Of all the clothes available to men, the suit (along with the overcoat) has remained recognisably the same for the longest. Look at photographs of Victorian men, and they are wearing outfits related to the ones you have. Suits may change in fashion and style around the edges, but at heart, when you put one on, you are wearing not just your father’s armour, but your grandfather’s and great-grandfather’s; the defining plumage of hosts of men who were long dead before you were born. You put on a suit and you join history and heritage. Nobody I have heard of has come up with a convincing argument why the suit should have clothed the world’s men for so long, so plainly and conservatively. It must speak to some deep, pan-cultural, omnisocial conformity, some understanding of probity and power.
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The suit isn’t a mindless conformity of drudgery and bureaucracy; it is the acceptance of the responsibility and heritage of your gender. And it is because men wear and understand the metaphor of their suits that children can have their allotted time wearing jeans and hoodies.
Okay, as an anthropologist, I have to admit that the first paragraph is a completely Euro-centric and a far-from-accurate view of the fashions of the world. Still, it speaks to the Old World blood in me - and makes me long for a brighter future where Men (notice the capitalization there) dress and act in a more chivalric manner.
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