What are the specific differences between British style and Italian style men's wear?

Men and gentlemen fashion: British, American &; Italian version characteristics

No matter how different the changes of suits are, in the final analysis, they can be summarized into three factions, named after the countries of origin: Britain, Italy and the United States.

First of all, remind everyone that the best version of the suit is the English version. Although Italian style is very popular recently, it is aimed at thin men, while American suits are not suitable for everyone (I will explain the reasons in detail below), and English suits are most suitable for most people. It has various changes (number of buttons, lapel size, etc.). ), and there are many distinctive fabrics, such as tweed and hidden lattice. Of course, everyone's figure and temperament are different, and we need to adapt to local conditions.

What kind of suit best suits your figure?

According to your figure, some styles of suits will suit you better. If you don't know what style suits you, take a look at our body shape guide below, and you will soon understand the style that suits you!

British suits are suitable for people of any size. The cut of military uniform style makes men look thin, strong and noble.

If you are a little boy, then an Italian suit suits you well. Many Italian men are short and slim, and they look very attractive in Italian suits.

To tell the truth, American suits are not very flattering because they are square and loosely tailored. Although stronger men may feel more comfortable, because the straight version of American suits can be hung on their bodies.

Traditional English Suit: Saville Street

Main features:

2 buttons;

There is lateral insertion;

Conical waist;

High sleeve cage;

Nostalgic style.

The history of Saville Street can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It is a street in Mayfair, London, and now it has become the best custom-made suit resort in the world. The best suit tailor will take care of every subtle physical feature of customers, and this street retains the best tailor in the world. These skilled craftsmen came to this area because the people here are very rich, such as British officers and surgeons. London's wealth flowed to Saville Street, which soon formed a unique British suit style.

British tailored suit with lapels and purple plaid fabric.

All the elements of a traditional British suit: doctor's cuffs, ticket pockets and side slits.

Because it is the real origin of suit customization, traditional British suits have a more "decent" appearance than mass-produced American suits. The setting of high armholes makes the sleeves fit better. The more exquisite and expensive structure makes the waist of the British suit fit better. Lightweight shoulder pads draw lessons from the style of military uniforms. The side seams are borrowed from equestrian costumes with a long history. When the American suit has solidified into a "style", it is out of date.

No country has contributed more to the innovation of men's wear than Britain. Saville Street's position in the history of suits was consolidated in the 1960s when the Prince of Wales ordered a tailless smoking jacket, which was a relatively informal jacket style and made of traditional tuxedo fabrics. Tuxedo is the formal dress of British aristocrats and wealthy class. However, the Prince of Wales' new style jacket, called casual clothes, initiated a revolutionary British fashion trend and introduced the casual style into the strict and standardized British dress code.

Interestingly, after months of meticulous resistance by the British elite, casual clothes were accepted as formal clothes.

American traditional suit: gunny bag

Single seam on the back of "gunny bag"

The main features of American suits:

3 button

Central slit

Shourless

Loose edition

history

At the turn of the 20th century, an obvious American suit style appeared in the world fashion: gunny bag. It imitates 19 French coats and baggy styles popular in the 1940s, giving the wearer a soft silhouette. A formal suit consists of four curved pieces of cloth, while a "sack" coat is made of only two straight pieces of cloth. This suit technology makes the gunny bag have a typical "square" appearance.

Traditionally, gunny bags are:

Single seam

Shourless

There are no folds that make the suit more slim, and there are no techniques that make the suit more three-dimensional, such as lapels. Lapels usually create a more "fit" appearance.

The advantages of this suit are mass production and efficient production, so its advantages depend entirely on economic factors. Manufacturers mass-produce in a low-cost way, and this clothing style enables them to carry out assembly line production. Because the style of the bag just looks loose, it is already a one-size-fits-all product: less change is cheaper.

Famous clothing manufacturers, such as ebrooks Brothers and J.Press, accepted this logic and set their machines to be fully automatic. This style was quickly adopted as "school uniform" by Ivy League students, who pursued a carefree but somewhat formal dress style. By the end of 1950s, bag-type clothes had become the standard of American professional clothes.

Contemporary reputation

Today, sacks still retain some connotations of "Ivy Style" when they were born. In other words, the pragmatic and conservative style of America. The sacks were put into the "old school", which was equivalent to the gentry class in America.

However, it lacks "making a mountain out of a molehill", that is, sacks can be suitable for any body shape and are usually low in price, which makes it never turn to open elitism. Once upon a time, sacks were a symbol of American democratic aspirations.

Declining popularity: a speculative explanation

However, gunny bags are out of date in America. Why? There is a practical aesthetic explanation: for contemporary people, gunny bags are ugly. There is a practical consumer feedback: a loose suit is not as good-looking as a fit suit. Secondly, the reaction of the financial elite is: because of mass production, it is cheap; Because it is cheap, it is worthless to the rich who rule the fashion world.

In my opinion, the decline in the prevalence of gunny bags may also be related to the general decline in mass production in the United States. At least since the 1960s, mass production has increasingly meant overseas labor. In other words, more and more mass production is no longer the hope of the United States, but the end of the American economy. Perhaps the shoulder of this sack bears a little recession in the American economy.

Traditional Italian suit

The main features of Italian suits

No cover

astigma

Thin shoulder pad

A very slender waist

history

Italian tailoring fits perfectly, with padded shoulders, slim chest and tapered waist. Italian culture values aesthetics above all else, so it seeks the "cleanest" suit style. Split will destroy the lines of a suit, so most European suits are slit-free. Moreover, the pocket with cover is traditional, and removing the pocket cover can make the waist of the suit present a seamless visual effect. Generally speaking, a jacket has two buttons, which slightly lengthen the trunk.

Brioni is a respected Italian fashion company and is widely regarded as an innovator of "European" style. 1952, they introduced their "Roman style" to the whole world in the first fashion show dominated by male models. 1953, Roman Holiday, the first American film shot entirely in Italy, won the best film award. Gregory peck, the star of this film, wore a Roman-style Brioni suit, which officially fascinated Americans with slim and European-tailored suits. At that time, the popularity of Italian suits soon surpassed that of sacks and English suits.

Italian suits are generally not split at the back.

Overview of suit style

We believe that as more and more handsome men are interested in the historical origin, craftsmanship and tailoring of British suits, the trend of British tailors is recovering strongly. Now that you have mastered some knowledge about the history and style of suits, which style of suits do you like? You can tell me in the comments section.

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