How to wear a suit in 2021

Covid hasn’t killed the suit, it’s simply evolved says Nick Carvell
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Nick Carvell6 September 2021

Marks & Spencer, the bellwether of how the average Brit shops, has announced it will now only stock men’s suits in less than half of its stores. Sales over the last year have been dismal, it says. Cue a flurry of articles in the fashion press about how the suit is dead, slain by a year of working from home in comfy stretchy fabrics and fuzzy socks.

But trust me, the suit isn’t dead. Rather, it’s evolved. This is the rebirth of the work wardrobe — one focused on comfort rather than conformity.

Despite years of the erosion of corporate dress codes, the age-old compulsion to equate “wearing a suit” and “looking professional” is tough to shake. What’s the middle ground for office attire that looks professional while preserving comfort? A good place to start is a quick Google of Gareth Southgate.

Before anyone had even heard of Covid, the England manager was making headlines at the 2018 World Cup for his uber-formal pitch-side uniform: a navy three-piece suit worn with a striped tie. This summer he appeared pitch-side at the Euros still wearing a suit (this time grey) but swapping out the waistcoat for a knitted polo crafted by British independent label Percival — a brand known for its relaxed workwear.

The key to the new workwear wardrobe is to fill it with a solid stable of smart separates

The fine-gauge knitted polo shirt is the new business button-up. It’s collared-yet-casual and feels just as adapted to meetings and conferences both in-person and over Zoom. You’ll find them everywhere right now, from John Lewis to Sunspel, and even at tailoring houses like Anglo-Italian in Marylebone. They also appeared on the recent menswear catwalks of Officine Generale and Hermes in Paris, as well as slipped under smart separates in Milan at Brunello Cucinelli. The Italian designer himself is a masterclass in sophisticated smart-casual dressing (seriously, look him up).

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The key to the new workwear wardrobe is to fill it with a solid stable of smart separates: tailored-yet-relaxed trousers, button-downs, fine knits and cashmere sports jackets, a suede shoe. The 2021 working wardrobe honours the traditional office dress code in form and function, but plays with the feel. It means hard business, but in soft fabrics. And perhaps that’s the real key to getting your return to work wardrobe right: go for pieces in your comfort zone. And if that’s a suit — well, so be it. Just slip it on with a knitted polo.

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