For some four hundred years, suits of matching coat, trousers, and waistcoat have been in and out of fashion. The picture below shows Johann Christian Fischer, composer, in matching coat, waistcoat, and breeches, by Thomas Gainsborough, ca. 1780.
The evolution of the modern suit began with changes made to formal English male dress by fancy London resident George Bryan "Beau" Brummell in the early 1800s. One way he did this was to promote the wearing of tailored trousers, which were to replace breeches-and-hose combinations. Brummell's influence introduced the modern era of men's clothing which now includes the modern suit and necktie.
Founded in 1818 as a family business, Brooks Brothers is known for introducing the ready-to-wear suit to American customers, a suit which was sold already manufactured and sized, ready to be tailored.
Short jackets began to replace the frock coat in the 1860s. Matching waistcoats and trousers also appeared, but only for informal occasions.
Alfred Tennyson was appointed Poet Laureate in 1850, he borrowed the same suit to wear to Buckingham Palace that Wordsworth wore on his appointment to the same post seven years before.
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He was the only tailor ever to become his country's leader. As president, Johnson would wear only the suits that he made himself.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the modern lounge suit (or 'business suit') is was born as a very informal garment meant only to be worn for sports, in the country, or at the seaside.
In 1892 Labour Party founder Keir Hardie caused outrage by wearing a lounge suit when he took up his seat in the House of Commons.
It was Edward, Prince of Wales, who popularized the lounge suit for almost all occasions. By the time of his death in 1972, the then Duke of Windsor owned 55 lounge suits.
The author Ray Bradbury was so poor growing up that he borrowed the suit with a bullet hole his uncle was murdered in for his high school graduation ceremony.
Colonel Sanders, the famous founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken once tried to claim the cost of his white suits as a tax deduction. The IRS disallowed this claim.
When Sloan Wilson used the title The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit for his 1955 novel, he was suggesting that the ordinary business suit-as worn by eager young executives looking for promotions--had attained the status of a uniform. It had become a distinctive type of clothing worn by a whole class of individuals engaged in similar tasks.
Chairman Mao's charcoal-grey suit grew into an icon of the 1970s. The suit was actually a "Sun Yat-sen suit" named after the leader who kicked out the Manchu dynasty in 1911 and had the suit designed for the new Republic of China. When Mao took over in 1949, he kept the style and wore it until he died.
The Mao suit was laden with symbols-the four pockets represented the fundamental principles of conduct for the Chinese: propriety, justice, honesty and a sense of shame.
Nowadays, the Chinese government tends towards smart black business suits, symbolizing a departure from old-style Communism.
Jackie Kennedy's iconic pink suit was actually a copy of a Chanel design. Chez Ninon, a New York fashion salon, created a line-for-line reproduction of Chanel's design so Jackie could skirt around the ban on wearing foreign designers — a habit that she had been publicly criticized for in the past.
Jackie Kennedy wore her blood-splattered pink Chanel suit for the rest of the day after her husband's assassination. When asked to change her outfit, she replied "I want them to see what they have done to Jack."
The fashion designer Alexander McQueen started out as a Savile row apprentice and claimed to have written "McQueen was here" inside the lining of a suit for Prince Charles.
In 2009, with Japan gripped by swine flu fears, a company developed suits coated with titanium oxide to protect against the deadly H1N1 strain responsible for the outbreak.
The world's smallest tailored suit comprised trousers measuring 35.5cm (13.98 in) and the jacket 19.7 cm (7.76 in). The suit was made by Haruyama Trading Co., Ltd. in Okayama, Okayama, Japan and was measured on December 1, 2012.
Sources Radio Times, Compton's Encyclopedia, The Independent
The evolution of the modern suit began with changes made to formal English male dress by fancy London resident George Bryan "Beau" Brummell in the early 1800s. One way he did this was to promote the wearing of tailored trousers, which were to replace breeches-and-hose combinations. Brummell's influence introduced the modern era of men's clothing which now includes the modern suit and necktie.
Founded in 1818 as a family business, Brooks Brothers is known for introducing the ready-to-wear suit to American customers, a suit which was sold already manufactured and sized, ready to be tailored.
Short jackets began to replace the frock coat in the 1860s. Matching waistcoats and trousers also appeared, but only for informal occasions.
Alfred Tennyson was appointed Poet Laureate in 1850, he borrowed the same suit to wear to Buckingham Palace that Wordsworth wore on his appointment to the same post seven years before.
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He was the only tailor ever to become his country's leader. As president, Johnson would wear only the suits that he made himself.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the modern lounge suit (or 'business suit') is was born as a very informal garment meant only to be worn for sports, in the country, or at the seaside.
In 1892 Labour Party founder Keir Hardie caused outrage by wearing a lounge suit when he took up his seat in the House of Commons.
It was Edward, Prince of Wales, who popularized the lounge suit for almost all occasions. By the time of his death in 1972, the then Duke of Windsor owned 55 lounge suits.
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| Edward Prince of Wales in Canada 1919 |
The author Ray Bradbury was so poor growing up that he borrowed the suit with a bullet hole his uncle was murdered in for his high school graduation ceremony.
Colonel Sanders, the famous founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken once tried to claim the cost of his white suits as a tax deduction. The IRS disallowed this claim.
When Sloan Wilson used the title The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit for his 1955 novel, he was suggesting that the ordinary business suit-as worn by eager young executives looking for promotions--had attained the status of a uniform. It had become a distinctive type of clothing worn by a whole class of individuals engaged in similar tasks.
Chairman Mao's charcoal-grey suit grew into an icon of the 1970s. The suit was actually a "Sun Yat-sen suit" named after the leader who kicked out the Manchu dynasty in 1911 and had the suit designed for the new Republic of China. When Mao took over in 1949, he kept the style and wore it until he died.
The Mao suit was laden with symbols-the four pockets represented the fundamental principles of conduct for the Chinese: propriety, justice, honesty and a sense of shame.
 |
| Mao Zedong sitting, published in "Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung" |
Nowadays, the Chinese government tends towards smart black business suits, symbolizing a departure from old-style Communism.
Jackie Kennedy's iconic pink suit was actually a copy of a Chanel design. Chez Ninon, a New York fashion salon, created a line-for-line reproduction of Chanel's design so Jackie could skirt around the ban on wearing foreign designers — a habit that she had been publicly criticized for in the past.
Jackie Kennedy wore her blood-splattered pink Chanel suit for the rest of the day after her husband's assassination. When asked to change her outfit, she replied "I want them to see what they have done to Jack."
 |
| Kennedys arrive at Dallas 11-22-63 |
The fashion designer Alexander McQueen started out as a Savile row apprentice and claimed to have written "McQueen was here" inside the lining of a suit for Prince Charles.
In 2009, with Japan gripped by swine flu fears, a company developed suits coated with titanium oxide to protect against the deadly H1N1 strain responsible for the outbreak.
The world's smallest tailored suit comprised trousers measuring 35.5cm (13.98 in) and the jacket 19.7 cm (7.76 in). The suit was made by Haruyama Trading Co., Ltd. in Okayama, Okayama, Japan and was measured on December 1, 2012.
Sources Radio Times, Compton's Encyclopedia, The Independent
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