from debenhams, not bad. a question though, do double-breasted suits look good on anyone?

― carsmilesteve, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

do double-breasted suits look good on anyone?

Robert Palmer. Seriously, they're fine if you're thin, and please; always keep it buttoned when you're stading, otherwise the jacket flops around and you look foolish.

― Sean, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

standing, I mean.

― Sean, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Mafiosi. The zo ot suit.

― Ellie, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Leads me to remember that Tom And Jerry with the orange and yellow striped zoot suit. Tee hee.

― Bill, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I ran out of clean clothes the other day, but as I had a presentation to do so I put on my suit (= generic black thing, £100 from Burtons), what I bought for my brother's wedding and would likely never wear again.

I spent yesterday afternoon discussing (and more - NB for science) Sara's, but I still don't get this breast thing. Can someone explain?

― Graham, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I am "THE MAN" .^.. suit = classic. I wish this vogue for three (or four) buttons on single-breasted suits comes to end soon though. 2 is more than enough

― Jeff W, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Waistcoats are grate for concealment of thee beer paunch emergence situation.

― Trevor, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

What breast thing?

― RickyT, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

You were discussing Saras breasts?!?!?!

― Sarah, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ahhh, I think Grahams breast thing = confusion about single/double breasted suits. Single breasted jackets have one row of buttons and so only have a slight overlap at the front. Double breasted ones have two rows, and overlap much more. This means there are two layers of fabric over the breast, hence double breasted.

― RickyT, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Hi RickyT. Thanks, that's what I was asking. Graham

― Graham, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Yes Sarah. See the weirdness/text message threads.

― Graham, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

And double breasted jackets make you look like a complete cock, if that's what you're into.

― Nick, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

Wow, is Anthony Sanderson still around? He's the kind of fellow Ilx2003 needs. I own three suits and wear the black and blue ones most weekends. I could never go back to t-shirts.

― Affectian (Affectian), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 22:16 (twenty-two years ago)

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