Chloe Chapin’s Suitable: The Sartorial Revolution and the Fashioning of Modern Men offers a thoughtful exploration and evolution of the modern dark suit in American (and subsequently Western) life. The development of the American suit coat helped shape modern ideas of masculinity, prestige, and power that have been adopted throughout much of the world since its development in the late 18th and early 19th Century.
Chapin begins by showcasing the evolution of the suit in America, focusing on development of style, fabric, and color, and the choices made by early American leaders to design suit coats in order to differentiate themselves from European royalty and power. This evolution in style also spread into the mainstream of American life, particularly among professional and middle class white males. The suit ultimately became a source of prescribed power and prestige that accumulated as many societal norms as the customs of European royal wardrobes that the suit was developed to shun. Occasional focus on international fashion and the suit’s evolution in other places, such as France and England, is included in the broader discussion, but the book’s focus is largely on American fashion.
Suitable makes the history of the suit and its influence on American history and politics an interesting concept worth reading about.
MY RATING: 4
