# Will three-piece suits ever come back? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 11, 2007, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-three-piece-suits-ever-come-back/422392 "2007-10-11T22:27:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-three-piece-suits-ever-come-back/422392/1 "2007-10-11T22:27:12Z")
I haven’t seen a man wearing a business suit with matching vest for years. What happened to them? Will they ever come back? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-three-piece-suits-ever-come-back/422392/2 "2007-10-11T22:32:12Z")
I’m waiting for spats to become fashionable again… ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-three-piece-suits-ever-come-back/422392/3 "2007-10-11T22:36:56Z")
I hope they never do, in fact, I hope more “businesswear” dies a painful death, but then again, I’m well known to be negatively-biased in regards to anything that has a necktie associated with it ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-three-piece-suits-ever-come-back/422392/4 "2007-10-11T22:38:01Z")
I see lawyers wearing them! ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-three-piece-suits-ever-come-back/422392/5 "2007-10-11T22:43:24Z")
I doubt it. The trend in men’s businesswear is towards less complicated, more casual, even in the more conservative professions. I could see them coming back for women but only as a trendy one or two season thing. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-three-piece-suits-ever-come-back/422392/6 "2007-10-11T22:51:00Z")
Yeah, I doubt it too. Business attire is getting inexorably more casual, whereas the vest (“waistcoat”, we call 'em) is like saying “I’m so business-minded I’m wearing another suit underneath this suit”. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-three-piece-suits-ever-come-back/422392/7 "2007-10-12T00:19:31Z")
When I went to NYC recently, I saw a lot of really well-dressed guys sporting the shirt/tie/vest combination, although it was meant as more of a cool, casual, less conservative look, and they were all really skinny. None of them wore the suit jacket over it – just the vest buttoned over the shirt and tie. It’s actually a great look that way, but I’m not skinny enough to pull it off. My job brings me into close contact with lawyers at a number of different law firms, and none of them go for the three-piece suit style. In fact, most of these guys don’t even wear ties to the office, preferring to just tuck a dress shirt into khakis or slacks, and save their suits for client meetings and court appearances. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-three-piece-suits-ever-come-back/422392/8 "2007-10-12T00:50:37Z")
I hope so, since I enjoyed them when they were in style - the one or two times a year I wore them, that is. ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-three-piece-suits-ever-come-back/422392/9 "2007-10-12T01:00:38Z")
My very first suit (which I still have) was a three piece suit. Dear Og I looked gorgeous in it. I loved taking off the jacket and strutting around in the vest. Oh yeah, I’m bringing the three piece suit back. By myself if I have to. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-three-piece-suits-ever-come-back/422392/10 "2007-10-12T01:12:17Z")
Ari Gold on “Entourage” wears them and he is supposed represent Hollywood cool professional. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-three-piece-suits-ever-come-back/422392/11 "2007-10-12T01:31:03Z")
[QUOTE=Push You Down] Ari Gold on “Entourage” wears them and he is supposed represent Hollywood cool professional. [/QUOTE] That’s the thing I saw with the fashionable NYC guys – a three-piece suit is now a uniform of the young, hip, cool, metrosexual, and very wealthy, whereas your more conservative and older lawyers and bankers have long since ditched the vests. ---
**Author:** ![Improvisor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/50afbb/32.png) [@Improvisor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improvisor)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-three-piece-suits-ever-come-back/422392/12 "2007-10-12T01:34:16Z")
I think it is also a regional thing. When I (an American) was working over in The Netherlands and Berlin in a suit-required office alot of the German and Dutch guys I worked with wore three piece suits. The looked very professional and alot more elegant than us Americans. I think they value the non-casual look more than we do here. I was in an office in Berlin where they were doing microchip design, and the engineers were all wearing 3-piece suits with white lab coats over the top. The formalness of that would blow most American’s minds. I also think **Lou** has a good point in that you need to not be too overweight to really pull it off. I currently work from home (where my dress code doesn’t stray much beyond pyjamas and athletic pants), but if I ever need to get another suit for work, it will absolutely be a 3-piece. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-three-piece-suits-ever-come-back/422392/13 "2007-10-12T01:58:47Z")
[QUOTE=Improvisor] I also think **Lou** has a good point in that you need to not be too overweight to really pull it off. [/QUOTE] Yeah, the image of a big fat guy in a three-piece suit conjures up images of evil laughing plutocrats from turn-of-the-(20th) Century political cartoons, treading on the working class as they light up big cigars with $100 bills. Just think of Lou Pearlman, and how you would hate to see him dressed that way. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-three-piece-suits-ever-come-back/422392/14 "2007-10-12T02:22:40Z")
I’ve got a three-piece suit. I wear it to formal events when the weather’s cool. I don’t pay much (i.e., any) attention to fashion trends, though, and I honestly had no idea they were “out of style.” Maybe I should stop wearing it? ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-three-piece-suits-ever-come-back/422392/15 "2007-10-12T06:02:16Z")
For some tuxes, it is still in style. Although to some, a tuxedo with a vest is pure anathema. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-three-piece-suits-ever-come-back/422392/16 "2007-10-12T07:06:49Z")
[QUOTE=LiveOnAPlane] For some tuxes, it is still in style. Although to some, a tuxedo with a vest is pure anathema. [/QUOTE] I figure if I have to wear the torture device known as a tuxedo, I might as well look sharp enough to shave with. Cummerbunds are the stupidest “fashion” items ever invented, and just the jacket and shirt are kinda plain, so it’s vests for me. I wore one at my wedding and as a best man at my friend’s. Well, it was the fake kind with no back, but still. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-three-piece-suits-ever-come-back/422392/17 "2007-10-12T07:54:10Z")
[QUOTE=jackelope] I’ve got a three-piece suit. I wear it to formal events when the weather’s cool. I don’t pay much (i.e., any) attention to fashion trends, though, and I honestly had no idea they were “out of style.” Maybe I should stop wearing it? [/QUOTE] Hey man, if you like it, don’t let anyone else make you not wear it. A guy in my squadron went out and bought a three-piece white suit a month or two ago, complete with a matching fedora. I’ve seen him wear it a grand total of twice since then, but he has just the right attitude to make it work. Now, if you want to talk about incomprehensible fashion statements, let’s talk about starched and pressed BDUs, the trademark of the Air Force tech school student. \*goes to iron his uniform at 1AM because he forgot to do it at 5PM and has a formation in the morning. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-three-piece-suits-ever-come-back/422392/18 "2007-10-12T08:06:15Z")
[QUOTE=DrFidelius] I’m waiting for spats to become fashionable again… [/QUOTE] …and Teddy Boy suits ---
**Author:** ![Trisha\_McMillan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@Trisha\_McMillan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trisha_McMillan)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-three-piece-suits-ever-come-back/422392/19 "2007-10-12T08:51:28Z")
My brother has nicked my dad’s old ones (he was a lawyer from the sixties till he retired a few years ago) and wears them with great gusto and aplomb to any event he can. He’s 23. ---
**Author:** ![Aquila\_Be](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Aquila\_Be](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquila_Be)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-three-piece-suits-ever-come-back/422392/20 "2007-10-12T08:58:37Z")
[QUOTE=Usram] “waistcoat”, we call 'em. [/QUOTE] I hope you pronounced that correctly. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-three-piece-suits-ever-come-back/422392.md?page=2)