Subtitles section Play video
Hey everyone, this is GQ Recommends.
We're going to break down the four essential suits you need to cover every dress code.
Whether it's a wedding, whether it's a job interview, whether it's a baby shower, whatever you're going to, these suits will get the job done.
Clean and classic.
These are the suits that you want to start with, that are going to look good for almost any occasion.
Anything short of black tie formal, you can wear a suit like this too.
It's not too loud, it's not too crazy, and you're going to look smooth, you're going to look suave.
You want to keep things dark, and you want to keep things elegant.
A suit like this is as classic as it gets.
The lapels aren't too wide, they're not too skinny, the pattern isn't too strong, it's not overpowering.
It's going to go with a ton of different shirt and tie options.
This suit is actually from the 50s.
I bought it vintage for like a little over 150 bucks, and minus some very small adjustments, it fit me pretty perfectly, and it's going to fit me well for the rest of my life.
If you keep things in that darker range of tones, your blacks, your navies, your charcoal grays, those suits are going to be as versatile as possible.
ASAP Rocky, Mr. Rihanna himself, he is an absolute style god.
He loves to go freaky and funky with his style, but right here, when he keeps it classic, he shows that even the wildest dressers look good in a plain black suit.
If your style tends to run a little more idiosyncratic, and you feel that black, or navy, or gray feels maybe a little too safe, then you could try a brown suit, which is another very neutral color that goes with a lot of things.
Brown is definitely something that we would consider more of a new classic.
If you're looking to buy your first suit, you can start with a black suit, you can start with a navy suit.
A great place to look for something like that would be a place like Reece.
It's a British company.
They make very classic tailored stuff at very affordable prices.
This one is a great example of a suit that won't break the bank, but will also not ever go out of style.
Another great place to find an affordable suit is J.Crew.
J.Crew has long been the standard for great American suits that don't cost a lot of money.
This is a great example of a clean and classic navy suit that will go with everything, that is a nice weight for the spring and summertime, and will last you a really, really long time.
Another great mid-range option still clocks in under $1,000, which is a really great value for a suit of this quality, is something from Sid Mashburn.
These are the kinds of suits that you would have seen guys like JFK wear.
They feel presidential.
If a suit isn't making you feel presidential when you wear it, don't bother buying it.
If budget is absolutely no option for you, then the place to go for a suit of this nature is Tom Ford.
He is a fashion mastermind.
His suits are regularly on red carpets all over the world.
He spares no expense on the finest, finest tailoring.
These suits look so razor-sharp when you wear them.
They look like they were molded to your body, and that's worth the cost of admission, even though that cost of admission is pretty prohibitive.
Light and breezy.
So, light and breezy suits, probably more of a summertime situation, so you're thinking lighter fabric, cotton, linen, maybe a combo of both.
So, the occasions you might want to wear a light and breezy suit, a destination-type wedding.
Garden parties.
Yeah, garden parties would be great.
You know, you can dress these up or down.
You can pair it with a vacation shirt.
You can rock it with a polo.
Maybe throw on some canvas sneakers.
Another thing to keep in mind when you're wearing suits like this is that because the fabrics are so light, they're going to wrinkle, and that's just something you have to get used to.
Young is wearing a nice cotton suit from Alex Mill, under $500 for the jacket and the pants.
On a light and breezy summer garden party situation, this is perfect.
If you're looking for something in a sort of middle-of-the-road price point, Todd Snyder is a great option.
We've got this guy right here in a nice light olive and lightweight cotton fabric.
A suit like this is going to stand out a little bit more than a khaki suit, but it's going to go with just as many things.
If you really want to show out for whatever occasion you're going to, this Fear of God suit is.
If I see you on the street, applause.
It's made from this really lightweight, sort of silky crepe fabric, so it's not prone to wrinkling like a linen or cotton suit, but it's still lightweight.
It's still breathable.
It's got this great relaxed silhouette.
A suit like this, it's so luxurious and avant-garde that the flowiness of it does a lot of the talking for you.
Bunky and loud.
