BLACK SUIT
A black suit can have many connotations. However it is the most classic suit and can open up a world of design choices because you’ve kept the colour and pattern back to basics.
It isn’t often you see the black suits these days in the sea of grey and blue business suits around the city that keeps people thinking they look fresh and new.
A black suit is often more reserved for formal occasions in terms of weddings and black tie and can be difficult to overcome, particularly in thinking of the famous Johnny Cash quote of ‘Why are you dress in black? Your not going to a funeral? Maybe I am’.
We have a client that currently has only ever ordered black garments from us. I spoke to him and he gave me some of his thoughts on the black suit:
“The black suit gets a bad reputation. Medium blue and medium grey (usually in solid and no patterns) are the foundational suit colours for the majority of men in the United Kingdom but also globally. In the western world with regards to etiquette the black lounge suit if is the most formal suit worn during the daytime and is thus reserved for funerals (but not weddings as they are too stark of a contrast). Above the formality of the black suit for evening wear is the dinner suit worn for black tie.”
“Being a loyal client at McCann Bespoke for nearly 4 years all my garments except for shirts have been black. The reason being is due to my emotional connection to the colour as it is very trimming and flattering to my tall and lean physiques. In addition it provided somewhat of psychological protection form external and outside forces.”
Below is the client, who is striving on his music career, who chooses to pair his black suits with all black ensembles. Which in our opinion can be seen as investment pieces as will always be timeless and will give you a fresh clean look.
Of course not all black suits need to be accessorised and paired with black garments. There are also other ways to accessorise and team together a black suit to make it smart and more it more complimentary.
Neil McCann often sports a black suit, and pairs it with things such as a sky blue shirt with black tie, this black suit seen below is paired with a bronze tie to give it that modern twist.
With choosing a staple black colour it leaves room for more experimentation in the style department. For example; what type of lapel you want, whether it be large or small, single or double breasted, pocket type, button quantity; by choosing this colour the bold choice can be these options instead of colour power. As you can see in the first image from our lookbook with the double breasted in black looking very more contemporary in its black state.
We suggest a lightweight cloth as black suits can be seen as very flexible for business casual. Take you to the office in your smart businesswear and then after work for the effortless cool look with no tie and perhaps a jumper.
Shirts: we suggest contrasting colours. Baby hues of pink or blue can work well but paired with a darker tie. White shirts can be paired with most colours, we like silver as in the look book, but we’d suggest hues of pinks, red, purples than blues. Navy and blues can be tricky with black so if you do want blue choose a brighter bolder blue and pair with a black tie to keep it in sync.
