Hey everybody, welcome back to Explaining Com 5, the podcast where we take questions you always want to ask and talk about them in a way that's easy to understand. We are your hosts, I'm Tim. Hi everyone, I'm Kevin. So Kevin, today we're talking about suits and ties, and the question everyone wants to know is how on earth did the business suit and tie become the standard attire for business?
When and where did it originate from? And of all things, why the business suit? Why did it win out? Really great question.
So let's bring it back to the beginning. It started in England, and there are elements of revolution, royalty, military, and even medical influences that all kind of converged into one, so it's actually really fascinating to learn about. It was in the aftermath of the plague outbreak of 1665, where the British royalty at the time, they wanted to demonstrate to the public that it was cutting costs. So the British monarchs declared a very early version of the suit as the official dress of the court, and it was halfway between what fancy people wore at the time and what commoners wore at the time, so it was an attempt to make them seem more down to earth.
That's right, rich people used to wear really fancy and elaborate clothing back in that period of time. That's absolutely right. I mean, look at any of those old paintings. You know, they would call it the royal court dress.
If you've seen any movies about that era of British aristocracy, you'll see people wearing the full set of suit, wig, and knee breeches. Okay, so that is the royal connection. How about the military influence? Ah, well, this new attire was initially a little too tight for military use, so they actually made it progressively looser for writing and shooting.
They also added a neckerchief, kind of like modern soldiers, to keep out dirt and wear over their mouth and nose. The military version influenced the civilian version, making it looser but still very forebending, so the neckerchief became the necktie and the soldier's coat became the blazer. And it's not just an English thing, though. How did the business suit become such a global standard for men's fashion in such a diverse number of cultures and countries around the world?
Oh, well, that's due to really good timing. The timing was such that the men's suit became the central uniform of the kind of aristocracy and upper classes in the late 19th century, right at the height of European and British imperialism. Also, the tailors who worked in the famous London Savile Row often came from a range of countries. The English artisans who first started working with the heavier wool fabrics were joined by an influx of foreign tailors who were displaced by the Napoleonic Wars at the time.
So all these tailors, they honed their making of uniforms for continental fighters with designs based on the British cavalry uniforms. They didn't quite know it at the time, but they set the platform for the London tailoring industry to basically make the business suit the default attire for fashion across the whole entire world. And then also we should talk about, there was this guy named George Bo Brummel, who began to weave all of the strands together. Oh, yes, we should talk about Bo Brummel.
He was a central character in the suit and tie, and I believe they called him a dandy. So maybe you can explain what a dandy is, too. Sure. A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance.
They're refined language and other leisurely hobbies, often pursued with the appearance of nonchalance. Interesting, and Bo Brummel was a dandy. Oh, yes. So Brummel here is remembered as the preeminent example of the dandy, and a whole literature was founded upon his manner and what he sings.
His name is associated with style and good looks, and it has been given to a variety of modern products to suggest their high quality. So what Brummel did here was attempt to emulate Greek statues of naked men by commissioning these figure-hugging trousers and coats. And Brummel is actually credited in some books with the invention of modern-day trousers or pants, as we call them here. So that's a garment even more widespread than a suit.
That's right. He was really quite a fashion pioneer, wasn't he? Oh, yeah, yeah. And actually, if you really think about it, say the early Greeks and Romans, most attire was originally formed from draping fabric around the body, and this whole movement of fitting cloth closely to the human form was new.
So Brummel used plain colors to focus attention on form and line, and they say he essentially set the tone that fabric, cut, and silhouette were what made a gentleman's attire. Now, there's one detail with formal shirts, which is that some shirts have these holes for cufflinks and others just have buttons. Can you tell us about those? Oh, yeah.
So the famous sample row was not always full of tailors. Before the 19th century, it was inhabited largely by surgeons, like the medical kind. So that's where the influence comes in for what they call the surgeon's cuff, or detachable cuff. Cufflinks are designed only for use with shirts that have cuffs with buttonholes on both sides but no buttons.
On the most expensive suits, the cuff buttons, which mirror some styles used in the military, it can be undone, allowing the sleeve to be rolled back. And practically what this did was let surgeons attend to patients who were bleeding without removing their whole coats. Ah, so another practical question then. On suits, why is there that sometimes you have a flap covering the pocket but no pocket itself?
Oh, so a suit has a number of pockets, and the slash pockets near the chest are designed to be easily accessed while riding a horse. And that's the same reason for the single or double vents that make it comfortable to wear a coat on horseback, our testament to the sporting background of the suit, basically. The suit pockets closer to the waist are the real pockets. Well, lots of people have the question you asked.
It's because those pockets are usually sticked together in a new suit for storage and transport purposes, and lots of people just don't remember to unstitch them and don't realize that there are real pockets down there. Hmm, okay, well now we know. And finally, we do say that the business suit is pretty global and universal, but it isn't fully correct, that statement, is it? Oh, yes, yes.
There are some notable exceptions. I believe the official business and office attire in Hawaii is the aloha shirt instead of the traditional suit in tie. But I would say the most interesting one is probably Bermuda. So a formal business attire in Bermuda is a regular suit jacket and tie on top, but often worn with brightly colored Bermuda shorts.
Ah, well, that's interesting. Sounds kind of like pandemic attire. Did you learn something new? If you did, and especially if you are a regular listener of Eli 5, please do give us a rating on iTunes.
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