Bunky and loud suits are suits that will make a serious statement regardless of where you're going.
The cut could be super unusual.
It could be voluminous.
Donald Glover, for example, is wearing an asymmetrically cut double-breasted suit, again with that telltale slight flare at the bottom, and he looks fantastic.
The texture could be interesting, like the suit that Kyle's wearing here.
The color could also be the differentiating factor.
It could be super outrageous or extravagant.
Light blue in particular will complement you regardless of the occasion.
I don't know if there is a swervier suit wearer today more than Harry Styles, the king of funky and loud tailoring.
So Harry's suits are cut fairly distinctively.
You'll notice at the bottom they finish with a pretty heavily flared leg opening, which is a design flourish we've seen more and more brands doing nowadays.
The most important thing to remember is that if you're going to someone else's wedding, it's not your yay, so you don't really want to steal the spotlight.
That being said, if the dress code is ambiguous enough, then feel free to take some creative leeway with the mandate.
So because this is a funkier and louder suit, you have a little bit more leeway to get a little funkier and louder with the adornment.
That means instead of wearing a tie like I am here, you could wear a t-shirt like Kyle is here, or for that matter, a silky button-down and a knit polo.
So if you're looking for an ideal funky and loud mid-range option, you should go to a brand like Needles, which makes the suit that Kyle is wearing today.
It is absolutely nutty.
There are these very subtle polka dots going up and down the entire silhouette.
It's got these brash peak lapels so big you could land an airplane on them.
And in general, the pants taper down to a bit of a flare at the bottom, which lends the whole thing a bit of a 70s decadent vibe.
This is a suit that it's almost criminal not to dance in.
This might sound surprising, but some of streetwear's best and brightest make an incredible statement suit.
You can go to Supreme, which routinely releases a handful of really eye-grabbing, tailoring pieces every season, or a place like Stussy, which will be able to outfit you with the same sort of vibe.
If price isn't much of a pain point, as you can imagine, there are plenty of options like this beautiful double-breasted version from Drake's.
What's great about this is that it's actually a not-too-distant relative of the suits that we talked about earlier.
What makes this a little bit more of a statement is the subtle shadow plaid and also the cut here.
Another great double-breasted option with a very different cut is this one from Jerry Lorenzo's label, Fear of God.
So unlike the Drake's option we were referencing earlier, this one's somewhat different because there's only two buttons here, which is very unusual in most double-breasted silhouettes.
Having a boxy silhouette like this alone is something that will always make a statement without blinding people's eyes.
We've got a great light blue option here from the Australian tailor Patrick Johnson.
Like the Drake's and Fear of God suits we were talking about before, it's also double-breasted and has these substantial peak lapels.
It's made for busting a move.
Mix & Match Mix & Match is about taking different pieces and styling them with different trousers or sport coats that you either have in your wardrobe already or are finding grails out in the world.
This is where you can have a little bit more fun and have more room to really show off your personality.
You probably have a navy suit, you probably have a gray suit.
Turns out they go well together.
So you can kind of really get a few more looks with just two suits.
One thing that could make it a little bit trickier but also more fun is to play with the different tones and colors and textures.
So a great starting off point would be with Uniqlo used Relaxed Fit suit.
It comes in a variety of neutral toned colors, black, khaki, gray.
The jacket alone is only $90, so it's very affordable.
For those who are looking to step it up a tier, the Skooski Sport Coat is the way to go.
It's a little bit more boxy, a little bit more stylish.
Still black, so you can add this with any trouser.
You could do a nice dark charcoal pant with it and it would look great, but I might do something on the lighter side like what Kyle's got on.
This is also a great jumping off point for some patterned pants too.
So a nice track or striped pant would be great for this.
So for another great mid-range option, Engineer Garments makes a nice Lawrence jacket.
It goes with everything, very neutral.
At a higher tier option, we have this Mr. P Charcoal Blazer.
It might look kind of plain on the surface, but for this category, this is a really great starting point that's going to get you really far.
So that was it for today.
Thanks for watching.
You can find all of my favorite Skoos, all of our favorite Skoos, in the description below.