All right. There’s a lot of people out there who will say the black suit is something that you shouldn’t do, you shouldn’t wear. It’s hard for me to take a stand on this because I used to be in the camp of you do not wear a black suit. But having been a custom clothier for a while now and seeing that it’s still one of the most popular fabrics out there, and having been exposed to a lot of me who actually look great in a black suit, even during the day, even under unnatural indoor lighting, I have to say that for the right man, the black suit is a great piece – is a great suit to own.
I still do not think it should be the first suit a man owns. Because I think a charcoal gray or a navy is going to be a bit more visual, isn’t going to be a stark with contrast. But the fact is, it looks great on some men. So my answer, you know, whenever anyone asks me you know, what do I think about the black suit, I say for the right man, it’s one of the top three suits you should own. But again, it has to be the right man.
So let me tell you about who that right man is and if you fit that description, great. Consider it. If not, I would avoid it.
Okay. So the black fabric. It’s traditionally is a very formal fabric. You would see it in evening wear. So you would see it in black tie, basically the tuxedo. That’s where we see black and wear it. You know, you do occasionally see tuxedos in midnight blue but black is traditionally the fabric of evening wear. So that’s where there’s a bit of, you know, people feel it needs to stay there.
Also a thing with black is it’s for stark high contrast individuals. So you need to have very dark hair. I mean my hair, I don’t even think it’s – well, I don’t like my black when I wear it because I don’t feel that my hair to my skin, there’s enough contrast there. I’m a medium contrast individual.
If you’ve got really dark black hair, a lot of Italian men, it looks great on them because they got that black hair, they’ve got that olive skin, a black suit looks amazing on them. And they’ve got that color within their skin. So the black doesn’t – because black tends to suck out color and that’s why it looks great with a white shirt because you’ve got a – you know, where it reflects all color and then you’ve got the black which is soaking up all color. And that contrast right there is very powerful.
If you’re an Irish gentleman, you’ve got let’s say, black hair with lighter skin, you can pull it off. But it’s going to be a bit harder indoors and under unnatural lighting conditions. It can pull a little bit too much color out of your skin. But if you’re wearing a tie which has a little bit of vivid color, that will help.
So it’s for formal wear. That’s one of the argument that’s, you know, it’s a bit dated of an argument. The other one is the stark high contrast. This still applies. So if you’ve got red hair or light-colored hair, light-colored skin or basically, between your hair and your face, there’s not a whole lot of contrast, you’ve got medium-brown hair and reddish skin, the black suit is probably something you’re going to want to avoid.
It’s just – I would go with lighter color. I mean a charcoal gray is going to be fine. A medium gray is probably better, maybe great suit for you. But black almost just too much to stark for a contrast, not going to be probably the best suit for you.
The other one that – and I started talking about it, is how black absorbs color. So if you’re going to wear other, you know, other things with it, like a dress shirt, which of course, you’re going to be hopefully be wearing a dress shirt with a blue or black suit. But you’re going to want to pay attention to, is the black suit sucking some of the color out of it? So you’re going to want to avoid a lot of the pastels. They’re just going to make it almost look like an off-white which is not going to look right. Instead, go for – the only thing you want to go with is either a white or go with then something that has some strong color and that which can kind of offset that absorption that the black does again.
And you can also pull it off with a tie so you could actually wear – you could wear a pastel-colored shirt, a pastel is nothing more than a color that has a lot of white in it, you could pull one of those off if it reflects well with the tie that you’re wearing.
Another great thing about black, and why a lot of men are drawn to it, is it is one of the most flattering colors for forming a very lean silhouette. So if you’re a little bit heavier of a gentleman, if you got a little bit of weight in the mid-section, it’s not going to make you look thin, but what a black suit will do, is it will help trim you up. It will not make you look fat.
So women know this in a little black dress, all that stuff. A black suit for certain men under certain conditions, especially if it fits his body well, maybe he doesn’t have bends on the back, it’s just really – it’s a good fit there. When you look at the guy head on, it’s going to actually maybe build up the shoulders just a bit, tighten that mid-section, he’s going to look lean meat.
Okay. So what’s my final conclusion? What am I Going to say about the black suit, again, for the right individual, the black suit, one of the three suits that you should own and definitely you can pull off. It’s not just for funerals, it’s not just for weddings, you can – look at Tom Ford, the guy wears and rocks a black suit, everywhere he goes, you know, whether he’s walking down, you know, the streets in New York City or he is Vegas, I mean the guy has always got that black suit with that crisp white shirt with the high color, you know, color ends here, it looks great.
And a lot of it is about confidence too. You know, don’t – you’re going to read stuff on forms, you’re going to read stuff on websites where people are going to, you know, tear up the black suit. Again my opinion, if you have the right hair, if you’ve got the right contrast, go for it.
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