Reagan was known for his brown suits. Probably wouldn't hurt in a general election.
I like brown suits and wish they were more common. Regular old navy and grey suits are boring. Relatedly: I'm not nearly southern enough to wear seersucker, but one time at a wedding I saw a guy totally rock a brown seersucker suit. He looked great and less sweaty than those of us in dark suits.
The brown suit has no cyanide in it whatsoever!
Dave Barry, 30 years ago, had the following riff:
CEO: Who should we consider for this promotion?
VP: What about Jones? He's the one who figured out how to turn used Kleenex into gold.
What color suit does he wear?
Brown.
Well forget him.
It's a good think men's fashion hasn't changed at all over the past twenty years. All my suits were purchased in the 90s.
Doesn't look brown to me, normal boring charcoal. I wonder what would happen if a candidate turned up at a debate in jeans and a campaign tee.
Maybe I need to get a seersucker. Tropical climates are too fucking hot to wear suits, and yet it is the business culture here anyway. I blame British colonialism.
I wonder what would happen if a candidate turned up at a debate in jeans and a campaign tee.
The mayor of Braddock did that in his run for a Senate seat, except maybe it was just a regular t-shirt.
The candidates should get a chance to screen test. A few debates ago, Hillary wore this gold Mao suit type thing, and she looked horribly washed out. Like, 3 shades lighter and bluer than Bernie. Every once in awhile they'd switch to a different camera angle and she would look more normal, but from front on she looked terrible. It was a debate everyone claimed Bernie did really well at, and I wondered if the weird lighting plus top color for Hillary played a role. (As a pretty classic Summer, Hillary should avoid golds and bright yellows, and stick to cool-toned shades.)
Also, don't you all remember how everyone claimed Al Gore wasn't a real manly man because he loved spotted owls and wore brown suits?
10: I don't know. I doubt it but I haven't seen any polls.
12 Buttercup is on her way to a bright career in campaign consultancy.
13: He was too young for a brown suit.
Tropical climates are too fucking hot to wear suits, and yet it is the business culture here anyway. I blame British colonialism.
It is completely nuts that clothing designed to keep you warm in a draughty office in Victorian London is now compulsory business attire in incredibly hot and sticky countries from the Sea of Cortez to the Malacca Strait. I seem to remember the last time this came up someone recommended the dashiki as an acceptable alternative. Great idea.
I was getting increasingly confused at 12 until I realized I had misread "debates" as "decades".
What are some options for less conventional men's suits that gesture in a bit of a 19c direction (like maybe busier) without coming off as steampunk / cosplayer? Or is that like looking for a sports car that can also fit a baseball team?
Is anyone expected to wear a suit jacket any more in hot countries, except for photo ops? IME they're mostly carried around/hung on a peg and what people actually wear is a pair of linen trousers and a short sleeved cotton shirt. But that may vary from country to country.
I think safari jackets are coming back.
2: Consider linen, Stanley.
Or poplin! One of the nice things about working in the New Orleans courts system during the summer was the relaxed dress code (compared to court attire in other places, anyway). Linen, poplin, seersucker are all totally acceptable. New Orleans: where the courts are fucked but full of snappy dressers.
Whatever happened to Bermuda shorts or a formal, tailored sarong for men's business-wear in hot countries? Samoa is the wave of the future.
Arrakis is the wave of the future. Stillsuits for everyone.
Wouldn't a sarong be hard to go to the bathroom in. Unless we also get in-floor toilets.
Speaking of warm climates and brown suits. I really like my light-weight British Tan suit in Washington's summers. I also have a very dark brown suit. Plus a suit where the base is dark olive. Hmmm, maybe my tastes aren't standard.
I spent a day last fall wearing a suit in a windowless conference room in the USVI with no AC. Probably 90F. I doubt there's any material that would have made that non-hellish.
I'm pretty sure the suit I wore to my two job interviews recently was inherited from my uncle within the past 2 years or so, who decided he didn't need so much formal wear in retirement. I feel a tiny bit weird wearing hand-me-downs at my age, but eh, they fit.
After living in the DC area as long as I have I feel entitled to some seersucker, but I've never sought it out. Also, I own two formalish vests I never wear, and one of them matches a pair of trousers, but the other doesn't exactly match anything I have. I rarely dress up that much anyway, but maybe I should be a bit better prepared than I am.
If global warming means that men will need to have air circulating around their genitals even during business hours, wouldn't something shorter and looser like a kilt be better? Probably a lighter fabric than is now currently used.
Oh man, I just realized now is the perfect weather to break out my late grandfather's Brooks Brothers trenchcoat, which fits me once again.
30
Seersucker kilts? Or plaid madras? If you market this idea and become a billionaire, I'm going to demand a cut of the profits.
Also, I own two formalish vests I never wear, and one of them matches a pair of trousers, but the other doesn't exactly match anything I have.
Hokey Pokey does too, but he wears them both frequently.
I may be confused about what a sarong is. I thought it covered your upper and lower body with a single garment. Looking at wikipedia, it doesn't. So I assume it wouldn't be very hard to go to the bathroom in. Still looks too tight about the legs for my taste.
Oh man, I just realized now is the perfect weather to break out my late grandfather's Brooks Brothers trenchcoat
You must be on crack! It's far too humid and warm for any but the thinnest outerwear.
