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As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, there's been an increasing amount of scrutiny placed on that most quintessential of menswear ensembles, the suit. Where suits were the everyday professional attire of most of the Western world in the late 19th and through the 20th centuries, there have been seismic shifts in the last few decades in the world of professional attire.
So where does the suit stand today?
Today, evidence of a decline of menswear and really the apparel industry as a whole is everywhere. In this graph from a recent article from Bloomberg entitled the Death of Clothing, you can see that apparel is quickly losing ground in terms of where consumers are spending their money on technology and experiences.
Apparel stores of all kinds including those that claim to be the future of retail are closing. As an example, the luxury department store, Barneys, has filed for bankruptcy and agreed to close all of its stores. Financial institutions like JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs long considered bastions of
formality, just think of the phrase "white collar", are now relaxing their dress codes and American men are buying fewer suits, overall.
Today, casual attire really is the new standard. As just one example, men can wear sneakers with just about any ensemble. The textile and apparel industries in America have almost completely disappeared and high-level CEOs of multibillion-dollar corporations who now see the suit as being too stuffy have ditched it for more contemporary looks.
Despite the broader decline that we're currently seeing in the apparel industry, clothes, at their core, can still have a powerful effect on your image and your perceived identity. Expressions of power aside though, it is a valid question to ask whether we even have a need for suits as more and more workplaces become increasingly casual.
So if only the power suit is truly dying these days and suits, in general, are to take on a new role, what will that new role be?
In our opinion, the suit is probably going to transition from being an expression of conformity to one of creativity. Fashion houses have, again, been increasing the number of suits and suit inspired ensembles in their recent collections and creative suits have been a mainstay of red carpet looks for years. Think of brands like SuitSupply and Indochino who have brought the personal satisfaction that comes with customized, if not necessarily fully bespoke garments to new audiences.
All of this is to say that more men are now seeing the suit as a canvas for personal expression.
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