ever the legendary Oscar Wilde stated that “a tie well knotted is the first serious step a man should take in life.” Ever since this piece of cloth burst in the middle of the XVII centuryin the military dress of one of the regiments of Louis XIV of France, The accessory has managed to remain until the present, where it subsists —almost 4 centuries later— by force, above all, of protocols and rules of etiquette.
Example: go without a tie to a job interview it can leave us out of the final selection. However, the new currents and trends that navigate within new paradigms, cry out to replace elegance for comfort and personality. That is why to the maximum of the job interview we should add a “Or not”, at the end.
There are many who think that the days of the tie are numbered, considering it anachronistic, useless and excessively structured. In this scenario, the sneakers appear to finish painting the picture that we see more and more at galas and award ceremonies. Coat, shirt, pants and…. slippers.
Big luxury brands like Saint Laurent, Armani, Dior or Prada have given their approval to this suit and slipper duo. Increasingly, especially in the red carpetsmen ride this wave.
But this story of fashion and masculine looks can even have one more twist: the shirt with suit Here, opinions are a bit more divided.
“Obviously the suit for men did not escape these influences that the oversized and the slippers. It seems to me that it came to be transformed and accommodate to a new fashion of being able to wear it with a shirt down or with sneakers. Whoever wants to can wear it more pacifier, with Oxford pants or with oversize pants ”, he says to infobae the designer Benito Fernández, who argues that this trend has to do with a whole movement in music, which came from forcefully deconstructing completely different rhythms.
Benito is convinced that there is a new way of seeing the suit. “That also helped this deconstruction. Today also the weddings are day. It seems to me that there is a new look at the suit. Before it was another. Today the suit has been opened so that it can be incorporated from sportswear to intervened, painted or embroidered jackets. The suit at the moment is being deconstructed and it seems to me that it will continue like this, ”he adds.
The designer Miguel Saberian, in the same vein as Fernández, offers daytime weddings as an example where doubts about socially imposed limits grow like flowers in spring.
“A smooth, clean and sober shoe is a good choice of footwear for a daytime wedding. It is to make sure that you are going to be comfortable and that you are going to be able to participate in the party to the fullest. But a sneaker with air suspension would be considered a violation of the dress code of the occasion, ”he explains to Infobae.
But this is not just a catwalk phenomenon. There are many celebrities who join the “deconstruction of the suit” in post-pandemic times where, it seems, the trends and looks no longer fervently embrace that phrase that reads: “What is fashion is not uncomfortable”.
To cite a recent case, the president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, led the The Best awards gala in a black suit with a bow, a white shirt and a watch as an accessory. The white sneakers provided the distinctive and informal detail of the look.
Saberian emphasizes this question of understanding the trend as a vector that strengthens —and defends!— the freedom of expression. “The suit as we knew it was given at any social event, from celebrations to wakes, in work offices and in more private meetings where it was a way of expressing the importance of said event or meeting. Today these celebrations or social gatherings are more socially permissive to more relaxed suits, without a tie, an open shirt, a jean clean of tears and a sweater or shirt to work is very good”, analyzes the expert to Infobae.
“Gabardine pants with a plain shirt and a belt form an impeccable and elegant “uniform” for any meeting”, adds Saberian.
However, the conventional suit, it must be said, still retains that unique distinction. “A complete suit, complete button-down shirt and a tie closing the neck… the final look gives an image of unique elegance. What happens is that it is no longer seen as a social requirement for meetings. But without a doubt he still retains that imprint that for the person who wears it, the occasion deserves the highest distinction and he shows it by dressing in the most elegant way he believes possible ”, adds Saberian.
consulted by Infobae, the designer Gabriel Lage is sincere before the advance of the tendency that breaks with the suit in its more traditional format. “Agreeing to wear a suit without a tie and with sneakers should be very far from the imaginary of my father, a Spanish tailor and strictly elegant. I would never have allowed it, ”she lets out with a laugh.
And he continues: “I was always a little more daring and also quite stubborn. For many years I was encouraged to relax the tremendous rigidity of the suit, with which I grew up since I was little, with a shoe that is sometimes more canchera and sometimes purer, but a shoe nonetheless”, he adds.
Lage remembers the 90s when he wore this style. “That time it was the already iconic All Star from Converse, created by Chuck Tailor that really “rocked” our style with somewhat exotic lapel suits”, he exemplifies.
But Where does this change come from? Is it due to some social phenomenon? Saberian explains that it is due to how thought at a global level decides to kick the board, at least in most of the countries open to the world. There is also a question of identity. “Clothes, how we dress, says a lot about us. It is a way of communicating what we think, what we are without having to speak. It is a way of saying how I feel with the spirit, with the desire to dress in this way. And it’s OK. If you want to wear a tie, that’s fine. And if you want not to, too. If you want to go with white sneakers, gabardine pants, and a nice button-down shirt to a formal event, that’s fine,” she explains.
A question that obeys the eternal dichotomy between what can be Vanguard and the ridiculous imposes. And he has to do with knowing how to understand where the limit: can one wear anything? Saberian says: “The common sense of belonging to that environment where the individual attends is what makes him set his own limits. Example: no tie is fine. In short, no.
And the shirt with a jacket? “If we talk about a typical cotton T-shirt, I think that for events such as weddings or gala events they are a limit that I still do not dare to cross as correct. For work or more formal dinners, well combined can be a highly accepted resource. A sports jacket over a shirt is fine,” says Saberian.
Lage is more direct: “For me it is a resounding no. I don’t really like it, I don’t think it looks good or elegant. Different is in a woman, that I love. But it depends equally on each occasion.
It is clear that times have changed. “A few years ago you talked to young people about a suit or a jacket and it was like they panicked. Not today. Today they incorporate it into their outfit but perhaps in another way. And that’s great. Because if it wasn’t like it was pigeonholed in one place”, says Benito Fernández.
Update to the times. That is what Gabriel Lage is all about: “Wind at fashion and try to be more comfortable, but with style. It is allowed as long as you do not lose your elegance. Style and masculinity!”
Almost like a proclamation of this time, where the genuine goes through everything seen in the fashion world, Saberian closes: “Before, a suit was for any occasion that deserved it. Today is an individual choice. I don’t think it will go away. I think that everyone chooses when to show that version of themselves.
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