Are suits out of style or trending in 2023?
A very common question we get at 2Men is whether suits are in style or out of style. This is a really easy question to answer. Suits will never be completely out of style. This is because they are essential wear for some men, such as lawyers and other business professionals. However, generally speaking, suits are becoming less popular. Here's a quick summary of the last 30 years of suiting history:
- In the late 1980s, suits were required attire in the workplace.
- By the end of the 1990s, business casual was common in many workplaces.
- In the 2000s, more relaxed clothing became acceptable in some workplaces.
Ever since the end of the Pandemic, most men have stopped wearing suits as much as they used to, mainly because it's simply not necessary anymore to wear a suit.
Let's talk about the decline in popularity of suits, but also the various suit trends that we are expecting to see continue in 2023.
The History of Suit Style Trends
The formal suit and the history of it as formal wear
The suit comes from the military, and all major tailoring houses exist in countries where there was a Royal House or a rich bourgeoisie who needed to be dressed. For example, Britain, Italy, France, or America. These four countries have strong tailoring traditions, in particular in Britain and in Italy, where the most famous suitmakers in the world exist.
For a very long time, the only acceptable type of suit wearing was what we now call Business Formal, meaning a suit, shirt, tie, dress shoes, etc. But even as short a time ago as 100 years, this was not formal enough! Think about the Peaky Blinders with their 3-piece suits, this was the norm for anyone who wore a suit to work.
There are still many old money brands that make some of the best and most stylish suits in the world. If you want to get yourself a suit, make sure you make a good choice.
The suit becomes more casual
After many years of it being necessary to wear a 3-piece suit, eventually things began to become more casual. People stopped wearing waistcoats, and instead they simply wore a normal suit with a shirt and a tie.
This trend has continued for many years, to the point that Business Casual attire has now become the dominant style of dressing for work.
This interesting trend means that while suits are not quite as popular as they used to be, thanks to the fact that the look has adapted, there is very much still room for the suit in most modern men's wardrobes.
A business casual look is described as the following:
- A Dark shade of suit
- A white dress shirt or sweater
- Sneakers, dress shoes, or boots
- NO TIE!
As you can see, this is radically different from the original meaning of a business suit - and this more casual nature means that those who were maybe moving away from the suit, are staying with it.
Do Men still wear suits in 2023?
A very interesting statistic is that the ONS (the British Office for National Statistics) removed the suit from their "basket" of commonly bought goods, which is used to calculate inflation.
What does this mean?
The government’s statistics agency said suits, which had been in the basket every year since 1947, were not bought often enough to make it into the basket of 733 representative goods and services selected to measure the UK’s cost of living. They have been replaced in the ONS basket with a “formal jacket or blazer”.
- Taken from the Guardian "the end of the suit"
This is quite a shocking statistic, and means that suits are no longer considered essential enough of a good to help calculate inflation. Interestingly, however, they have been replaced by the formal jacket or blazer - meaning that the suit may be falling in popularity, but a sports jacket and Italian slacks combination is still exceedingly popular.
But why did men stop wearing suits as much? The main answer is that the idea of professionalism no longer is reliant on a person's clothes - although it can definitely help you snag a tough job through a job interview, it's simply not everyday dress for most men these days.
Are Suits Still Needed In The Workplace?
This has the classic answer of "it depends" it's really hard to say whether or not a suit is needed in the workplace. The reason for this is that it's needed in some workplaces, but not others.
For example, a suit is needed when a lawyer goes into court, and generally speaking lawyers will wear a suit most days. However, it's becoming more and more common for workplaces to not require a suit.
A great way to summarize the current trend of suits is that men are no longer required to wear a suit, but that doesn't mean they're not choosing to wear suits. This is a great distinction, and we believe it will lead to even more creativity when it comes to suiting in 2023.
What are the expected suit trends of 2023?
We don't enjoy making predictions, but we will make some for this article. Here's our predictions for the world of suits in 2023:
- The "suit no tie look" will continue to explode
- Sneakers will become even more of a favored accessory with suits
- Solid color suits will be slowly overtaken by patterns
- Four season suit fabrics are going to be increasingly popular
- Short pant suits are going to be the most popular type of suit in spring summer 2023.
Here's an example of a Spring Summer 2023 summer complete tracksuit from KNT (Kiton New Textures):
