The real reasons most men don’t wear suits

Despite the recent resurgence in classic men’s style, there aren’t that many guys wearing suits today. Walk the streets of most major cities and you wouldn’t know that tailored clothes are enjoying a massive growth in sales. The uniform of most men is jeans, a tshirt, sneakers and a baseball cap.

Some guys will say they don’t wear suits because of comfort or because they don’t have to or because tailored clothes cost too much. But I think the real reasons go much deeper and stem from our society’s current thinking around authenticity and egalitarianism.

Authenticity

“The bespoke tailor’s task is to bestow a good shape where nature has not granted one.”
– The Dictionary of English Trades, 1804.

We live in an age of unbridled authenticity and look down on artifice of any kind. Historically speaking, this is for good reason. Previous generations worked hard to conceal their real selves, even from their friends and loved ones. As a result, much went unsaid and unexposed which should have seen the light of day. But now the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction. In an attempt to be genuine, people of all ages, income levels and backgrounds share far too much about themselves in public and on social media. We feel we can do no wrong as long as we are being “honest.”

The way we dress follows this thinking. Tailored clothes used to cover the body in an attempt to improve the physique of the individual. There was an ideal male shape the tailor was working towards: strong shoulders, full chest, nipped waist, long legs. But today, many men wear clothes that not only follow the shape of their bodies, they in fact exaggerate personal oddities. Instead of striving for an ideal, we are faced with harsh reality, whether we want to see it or not.

Wearing shapeless and casual clothes sends a number of messages. Consciously you might be saying “I put little to no thought into my appearance,” or “I believe dress is functional, to keep me covered or warm.” But subconsciously, you are saying “A concern with clothing is superficial,” and “This is who I really am.”

Egalitarianism

Dressing well, like manners and social behaviour, used to be aspirational. Under the old European class system, the lower and working classes aspired to be like the upper class. So everyone dressed “up.” But when that system was (rightly) challenged, first after WWI, and most significantly during the 1960s, everything reversed. Instead of aspiration, we strove for egalitarianism. And that meant dressing “down,” to the level of the working class. Suits were replaced with jeans, dress hats with baseball caps and leather oxfords with sneakers.

The old social order that rightly collapsed.

We were and are striving in the right direction, of course. But we have abandoned more than just the old class system. With our dress also went our manners and behaviour. It is as if, since we no longer have to mind our manners to those above us, we don’t mind our manners for anyone. Since we are all equal, it is now seen by some as elitist and classist to dress well and aspire to gentlemanly behaviour. However, I think that’s because we are still using old models and ways of thinking around behaviour and dress.

A new reason to wear suits

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”
― Ernest Hemingway

There is a third way, a way to re-introduce not only manners and respectful behaviour, but dressing well. Instead of aspiring to a higher class or income level, we should be aspiring to a higher level of ourselves.

This starts by acknowledging that clothing is not superficial. As long as you dress with intent and as a way of expressing yourself, clothing can in fact be inspirational. Instead of being inauthentic, tailored clothes can mean, as Savile Row’s Richard Anderson states in his memoir, “that you have it in you to be a better person.” Dressing with intent can actually be a tool to combat depression and hardship, as the Sapeurs of Brazzaville so powerfully demonstrate.

Instead of looking at suits and tailored clothes as something that hides or deceives, we can see them as something that inspires us by expressing our positive and aspirational sides. But dressing isn’t just about ourselves. Clothes are part of our social contract: being in public means the way we look is as much a part of everyone else’s world as our own. The way we dress can also inspire others or at least be a sign of respect for those around us.

That respect, however, is not due to wealth or social standing. Those around us deserve our respect simply because they are people. In that way, authenticity and egalitarianism can mean we strive to be not just ourselves and equitable, but better, nobler, kinder and more considerate.

And don’t forget to have a good time while doing it.

[Photograph by Kathryn Palmateer]

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