No matter how many menswear experts have read the final ceremony of this suit after the pandemic, men seem to have a renewed need for the two-piece. However, like many things, the summer suit is being transformed with a split, updated seersucker shape, and finally learn to like the folds of linen, and if in doubt, you can also wear soft-soled shoes.
I like suits, but I wear them because they make me happy, not because my profession forces me to do so, so I wear them very abnormally. Nowadays, it’s hard to think that there are too many jobs to wear a suit: Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7 Series drivers, expensive security guards with coiled cords on their collars, barristers, job interviewers, and of course politicians. Especially Politicians wore suits and performed nervous dances, as seen on G7; the goal seemed to be to achieve monotonous form with minimal aesthetic pleasure.
But for those of us who do not open oligarchs or participate in intergovernmental forums, the summer suit is an opportunity to relax and let ourselves gently return to a semi-formal state. We have to consider what we wear for garden parties, open-air opera performances, competition meetings, tennis matches, and outdoor lunches (handy tip: if they offer something more upscale than burgers and private label beer, please give up the cement-colored tooling Shorts…think about it, just throw them away).
British men’s reactions to the recognized capricious summer sometimes seem quite binary, but there is a route to be drawn between Charybdis in cargo shorts and Scylla in summer suits, leading men from Del Monte and Sandhill. Success usually lies in making the right fabric choices.
In the past few years, seersucker has got rid of the orthodoxy of its thin blue or red stripes and emerged from the pupa like a colorful butterfly. ”I made more seersucker suits for Wimbledon and Goodwood this year than in the past 10 years. It’s undergoing a real renaissance, depending on the color,” said Terry Haste of Kent & Haste, Savile Street, currently The multi-color seersucker shows him Ken Kesey in his heart. ”There are blue and green, blue and gold, blue and brown, and grid and square stripes.”
One of the leaders of imaginative seersucker is Cacciopoli, a fabric supplier in Naples, but seersucker not only provides color, but also eliminates worries about creases: creases are the point; in fact, it is pre-creased, pre-relaxed Yes, suitable for summer use.
Drake’s Michael Hill said that it is this approachable feeling that is also the reason for the popularity of linen this year. ”Our big hit is our linen suit. There is nothing revolutionary about the winning colors: navy, khaki, hazel, and tobacco.” But the difference is that he focused on what he called In the costume of the “game suit”, he distinguished it from the formal tailor.
“It’s about embracing the crease. You don’t want to be too precious, and the fact that you can throw it in the washing machine helps to make the suit more approachable. Men want to dress in a different way and cut with a polo shirt or T-shirt to break Jackets and pants. This summer, we see more and more high-low dressing styles combining formal wear with informal wear, beautiful old baseball caps and canvas soft bottoms with suits. Get it right, it’s dynamite. ”
Part of the reason for rethinking the suit is that Drake does not sell the game suit as a suit, but as a split that can be worn as a suit. This seemingly counterintuitive psychology, selling a casual summer outfit as two matching pieces separately, also plays a role in Connolly. It provides a tear-resistant version, which Connolly boss Isabel Ettedgui describes as “technical seersucker.”
“We sell them as jackets and elastic waist pants,” Ettedgui said. ”Men like this because they think they can buy it separately, even if they don’t. We have sold it to 23-year-olds and 73-year-olds who like casual colors and don’t wear socks.”
Zegna has a similar story. Creative director Alessandro Sartori described classic formal suits as popular with custom and tailor-made customers, “They wear suits for their own pleasure.” . Ready-to-wear is another matter. ”They buy individual items from a senior garment designer, choose a top or a chore, and make a suit that matches the top and bottom,” he said. The fabric is made of twisted silk and cashmere, and the blend of linen, cotton and linen uses fresh pastels.
The famous Neapolitan tailor Rubinacci also clearly turned to more casual elegance. “The Safari Park is the winner this summer because it is comfortable and easy,” Mariano Rubinacci said. “It’s relaxing because it’s like a shirt without lining, but it’s worn as a jacket, so it can be formal, and all its pockets are practical.”
Speaking of vintage clothing, I am very envious of the Madras cotton jacket my youngest son bought at the Portobello market: a clothing with Proust power that evokes the image of America in the Eisenhower era. The stronger the check, the better. .. But with plain pants.
Even Huntsman of the grand fortress of Savile Street has noticed a clear trend of separation. Creative Director Campbell Carey said: “Before Covid, people were more willing to wear suit jackets and nice pants to meetings.” “This summer, we can’t sell enough openwork woven mesh suit jackets. The woven structure means they can be twisted. Comes in a variety of shades and colors to make it very versatile with your mix, and you can take it off to let air in and out.” Carey also offered what he called “weekend cuts.” It is still in Huntsman’s silhouette; high armholes, a button, and waist, “but the shoulder line is slightly soft, we softened the canvas structure, and the front structure is all one, replacing [hard] horsehair.”
Speaking of shirts, the idea is to make you look like you are wearing an open-necked shirt, rather than you just came from a mafia funeral and hurriedly untied your tie and unbuttoned your shirt collar. My suggestion is to wear a genius linen button-down shirt like Bel of Barcelona. Its construction does not have a neckband and top button, but the internal finish looks smart, and the collar keeps rolling due to the buttons at the collar point.
From there, you can further choose open-neck holiday shirts, the collar is the kind of shirt with Lido collar preached by menswear designer Scott Fraser Simpson. If you are adventurous, check out the Instagram account of Wei Koh, the founder of Rake Tailored. He spent a period of confinement in Singapore, matching his large number of suits with Hawaiian shirts and shooting the results.
The festival will return in person to our usually eclectic lineup of speakers and themes at Kenwood House (and online) on September 4th. Injecting all of this will be a reawakening of the spirit and the possibility of reimagining the world after the pandemic. To book tickets, please visit here
But even in today’s relaxed tailoring climate, there are still times when Hawaiian shirts may be considered de trop and people may find it more comfortable (or less conspicuous) to wear a tie; for this, knitted silk ties are the perfect choice. It is an excellent travel companion, because when it is twisted into a ball and stuffed into the corner of the suitcase, it will not wrinkle or deform. Although it sounds contradictory, it looks very relaxed-if you don’t Believe me, please Google David Hockney’s picture and knitted tie, which he can use with paint-dyed pants and rolled up sleeves.
It will be interesting to see if even knitted ties can survive Huntsman’s Carey’s predictions. This separation still has a long way to go. If this summer is about the brisk mesh blazer, he now turns his attention to another component of the two-piece suit, and inspired by the range of seersucker options, he is working on what he calls the “fashionable shorts” series. “They are next year. “Yes,” he said, “but make no mistake, the suit jacket and shorts are here.”
Post time: Sep-13-2021