History of the Suit

The Man's Suit

Johann Christian Fischer in matching coat, waistcoat, and breeches, by Thomas Gainsborough , ca. 1780. The suit is the traditional form of men's formal clothes in the Western world. The modern suit appeared in the early 19th century , but the coat's origins trace to the simplified, sartorial standard of dress established by the British king Charles II in the 17th century , and redefined, adapted, and popularised in the early 19th century, by the British dandy Beau Brummell.

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In 1666, the restored monarch, Charles II, per the example of King Louis XIV 's court at Versailles , decreed that in the English Court men would wear a long coat, a waistcoat (then called " petticoat "), a cravat (a precursor of the necktie), a wig , and knee breeches (trousers), and a hat.

In the early 1800s, Brummel's style led European men to wearing understated, well-cut, tailored suits, adorned with elaborately knotted neckties. Brummel's influence introduced the fashion of the modern suit and necktie. Moreover, he popularised regular (daily) bathing as part of a man's toilet. (Johnson, Birth of the Modern )

For some four hundred years, suits of matching coat, trousers, and waistcoat have been in and out of fashion. The modern lounge suit's derivation is visible in the outline of the brightly-coloured, elaborately-crafted royal court dress of the 17th century (suit, wig, knee breeches) shed consequent to the French Revolution , British tailoring's use of steam and padding in moulding wool cloth, the necktie, and the gradual disuse of waistcoats and hats in the last fifty years.

The modern suit originally was a 19th century English innovation in men's dress, usually referring to a lounge suit that was only worn in the country and at seaside. At the time morning dress and the frock coat garments were not suits, because they were worn with odd striped trousers; a matching waistcoat and trousers were considered informal, clothes described as such in the short-lived term "ditto suit". [1] [2]

In North America , the "sack suit" derives from the lounge suit, because, except for the shoulders, it is unfitted, loose, and informal, as it has no darts. In the 19th century, for informal occasions, men wore morning dress in place of the formal frock coat suit then the proper business and day time formal clothes. Thus, the lounge suit was informal dress reserved for recreation.

Courtesy Wikipedia