But then, I run warm generally, which is very annoying, for outerwear-related reasons. (Also sweat.)
Is anyone expected to wear a suit jacket any more in hot countries, except for photo ops? IME they're mostly carried around/hung on a peg and what people actually wear is a pair of linen trousers and a short sleeved cotton shirt. But that may vary from country to country.
In Caribbean countries, wearing jackets is more common than not. I rarely see a short sleeve cotton shirt around here. What you describe is my experience of Hawaii, which is how it should be.
On the other hand, I was recently in Brazil and was one of the two idiots on the subway wearing a business suit. The other idiot was the guy leading the mission.
The trenchcoat is not much heavier than one's basic hoodie.
Plus, with a hoodie pants are required. You can just wear gaiters with a trenchcoat.
Some years ago I asked here for suggestions to more thoroughly and reliably keep my trouser leg out of my bike chain, since basic tying-down wasn't proving enough. Later on I found this "bike pant protector" that works much better. About a month ago I realized it was a gaiter.
A Samoan-style tailored men's ie (sarong), is basically a knee-length wraparound skirt with a belt and pockets. Very practical and dignified.
The police marching band in powder-blue uniforms with white gloves and white enameled instruments is a sight to behold.
Funny, I thought they were lighter blue.
I hear it depends on the background and lighting.
That still looks like it would constrain free movement of the legs compared to a kilt.
It's hot. How fast do you really want to be walking?
Also, the pic is a little misleading -- the guy on the left with the drum is very visible, but he's wearing his oddly long. They're mostly only a couple of inches below the knee.
Actual quotes:
Flippanter: "Good God, Bernie, what the hell are you wearing?"
TWYRCL: "Sweetie, you can't yell at the TV every time you see a brown suit."
Relatedly, I had spent a rather long time over the weekend preaching enlightening instructing informing TWYRCL of the "no brown in town" rule and its origins. The conversation concluded with a frustrated cry of "Because that's how things should be, if modern everything weren't garbage!"
I'm sorry, "No brown in town" is a dumb rule. First, because all the other things that one is not supposed to wear in town all get worn anyway - surely one should not wear brogues in town since they are for tramping on the moors? Or shooting caps? Or tweed? Or Shetland sweaters? Etc, etc. Second, since even the various old money types to whom this might apply don't really live in a town/country setting - main line suburbs aren't the same thing. Third, getting bent out of shape about brown in town when grown adults carry backpacks to work seems to be putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable, as the fellow says.
And most importantly, lots of people look good in brown. It's a far better color for suits than black (which, really, if one feels that brown should not be worn in town, surely one also feels that black suits are anathema). Various deep browns are flattering on a far broader range of people than black is.
And everyone already agrees that brown shoes are superior to black because the leather develops a patina. So it can't just be an issue with brown qua brown.
The backpack point is inarguably correct so I'll consider the rest.
Third, getting bent out of shape about brown in town when grown adults carry backpacks to work seems to be putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable, as the fellow says.
I wear a backpack to work, and I feel so strongly about Bernie's brown suit, that I believe we should elect him President and then immediately impeach him for this sartorial felony, just to be sure that everyone gets the message.
Frowner's argument is reconciling me to my own town brown.
Carhartt's has a shop downtown now anyway, which bodes ill for their future utility and for Flippanter's peace of mind. New rule of thumb: if I bought it from Ben Meadows, maybe not city clothes.
I do have a sleeker backpack for town, though. The really voluminous ones are troublesome to seatmates on the bus.
Minivet, 19: isn't this Cable Car Clothier's game? Edge of the financial district, SF? I also have acquaintances with a new vintage/esque shop for dancers somewhere in Oakland. They have no fear of costumes, but hardly require it, and anything dancers like offers freedom of movement, at least. In general, I think you have to try stuff on: as with hats, what is interesting or dapper on one person or background might be gimmicky or costumey on another.
53: Hm, they look interesting. What's the Oakland place called?
Isn't Cable Car Clothiers more of a "British country gentleman's clothes for a city where it makes absolutely no sense" kind of store? They always have shooting jackets in the window.
I'll vote for the candidate who first wears a sage-green sharkskin suit, unless it's Clinton or one of those GOP twits.
Wubba wubba wubba!
I'm pretty sure you just endorsed the Libertarian party candidate for President...
We don't know who that will be at the moment, or care, but I think there's probably still good odds no matter who wins their nomination. Also their website, when I went to see if there was one picked yet, is hilarious:
[The candidates] have also filed with the FEC, with the exception of Darryl Perry, who has chosen not to file, as a protest against the FEC, claiming that it lacks constitutional authority.
Minivet, OverAttired, 337 4th St. I've never been, it opened after I left.
Speaking of old men in suits I just saw an old Scotsman in a grey kilt and flat cap and a great moustache in the National Museum of Narnia.
What Sanders should wear to the next debate.
60: I would have thought the Zoo would be more appropriate.
They always have shooting jackets in the window.
Tell me more, please.
59: I'll check them out. When did they open? I don't remember them from my storecombing last Thanksgiving.
Amusingly, they also seem to screen Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries some evenings. I find that show mediocre in most respects but its wardrobe is great.
Wearing the trenchcoat now. It's heavier than I remembered - lined - but contra neb, perfect at least for this coldish morning hour. Later, we'll see.
