The classics make a comeback

[Minh]

Whoever said that to succeed you must follow the times, underestimated the appeal of the past. The palace of Versailles is not hip, trendy, or new, but it is still stunning, and it will endure far longer than the "modern" buildings downtown.

I was delighted to discover, the last time I went to Brooks Brothers in Boston, that the suit that was selling the best, and was almost sold out (at full price!) was straight out of the archives: a three-piece, single breasted, peak labeled suit in a golden brown tweed herringbone.

http://www.brooksbrothers.com/IWCatProd ... ent_Id=216

Why is a three piece tweed suit, which could have been worn in the 1930s, so much more popular than this fashionable model?

http://www.brooksbrothers.com/IWCatProd ... ent_Id=216

It is a matter, not of "in spite," but "because." Why waste nearly a thousand dollars on a suit that will be out of fashion next year, when you can invest in a classic? Why live in a concrete coffin, when there's Versailles?

Minh

[dopey]

I don't wish to be a wet blanket, but the three piece peak lapeled tweed suit you refer to is selling out precisely because it IS fashionable now, NOT because it is a classic. In three-years time it will still be a classic but it won't be fashionable and they will be giving away whatever stock they have left (that would be a good time to get one cheap).

I have one very similar to it (but with lapels on the waistcoat and a slightly different Donegal tweed). It was ordered around 1998 and is a true favorite of mine. I am looking forward this season to finally being fashionable for a few minutes.

[Minh]

I would think that "fashionable" would refer to a broad trend in the fashion industry, but I haven't seen peak labeled three piece tweed suits in Armani, Banana Republic, Macy's, Filene's, H&M, Hugo Boss, etc.

Minh

[Romualdo]

Ahhh, it's great to see that classic is now fashionable!

Trevor

[westender]

They aren't Tweed but on the Macy's web site on the front page of the suit section there are a couple of SB peak lapelled suits by Sean John (whoever he is).

http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/i ... =EverGreen

[maxnharry]

Tweed is back this year, but that does or does not make it classic. If you are someone who is going to wear tailored clothing in our world, you are going to be out of the mainstream. I am actually saddened that some interlopers will be wearing tweed this year and next.

[Alias]

I will take a positive viewpoint. I am happy to see that people are rediscovering the classics.

[Romualdo]

Sean John is made by Peerless. They are north americas largest tailored clothing manufacture.

[Mark Seitelman]

As the song lyric goes, "everything old is new again."

[TCN]

Tweed is back this year, but that does or does not make it classic. If you are someone who is going to wear tailored clothing in our world, you are going to be out of the mainstream. I am actually saddened that some interlopers will be wearing tweed this year and next.

I'm not necessarily proud of it, but I share your sadness.

[Collarmelton]

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but plain front trousers are hardly "classic," and the tweed suit comes with such trousers, currently in vogue. It's my understanding that plain front trousers for lounge suits were a wartime austerity measure, and since the War Production Board lifted cloth rationing in 1945, we can all wear pleats again. The tweed suit is a nod toward a classic style, but reworked to be "contemporary." Of course, if plain front trousers are "classic," I take back everything I just said.

[Will]

Combining the word classic with plain front trousers depends on your definition of classic.

I believe pleated trousers were introduced in the 1930's. Before that golden decade, trousers had plain fronts.

For true classicism perhaps we should be wearing plain front trousers with heavy side seams instead of creases, a la 1900.

[TVD]

To paraphrase Hardy Amies (his book is not at hand, so I cannot quote) "classic" is a euphemism for unfashionable. I guess the members of the London Lounge share a preference for style rather than fashion, and classicism is something they may appreciate in buildings.

In respect of the suit pictured on the BB website, I am not sure I would specify peak lapels with an informal fabric unless the coat were double breasted. And it is many years since I saw one of these. A fellow pupil at school had a whole collection of his grandfather's cast off Savile Row suits including a number in medium weight Reid & Tailor tweed design fabrics, all double breasted. They were magnificent. I recently saw a Porter & Harding book with similar somewhat more lightweight cloth and was severely tempted...

[BirdofSydney]

I think a garment may still be classic while employing an updated cut. Indeed, many of the styles we see as classic, dating from the early part of the 20th century, were quite radical at the time.

Indeed, our sartorial heroes seem to be remembered in a large part for their reforming ways. It would be a disgrace to their memory to stick our heads in the sand and insist that everything worth developing has already been done. Or that something is better simply because it's older (you won't find me queueing up for my doublet and hose any time soon!).

By the same token, we rightly ridicule those who discard valid styles that they consider "out-of-date". The art of dressing well, I would argue, consists in distilling the best looks from any period.

I like flat fronts. I also like them cut around about the natural waist (hardly a trendy move). I think that it may have something to do with having a 29" waist, in fact. Were it a 39" waist, I should probably be thinking of having pleats instead. Pleats are less art and more engineering.

Kind regards from your resident aesthetic firebrand and general rabble-rouser,

Eden

[Romualdo]

While my years in the clothing business have always pushed the forward pleats, I am currenlty having all my personal suits made in plain front. Yes, it may be a trend but damn I like the way it looks!