Suit Up! Designers Serve Up Menswear On The Cheap
As much as we ladies might bemoan the wardrobe woes that accompany a membership in the fairer sex — when it comes to dressing on the cheap, we’ve totally had the the upper hand.
But as for the men, well, with nary a Thom Browne for Target Collaboration in sight, it’s definitely proved more difficult for them to get dapperly decked without spending a small fortune. Fine tailoring doesn’t come cheap. And the reality — unfair as it may have been — is that if you couldn’t afford the good stuff, you were stuck looking like you just stepped off the used-car lot.
Well, boys, you can save your Aqua Velva and pomade for another day because thanks to a new troupe of democratizing designers, your suit is about to get a whole heck of a lot less expensive. Not to mention cooler.
In fact, writes the New York Times, youthful, inexpensive suits are one of the strongest selling items on the sales floor right now. Chalk it up to a lingering symptom of the recession or just men finally demanding equal retail treatment, but when it comes down to it — and thanks to those crazy laws of economics — where there is demand, there is supply.
And we’re not just talking fast chain retailers, either — though those chaps over at Topman do know how to turn out some thrifty threads. But from the sartorially savvy boys over at Shipley and Halmos to Billy Reid, designers seem to have finally recognized that men might just actually care about what they put on their backs every morning. Revolutionary, no?
So fellas, meet the new and much improved cheap suit. A far cry from the safe, super sobering investment piece that it was back in the double-breasted, greed-is-good old days, “today’s suit manages to embody a polished yet casual approach to dressing that, the leisure suit reached for and missed — by a mile.” Think pastels, relaxed twills, and even a good-looking plaid — all accomplished with the sharp tailoring and attention to detail that has been relatively absent from the mid-priced menswear market.
Smart, sleek, and snappy enough to wear once you’ve clocked out…almost makes that stuffy corporate dress code seem like a good thing.
Looking Good in Three Figures [New York Times]
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