Cost of a suit – what’s changed since the Mad Men era?

I remember that article in Which? magazine – it was the month I started work in an office. My parents had bought me a rather boring grey suit – off the peg, not tailor-made, for interviews and formal ocasions. I wore it for a short time until I realised that at my age and level in the organisation did not justify wearing a suit every day so I soon bought a decent jacket and a couple of pairs of dark trousers. As soon as I could afford to, however, I bought a rather natty two-piece made-to-measure suit in one of the high street tailors but I cannot now remember how much I paid for it. There were over a dozen tailors and outfitters in our north London shopping centre and most of them did ready-made and tailored suits, the latter requiring a long session for initial measuring and cloth selection – including discussions about how the trousers should fit and how many buttons to put on – followed fortnightly intervals by a preliminary fitting and then a final fitting. I remember the post-card that arrived saying “We thank you for your esteemed instructions and respectfully beg to inform you that your tailor-made suit is now in your local branch. We should be pleased if you would kindly arrange to attend for a fitting at your earliest convenience. Assuring you of our best attention at all times we present our compliments and trust that our service will meet with your entire satisfaction”. The only high street tailor’s name from those days surviving now is Burton but not as we knew it. Most male office staff wore a suit, sometimes the worse for wear and shinier than it was designed to be, and managerial staff wore a three-piece suit, sometimes having a wardrobe of two or three. Most areas had gentlemen’s tailors who would make made-to-measure suits on the premises [this was a fitted suit in a limited range of suitings to a standardised style] and would also make bespoke suits that were truly tailored to the individual form with every detail specifically chosen by the customer. I wore suits throughout my career and even though now retired, because I like wearing them and they are so comfortable, I still often wear a suit having about half a dozen in the wardrobe, the latest being a blue one bought in John Lewis’s recent sale. I can really only consider ready-made suits nowadays and unfortunately these are mainly made for business wear so they all tend to be in dark colours and formal. There was a time when most department stores and other outfitters had ‘casual’ suits in lighter shades and checks – if someone wore one to the office we called it “weekend wear”. By the seventies it became acceptable to wear this kind of garment on a Friday or if one had to go in on a Saturday. For London office workers, stuck in a suit all week, it was usual on a Friday night and over the weekend to change into sports jacket and ‘flannels’ [although Sunday lunchtimes in the pub had its own curious dress code involving turtle-neck sweaters and cavalry-twill trousers], whereas in midland and northern towns, where most people worked in factories or mills, it was the habit to wear a very smart suit on Friday and Saturday nights. Incidentally, if you ever get a chance to see an old episode of the Morecambe & Wise show just look at the superb quality and fit of their suits – probably the best in show-business. I am not bothered that people prefer to dress casually for all occasions nowadays but I do believe that nothing looks better on a man in the evenings than a decent suit worn with a smart tie and polished shoes. When we go to the theatre or to a restaurant it surprises us that ladies no longer expect such a compliment because they invariably go to some lengths to ensure they look attractive and well turned-out only to be accompanied by someone with their unbuttoned shirt hanging out over their cargo pants. Mind you, the modern male smells nicer than the 1965 version as smoking was prevalent, coal fires were everywhere, baths were a weekly ceremony, and dry-cleaning was expensive, so suits were satutrated with all the vapours and aromas of the city, albeit they were occasionally liberated by a damp pressing in the kitchen on a Sunday afternoon.

Not only are suits expensive but the cost of dry cleaning is expensive. As far as I know, dry cleaning remains a rather environmentally unfriendly process, though it is better than it used to be. Those who wear suits either have to pay big bills or wear grubby clothes.

I value honesty, integrity, courteousness and professional behaviour far more than seeing a smartly dressed man (or woman).