In defense of the skinny suit

Beginning in the late '90s, and really gaining traction in the '00s and '10s, the skinny suit became ubiquitous. the skinny suit is now the uniform of professional millennials and gen-xers, peppering the streets of the financial district in new york and other urban areas around the globe. perhaps most notably, super-villain jared kushner and his crew of young white house invaders have brought the skinny suit to washington, standing in stark contrast to his father-in-law, fat, orange voldemort, and his own crew of invasive parasites. it is this iteration of the skinny suit that recently prompted rachel tashjian at gq to write this piece, arguing it is the end of the skinny suit's era. tashjian's piece is a great read but i have to disagree with her conclusion.

before claiming kushner killed the skinny suit, tashjian highlights a number of fashionable items that have been threatened by disgusting individuals. two of these examples are steve bannon's ever-present waxed barbour hunting jacket and roger stone's love for envelope-pushing savile row tailoring. on this point, rachel and i agree. however i don't see what separates kushner's skinny suit from these timeless examples. this is due to the fact that the skinny suit is a simply flattering silhouette on skinny to moderately fit men. proof of this is the unwavering commitment to slim silhouettes by two of the guy's who modernized the skinny suit in the first place, hedi slimane and thom browne. while thom continues to do his own kitschy thing, and hedi slimane has, admittedly, loosened his suit offering at celine from what he presented at dior and saint laurent, the sustained popularity of these designers highlight to me that the roomy suit is just a novelty presentation by those other designers. 

don't get me wrong, i do see the allure of a roomier suit. first and foremost it is inevitable for fashion guys to rebel against the mainstream-ification of the skinny silhouette. the proliferation of guys "dressing well" over the last half-decade has certainly made me reconsider my relation to style as well. IF I HAD THE CASH, I MIGHT EVEN BUY MYSELF ONE, especially one of the recent offerings by louis vuitton or prada, highlighted here, again by rachel tashjian. however, when it comes to suiting up, you simply can't go wrong with a nice slim suit. suits are supposed to be an investment.  it makes no sense to me, unless you are a one-percenter, to invest in a reactionary trend, no matter how good it feels at the time.