The suit makes the man
IN an early episode of the new NBC show “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” Matthew Perry’s producer character berates his crew of writers for dressing like adolescent bums.
“I’ve just decided that it’s no longer cool for grown men to dress as if they’re in junior high school,” he screams as the camera pans across men in jeans, T-shirts, flannel shirts and knit caps. “We’re all going to act, dress, talk, write and behave professionally.”
He might as well have been the voice of L.A., for certainly the city has gotten the message: Looking good is no longer about showing up in the most meticulously shredded pair of $600 jeans but rather wearing inventive combinations that rewrite the rules of refinement.
“All of a sudden, wearing a suit has become a cool, high-fashion thing,” said Marshal Cohen, chief analyst for the NPD Group, a market research firm based in Port Washington, N.Y. In consumer surveys, Cohen has found that young men who may never have worn a suit -- or even seen their fathers wear one -- have discovered the luxury, sex appeal and authority of wearing something with more than two seams. And their elders, who may have disregarded suits during the Casual Friday era, are returning to sophisticated clothing to give them a competitive edge in business.
Indeed, suits have been one of the bright lights in menswear sales this fall, specialty retailers say, and for the spring, designers at all levels of the market, such as the edgy Cloak and sporty DKNY and Marc by Marc Jacobs, are offering distinctive suits and tailored clothing.
“A suit used to be very uptight with uptight associations,” said Colby McWilliams, vice president and men’s fashion director of Neiman Marcus. “Today there is a movement toward people dressing in a more modern way, but it’s comfortable for them physically and psychologically. There aren’t so many rules today.”
Long a breaker of fashion rules, L.A. is leading the trend on tailored clothing, said Tom Kalenderian, general merchandise manager of menswear for Barneys New York. Though fashion industry insiders often credit Hedi Slimane, the Paris-based designer of Christian Dior Homme, with putting tailored clothing back on the map with his dark, knife-sharp suits, Kalenderian credits the L.A. lifestyle for making that kind of clothing valid.
Since it opened in 1994, Barneys’ Beverly Hills store has helped dress Angelenos for award shows, charity events and countless high-profile nightlife forays. Throughout those dozen years, the retailer has come to understand the city’s special place as a trendsetter.
“It’s a very social community, and there’s a big need to dress well. With that comes the need for more interesting fashion. Tailored clothing has become the prestige part of that,” Kalenderian said. “It’s an icon for success.”
Across the street at the month-old store for Italian suit maker Canali, retail director Stevan Hill has been reaping the benefits of the new sartorial mood. Business has been “phenomenal,” he said. As his customers move toward the new look in denim -- dark, skinny and crisp -- they are seeing that it requires a new, narrow sport coat to complete the look.
Meanwhile, the leaner suit silhouette cuts slacks close to the leg and nips jackets at the waist, making the look both streetwise and sophisticated. Add a white shirt and narrow tie and the look is cutting-edge.
It’s telling that Canali chose Beverly Hills, not the financial center of New York, for its first U.S. store, a bright, inviting and contemporary space that offers such diverse wear as $14,000 suits in rare wools and $1,000 velvet sport coats. Their customers aren’t just celebrities trying to avoid landing on some tabloid’s worst-dressed list but often businessmen buying a more luxurious version of traditional cuts.
Still, famous faces helped pave the way for suits’ return. Consider record producer and apparel executive Sean “Diddy” Combs, looking every bit the mogul in his elegantly tailored clothing. Shawn Carter, a.k.a. Jay-Z, the 36-year-old president and chief executive of Def Jam Records, is frequently seen in a natty suit. Usher and Andre 3000 have shown young men the upper limits of suit-based style. Tailored clothing even gets a subversive edge as rockers such as Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong mix suits into their wardrobes.
Celebrities have been quick to grasp and popularize a concept well known in business circles: A fine suit has the proven ability to remake an image and, along the way, a career. Is it a coincidence that once George Clooney was freed from “ER’s” scrubs and became a steady, tuxedoed presence in Hollywood, he ascended to the ether of legendary style icons such as Cary Grant?
Some stars discover fine fashion on the set. In the new film “Stranger Than Fiction,” Italian retailer Domenico Vacca provided the luxurious, handmade suits that turn the comedy’s stars, Will Ferrell, who plays an IRS agent, and Dustin Hoffman, a university professor, into what are arguably the best-dressed characters of their careers. Now Hoffman is a regular Vacca customer, and Ferrell, thanks to his elegant on-screen wardrobe, is actually kind of sexy.
Vacca also has helped nudge Jeremy Piven, star of HBO’s “Entourage,” toward fashion plate status. After Piven selected a Vacca suit for an award show, he brought “Entourage” costume designer Amy Westcott to Vacca’s Rodeo Drive store to get suits for the series.
The suit’s latest makeover came from a group of influential artisan tailors, such as Vacca, Dior’s Slimane, New York’s Craig Robinson, London’s “bespoke couturier” Ozwald Boateng and Thom Browne, whose shrunken, nonconformist tailoring won him a deal to produce special collections for Brooks Brothers. Each of these tailoring innovators tweaks the suit to give it a new personality. Such is their success that other designers -- pardon the phrase -- have followed suit. As have men across the country, who are embracing suits at all price and quality levels, for work and play, NPD’s Cohen said.
“We are definitely at a time where the consumer is saying, ‘I can no longer just sit there and expect to dress shabby-chic and think I can improve my image,’ ” he says. “Young or old, it’s about trying to separate yourself from the pack.”
Vacca agreed. “Our clients are less and less attracted by the big brand names, the logos,” he said. “They want something that’s quality. It’s a whole shift in attitude.”
Christos Garkinos, co-owner of Decadestwo, a designer resale boutique, said he can tell the difference. “I feel like I can do business in a suit, like I can sell with more authority,” he said. Having grown up in a proper family that insisted on dressing up for religious holidays, putting on a suit also reignites a sense of occasion for Garkinos.
His business partner, Decades owner Cameron Silver, has embraced an elegant, old-time Hollywood mogul look: custom suits, velvet blazers, tweed trousers, vests and cuff links.
“A well-tailored suit can make you look handsome, whatever your body type is,” said Silver, a fashion trendsetter who has given up jeans. “Denim is a lazy man’s way to dress.
“You can’t be a teenager your entire life.”
