Why Do We Wear Suits?

From royal coronations to criminal trials, the suit is men’s go-to uniform. But why?

Alice Loxton and Ben Henderson reveal the suit’s origins in the court of Charles II, how the original dandy Beau Brummell shaped men’s style to this day, and how sporty Victorians forged the modern suit.

But with the rise of working from home, are the suit’s days numbered?

Key sources:

The Suit: Form, Function and Style, Christopher Breward

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen’s Men of Fashion, BBC Radio 4

A Stitch in Time, BBC FOUR

This 19th-century London dandy caused a style revolution, National Geographic, 2019

Suitably Dressed, The Economist, 2010