<story><title>What&apos;s a $4000 Suit Worth?</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/magazine/whats-a-4000-suit-worth.html?pagewanted=all</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>pfedor</author><text>&lt;i&gt;Why do you think the suit is dead?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don&apos;t know about other places, but at least in NoCal high status people don&apos;t wear suits.  Since the only function of a suit is status signaling, it seems just a matter of time until everyone else catches up and suits will be replaced by bike jerseys or whatever.</text></item><item><author>nl</author><text>&lt;i&gt;The suit is dead for any number of reason, dittos bespoke clothing.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Why do you think the suit is dead?&lt;p&gt;I wear a suit (not always, but often enough to have an opinion).&lt;p&gt;I&apos;ve never bought an &lt;i&gt;expensive&lt;/i&gt; suit, but I nor do I buy cheap suits. I guess I generally spend around $500.&lt;p&gt;I work with people who spend $2000 on suits though. These aren&apos;t bespoke, but are from nice fabrics and cut very well (eg, Hugo Boss etc). I&apos;m no suit expert, but I can tell the difference.&lt;p&gt;I can&apos;t say I&apos;ve seen any particular decrease in suit wearing over the past 15 years I&apos;ve been working, although ties are less common that they used to be.&lt;p&gt;In my experience location and field of work makes a bigger difference to suit wearing than anything else.</text></item><item><author>dredmorbius</author><text>Yet another submarine:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;The suit is dead for any number of reason, dittos bespoke clothing.&lt;p&gt;$4000 is several times what I spend on clothes in a year.  It&apos;s several times what I spend on clothes in &lt;i&gt;several&lt;/i&gt; years.  There&apos;s a far less expensive option that&apos;s highly satisficing.  Suits, once an inexpensive, practical, standardized alternative to more ornate and expensive clothing, are now the expensive, frequently impractical attire. The lead time to purchase is too long.  And a far lower grade of tailoring is more than sufficient for virtually any occasion.  That&apos;s basic facts.&lt;p&gt;There are exceptions -- people for whom the expense is neither extravagent nor unneccessary.  It&apos;s a pretty small crowd, well within the top 1%, and probably more like the top 0.01%.  Then divide by two, because, well, very few women wear suits (though women&apos;s fashion is its own discussion).&lt;p&gt;As TFA notes, bespoke tailoring doesn&apos;t scale.  And it strongly suggests a rather fragile relationship between the garment and the wearer -- I can change in multiple of 25 separate measurements within a few months to a years time -- does this render a suit poor-fitting?&lt;p&gt;The made-to-measure alternative exists, and for many or most, it&apos;s a more-than-acceptable alternative for either formal or casual clothing.  With correctly chosen measuring points, and if necessary, some additional tailoring, garments can be made to fit quite well.  Cloth is pretty fungible.  Sticking to conservative fashions, styles, and cuts means you&apos;ll have something that will wear well for years.  And in a world in which off-the-rack sizing is increasingly problematic (aggressively styled cuts with little sizing leeway result in more frustrated customers), it&apos;s increasingly an option.  There are a few vendors in the space, though I feel it&apos;s still waiting for its true visionary.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>bradleyjg</author><text>I know it may not seem that way sometimes, but NoCal is not the entire world - nor does the entire world take their cultural cues from NoCal.&lt;p&gt;The suit is very much alive in NY, in London, the entire legal world, and in many other places. That&apos;s just during the day.&lt;p&gt;For formal events / outings it is SF that is the extreme outlier. In the rest of the country if you are going to a fancy restaurant, a wedding, an awards dinner or the like you wear a suit. The original rational for the suit actually still holds for these occasions - it removes the need to constantly chase the latest fashions, as many woman and all hipsters must.</text></comment>
<story><title>What&apos;s a $4000 Suit Worth?</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/magazine/whats-a-4000-suit-worth.html?pagewanted=all</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>pfedor</author><text>&lt;i&gt;Why do you think the suit is dead?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don&apos;t know about other places, but at least in NoCal high status people don&apos;t wear suits.  Since the only function of a suit is status signaling, it seems just a matter of time until everyone else catches up and suits will be replaced by bike jerseys or whatever.</text></item><item><author>nl</author><text>&lt;i&gt;The suit is dead for any number of reason, dittos bespoke clothing.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Why do you think the suit is dead?&lt;p&gt;I wear a suit (not always, but often enough to have an opinion).&lt;p&gt;I&apos;ve never bought an &lt;i&gt;expensive&lt;/i&gt; suit, but I nor do I buy cheap suits. I guess I generally spend around $500.&lt;p&gt;I work with people who spend $2000 on suits though. These aren&apos;t bespoke, but are from nice fabrics and cut very well (eg, Hugo Boss etc). I&apos;m no suit expert, but I can tell the difference.&lt;p&gt;I can&apos;t say I&apos;ve seen any particular decrease in suit wearing over the past 15 years I&apos;ve been working, although ties are less common that they used to be.&lt;p&gt;In my experience location and field of work makes a bigger difference to suit wearing than anything else.</text></item><item><author>dredmorbius</author><text>Yet another submarine:  &lt;a href=&quot;http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;The suit is dead for any number of reason, dittos bespoke clothing.&lt;p&gt;$4000 is several times what I spend on clothes in a year.  It&apos;s several times what I spend on clothes in &lt;i&gt;several&lt;/i&gt; years.  There&apos;s a far less expensive option that&apos;s highly satisficing.  Suits, once an inexpensive, practical, standardized alternative to more ornate and expensive clothing, are now the expensive, frequently impractical attire. The lead time to purchase is too long.  And a far lower grade of tailoring is more than sufficient for virtually any occasion.  That&apos;s basic facts.&lt;p&gt;There are exceptions -- people for whom the expense is neither extravagent nor unneccessary.  It&apos;s a pretty small crowd, well within the top 1%, and probably more like the top 0.01%.  Then divide by two, because, well, very few women wear suits (though women&apos;s fashion is its own discussion).&lt;p&gt;As TFA notes, bespoke tailoring doesn&apos;t scale.  And it strongly suggests a rather fragile relationship between the garment and the wearer -- I can change in multiple of 25 separate measurements within a few months to a years time -- does this render a suit poor-fitting?&lt;p&gt;The made-to-measure alternative exists, and for many or most, it&apos;s a more-than-acceptable alternative for either formal or casual clothing.  With correctly chosen measuring points, and if necessary, some additional tailoring, garments can be made to fit quite well.  Cloth is pretty fungible.  Sticking to conservative fashions, styles, and cuts means you&apos;ll have something that will wear well for years.  And in a world in which off-the-rack sizing is increasingly problematic (aggressively styled cuts with little sizing leeway result in more frustrated customers), it&apos;s increasingly an option.  There are a few vendors in the space, though I feel it&apos;s still waiting for its true visionary.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Silhouette</author><text>&lt;i&gt;Don&apos;t know about other places, but at least in NoCal high status people don&apos;t wear suits.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;There seems to be a kind of inverse snobbery about smart dress at the moment, as if the 50-year-old CEOs of huge tech firms think that by taking off their tie we&apos;re going to think they&apos;re one of us, or the 25-year-old founder of a trendy start-up is going to convince us of their business savvy by wearing a T-shirt and trainers while giving a presentation.&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Since the only function of a suit is status signaling&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Really? I happen to think that smart dress looks better on me than casual anyway, but even without that, suits are fairly practical garments. A well-made suit is comfortable to wear all day. Suits have an easily removable jacket if you&apos;re hot, yet provide useful shelter for the elements if it&apos;s cold/wet outside. They have plenty of handy pockets for pens, phones, etc.</text></comment>