Lurking at the back of my wardrobe, unworn in years, hangs an item I’d almost forgotten I owned: a plain navy wool, single-breasted suit. Alongside it are several others in shades of charcoal and grey.
Like many men now, I have little need for a suit in day-to-day life. Working from home has eliminated any remaining requirement for formal office dressing, while the rise of smart casual has largely done away with suits in many other sociable situations (a blazer and jeans has been my go-to for years).
So, my suits hang dormant, waiting for those infrequent events at which nothing less than formal will do — a funeral, or a court appearance.
But my brother’s upcoming wedding has highlighted a gap. In the past, I’d have just trotted out one of my paler grey suits, teamed it with a colourful tie and been done with it.
Similarly, heading to a book launch or taking part in a panel would have seen me ditch the tie and swap in a more casual shirt. But that just doesn’t feel right any more.
What I want, I realised, is a suit that still does all the things great tailoring has done for centuries (make you look and feel your best self) but is also modern, comfortable, fun even; an outfit that offers the chance for self-expression and individuality while not ripping up the rule book entirely. And I’m not alone.
A filmmaker friend, currently in the final edit of his new documentary, mentioned that he’d already started thinking about what he might wear on stage at the various talks and awards he’ll be attending. He wants something smart enough to respect the sensitive nature of his film’s subject matter but not feel that he’s erased his individuality or creativity by dressing up in a classic suit and tie.
In short, what he — and I — need is a casual suit.
The idea is not as oxymoronic as it might first appear. The current trend is for suiting that conforms to the basics (a pairing of tailored trouser and jacket) but plays with the details. So, trousers might be wide-legged and high-waisted, jackets could be unlined or unstructured, and the colour palette plucked from any part of the rainbow.
Menswear label Percival has picked up on this need. Founded in 2009 by Chris Gove, a former illustrator and ad creative, the London-based brand has struck gold with its take on the 1920s Riviera suit.
The unlined linen number with double vent, two buttons and available in a range of colours from cream and dusty pink through to brown and rust is unfussy, elegant and well priced (£229 for the jacket and £129 for the trousers, percivalclo.com). The bestseller is forest green but I rather like the tan; the fit is spot on and the colour fresh and interesting without being zany.
Gove estimates that it has now sold in excess of 14,000 linen suits, with tailoring accounting for more than 20 per cent of product sales revenue across the business.
“I think that when everyone returned to the office post-Covid, what came with that was the rise of smart casual, which just meant golfing clothes or a pair of chinos and an Oxford shirt,” explains Gove. “Everyone thought smart was dead.”
The turning point, for Percival at least, came in 2021 when Gareth Southgate commissioned the brand to make him a suit for the Euros that was smart enough for an England football manager, but loose-fitting enough to allow for the kind of frantic touchline gesticulations that an England football manager might need to make during a penalty shootout.
Having never made a suit, Gove developed a summery, casual take — “rather than the crispy suit that you go to the office in”, says Gove. “We started noticing that everyone would wear it for weddings, because it was a good price point, it’s not structured even though it feels tailored. And linen has had such a comeback over the past five years.”
Colour is your friend. Timothée Chalamet’s yellow Oscars suit, in leather, by Givenchy, with its cropped double-breasted jacket, was on point and while Succession’s Jeremy Strong is working his way through the colour spectrum to varying degrees of, um, success. His Loro Piana bespoke muscade rose linen suit and matching shirt at Cannes last week was more successful than the pale green velvet he went for at the Golden Globes.
Whatever the colour, you can pair a linen suit with a crisp shirt and tie or dress it down with a Cuban collar, cotton-knit polo or even just a T-shirt. (See Leonardo DiCaprio last week in an off-duty moment wearing a relaxed-cut seersucker navy suit with trainers and white tee.) And the best bit: all these looks could happily coexist at the same party, dinner or awards ceremony.
“There’s much more fracturing of what looks good within one event,” says Gove. “It’s a chance for you to sort of say who you are, as opposed to fit into a box, and people who don’t fit in a box are growing [into a] majority.”
For such events, there are now multiple options, including Folk’s Wide Fit range of soft tailoring — suits with a loose, easy-going silhouette (£235 for the blazer and £140 for the trousers, folkclothing.com) — and Universal Works’ two-button jacket in grey derby stripe (like a classic seersucker), which can be paired with military chino or the more voluminous Duke pant — or even a pair of pleated track shorts if there’s a heatwave/you’re feeling brave (£240 for the jacket and £165 for the military chino trousers, universalworks.co.uk).
At Oliver Spencer, I tried a slouchy one-button Laurel jacket in a Southwell pink herringbone linen with high-waisted, wide-legged trousers complete with sash belt. It felt roomy yet elegant and would work with a T-shirt, patterned shirt or more formal shirt and tie (£449 for the jacket and £239 for the trousers, oliverspencer.co.uk). Jacquemus provides a similar look with its Canevas wool suit (£850 for the jacket and £590 for the trousers, mrporter.com) that channels 1950s Hollywood.
Meanwhile, on Savile Row, Drake’s has lots of options, but I particularly liked the Antique Linen Games Blazer Mk I and trousers in tobacco, which nails the louche look (£795 for the jacket and £395 trousers, drakes.com). Zegna’s dark taupe Oasi Lino suit with a 1½-breasted jacket, which is slightly narrower than the more traditional double-breasted style, is also a winner (£2,665 for the jacket and £1,790 for the trousers, zegna.com).
If these more relaxed suits are still too orthodox for you, however, there’s workwear-inspired suits that offer a twist on the trend. I called Tom Massey, the award-winning garden designer who has a penchant for an avant garde suit. Last year, he wore a workwear co-ord/suit from Wax London in a floral pattern that caught my eye at the Chelsea Flower Show.
Massey, who isn’t into “super-formal, sharply cut suits”, wanted something that felt more representative of his personality. “If I put on a very sharp tailored suit, it doesn’t really feel right, it feels a bit awkward,” he says. “I always prefer something a bit looser — floral patterns, obviously, but just a more relaxed cut. It feels more comfortable to wear.”
It’s a trend he’s noted among his contemporaries at awards ceremonies and dinners, too. “I think particularly in creative industries, people are less concerned about wearing traditional suits, which I think is a good thing. It allows a bit more flexibility in what you can wear, and people don’t seem to be offended by it any more. I think maybe 10 years ago it would have been more controversial, but now it seems to be quite accepted, and what you wear is up to you, rather than a more prescribed view of what you should wear to work or to an event like Chelsea.”
Perhaps the litmus test came when Massey gave King Charles a tour of his award-winning garden dressed in his floral suit, T-shirt and not a tie in sight: “He didn’t seem too fazed,” he laughs.
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