Thursday, 17 July 2014

Double-breasted Suit

The Double-breasted Suit

The Regent


 The double-breasted suit was once the mainstay of a gentleman's closet during the early 20th century and returning in the 80s and 90s which undoubtedly tarnished its image. Derived from the Victorian era frock coat the double-breasted suit is heavily traditional with its military origins, like the military the double-breasted is not as lenient as the liberal single-breasted and requires to be closed at all times and generally to be worn with a tie. The double-breasted suit can with extremely hard work can be adapted to casual outfits but its formal nature generally makes the look awkward. There are a few different button configurations, the 4x1 which was quite commonly seen on 1930s dinner suits, the 6x1 which was commonly seen in the 80s and 90s and the least flattering and the traditional 6x2 which is the best configuration, whether you button the bottom button is your choice although I generally prefer to button the bottom button because leaving it unbuttoned doesn't seem to make any difference to the drape and sometimes makes the jacket either look like its too small like you can't button it or you've lost a the button. The double-breasted suit works in a variety of patterns, checks (Prince of Wales checks especially), pinstripes and tweed patterns all work with the double-breasted suit. The double-breasted suit has pretty much disappeared from the high streets with the wave towards casual dressing the preference of the cheaper single-breasted which makes attaining one a difficult task for one who cannot afford to have one tailored, but they can be readily found in charity shops and thrift stores, although you're more likely to run into the 80s/90s bulky 6x1 abominations if you search in these locations however larger men may rejoice as the double-breasted mostly suits very tall slim men and bulky men, smaller men will want to avoid the double-breasted although the 4x1 may help elongate your body with its long lapel. The double-breasted suit is slowly returning to public attention with many fashion designers choosing to dust off the old patterns and have recreated the double-breasted suit to fit in the current trend of slim fitting clothing. In my opinion I like my double-breasted suits to have a 'tailored fit', not too bulky and not too slim' as I generally have single pleated trousers (Beware of double pleated trousers) with turn-ups to give the double-breasted suit its broad and rather masculine look. The double-breasted suit is one of my favorite styles and I hope more people become aware of it so it can get some appreciation and repair its image from its 'Power' suit days and make it known again.

Thanks for reading



Monday, 7 July 2014

Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury

King of Queen

Born: 5th September 1946, Stone Town, Sultanate of Zanzibar (Tanzania)
Died: 24th November 1991 (45), Kensington, London, United Kingdom 
Lead vocalist of British rock band Queen from 1970 until his death in 1991.

Biography

Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara) was and still is highly regarded as one of the greatest male performers in history with his flamboyant stage performances and his unique singing voice made him and Queen one of the most highly regarded bands in music history.

Main Article

Although not widely known suits were a part of Freddie's expansive collection of outfits alongside his outlandish bodysuits simply flamboyant outfits with traditional aspects. He did wear dinner suits on some of his performances. He seemed to gravitate towards blue in his suits as his dinner suits are blue in colour and his sky blue 6x1 Double breasted suit with true 80s shoulder pads which he wore in his last public appearance at the Brit awards which probably aided in hiding his diminishing physique resulting from his illness.

His Styles




Sunday, 4 May 2014

Kim il-Sung

Kim il-Sung

Solidarity

Born: 15th April 1912, Mangyondae, Korea
Died: 8th July 1994 (82), Pyongyang, DPR of Korea
Leader of the DPR of Korea from the nation's founding on the 9th September 1948 to his death on the 8th July 1994.

In this series of blogs I will be covering the dress etiquette of various historical and current figures.
In this blog I am covering the former Supreme Leader of the DPR of Korea, now Eternal President of the DPR of Korea, Generalissimo Kim il-Sung.

Biography

While a controversial figure of history being the founder of one of the most infamous and most prolific communist states in history. He will go down in history as one of the most controversial figures of communist history with the likes of Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin and Mao Zedong. 
Kim il-Sung like Stalin did many good things as well as many bad things, the good things he did was build up the DPR of Korea to match their Republic of Korea rivals to the point of surpassing them in the 1970s when the north's economy actually surpassed that of the south. 
Another thing that people don't know that during the 60s and 70s the ROK was a brutal dictatorship and was ruled with an iron fist by Park Chung-hee until he was assassinated in 1979, the current ROK government is the sixth republic in its history while the DPRK has remained the same throughout its history. Kim il-Sung was also a stronger advocate for reunification than the South at the time and went as far to start a war with secret support of the Soviet Union and support of the People's Republic of China in which he occupied almost the whole of the South in a very short space of time, however, it came at the price of UN intervention in which the North was forced back to the 38th Parallel and eventually signed the Armistice agreement which ended the fighting but not the war as the two countries are still technically at war. Kim il-Sung was and is a very controversial character of history with good aspects that shouldn't be ignored and bad aspects that shouldn't be forgotten.

Main Article

Kim il-Sung was a man who I believe had great taste in dress, although he had the strange habit of matching every colour to his suit, even his shoes, however, despite this he had some very good looks.
In the photos and videos I have seen of him he seemed to favour patch pockets on his jackets which is usually a features of a blazer, he chose to wear a fur lined overcoat in the winter with a fur ushanka, he also wore panamas in the summer, he also seemed to like baker boy caps and I have seen him wearing a grey fedora matching his suit. As well as wearing regular shirt and tie suits he also wore the famous Mao suit. His son Kim Jong-il did not follow in his etiquette footsteps and never wore a shirt and tie instead he favoured his jumpsuits and Mao suits.

Thanks for reading, any feedback would be appreciated.

His styles
























Introduction

Way of the Suit

Here's a little introduction


I have an enormous interest in suits and have decided to express my interest in suits to anyone who is interested in looking at this blog. I will cover anything to do with suits things such as commenting on figures and their dress etiquette. I hope you will enjoy your time here.

 

Thanks

The Suit Man