Men’s fashion is a topic that I hardly ever write about, except when circumstances require urgent notice. Guys, be aware. At the end of this week there will only be one month left for wearing your white linen suit.
By tradition the suits are worn in New Orleans from Easter to Labor Day. The season may be good news for dry cleaners but it is a challenge for the klutzy among us.
It’s not the suits per se that are the problem as much as that they are white and therefore highlight any crumb or smudge that comes their way. The best rule for dining while wearing a white suit is not to, for fear of a sleeve coming too close to a sauce.
There are some men who are very adept at wearing white suits, but that might be a matter of genetics. I once attended an Uptown society wedding. It was summer so I thought I was being de rigueur by wearing a blue cord suit. Instead, I could have been mistaken for the back woods cousin. All of the gentlemen were in white, comfortably standing and chit-chatting while balancing a glass of champagne and precisely maneuvering caviar on a cracker. This, like yachting, was a gentry-based skill that the rest of us had to develop on our own.
My original white suit came from Terry & Juden, the late downtown purveyor of gentlemanly fashion. It was the place where the guys from the law firms used to shop. I bought the suit off the rack in a close-out sale during the store’s final days, so it had the extra burden of historical significance, one of the last with the Terry & Juden label. The caviar on a cracker fear factor was even greater.
Because I feel like I should, I usually wear the suit at least twice during the season. One of those times, on occasion, has been the Zoo-to-Do. For that I actually like wearing the suit because in that setting there is a rebellious quality to it. The event is black tie but somehow white suits, which are clearly in the minority, have become acceptable. Curiously, even more in the minority are ties that are actually black. The guys in the tuxes tend to wear multicolored ties for the event or ties with images of giraffes and emus on them and matching cummerbunds with a zebra motif. Those in the white suits are more likely to be wearing an actual black tie than are the ones who are dressed in "black tie." Being fashionable can get complicated,
Tie color, incidentally, is critical to properly wearing a white suit. Under conditions of confidentiality, an Uptown gentleman once lectured me on the proper accompaniment for the suits. The shirt must be white, not pastel (which he compared to looking like an Easter egg) and not striped. The tie must be conservative, perhaps a subtle stripe for the wild and crazy, but certainly no pop art, images of Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, bottles of Tabasco, or anything that makes a statement. The advisor was critical of the misconception that white bucks were the proper shoe for the suit. He lectured instead that the shoes had to be black, and so did the belt.
I think of his words those times a year when I prepare to wear the suit. There’s one question I would like to ask him, though. I’ve wondered how he would feel about me spraying it with Scotch Guard. Being fashionable will be easier after Labor Day.
Let us know what you think. Any comments about this article? Write to errol@renpubllc.com. For the subject line use WHITE SUITS. All responses are subject to being published, as edited, in this newsletter. Please include your name and location.
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