A Black Suit Shouldn't Be The Foundation of Your Wardrobe.
A Black Suit Shouldn't Be The Foundation of Your Wardrobe.
The black suit is a double edged sword. At its best it is hard to find another garment that is equally as elegant. At its worst you would be hard pressed to find another color so thoroughly inflexible.
When we think of formalwear, businesswear, or even business casual clothing, black is nearly always one of the first colors to come to mind. Much of this is perpetuated by the lack of differentiation between a black suit and a tuxedo—tuxedos have satin lapels, are often cut a bit longer, have a satin stripe down the pant leg, typically have fabric covered buttons, and usually require the pairing of tuxedo shoes and shirt. Most folks, though, just see the big picture—a matching black coat and slacks—and because the tuxedo is the preferred garment for gentlemen when attending “black tie“ occasions the “black = formal“ rationale explains its own genesis.
At its best I think that a well curated outfit based around a black suit is difficult to beat, but one would sacrifice flexibility (and really seasonality) for the sake of niche quality. This is why I would argue that a black suit or a tuxedo should be no higher than 3rd on your priority list if you are working on building your suit collection or building your wardrobe from scratch.
There are some exceptions however. If you are pursuing a career practicing law or the performing arts, a black suit specifically should be first or second suit in your collection (a black tuxedo for the musicians). For performing artists this is because the black suit/tuxedo is considered standard performance attire and because you are expected to blend with higher society. They are the folks putting up the money to make sure the organization you perform with/for is running. For the practitioners of the legal arts the unfortunate side of things is that the line for unprofessionalism covers much different ground. If you’ve you know who Saul Goodman is (the fictional lawyer not the amazing timpanist) you have a bit of an idea of this already. Formal, knowledgeable, trustworthy, and no-nonsense is the ideal first impression, and the presumption is that your outfit shouldn’t get in the way of your argument. A black suit has this in spades.
But Andrew… these are all such great things! What’s your beef with black suits?
Lack of flexibility. If you are building your suit collection or rebuilding your wardrobe from scratch, black doesn’t give you much to work with. It looks terribly out of place during the spring and summer, and pairs terribly with navy and all hues of brown. Right out of the gate that is a significant setback because brown shoes and belt vs black shoes and belt creates significant depth in your wardrobe—but brown is off the table. Want to pair the slacks with a navy jacket? No use. It will look like you've bought a separate pant and jacket and can’t tell that one isn’t black. What about this tweed jacket? If there’s brown in it, no. It will clash.
I would advise Charcoal, Dark Grey, Dark Blue, or Royal Blue instead. It is hard to beat the flexibility of a Charcoal and Blue pairing—especially if you are building your wardrobe from scratch. They look great in any season, brown or black shoes and belt work great with any of them, and you can easily interchange the jackets or slacks to have 4 different jacket and slacks combinations. Even if you only had two shirts and two ties, this gives you 32 businesswear/formalwear outfits to pick all from just from 2 suits, 2 ties, 2 shirts, and 2 pairs of belt and shoes. Charcoal and blue can also be great for “black-tie“ occasions—just make sure your jacket and slacks match and pair them with a white shirt, black shoes, and black tie. This is the kind of foundation I think more people should aspire towards. It’s accessible, flexible, affordable, and sustainable.
After setting that kind of foundation is when I would say that adding a black suit becomes a good idea. Charcoal and blue (notice that it’s blue and not navy) pair well with black, so you would have some jacket and slacks flexibility, but this also lets you lean into the elegance that black is capable of and saving it for when you want to harness that power.
The most important thing to remember is that you don’t want your wardrobe to get stale, and you would be surprised at how little changes really bring out the variety in seemingly similar outfits. With just 2 suits, 2 shirts, 2 ties, and 2 belt/shoes pairings you can go over a month without wearing the same outfit twice.
Unfortunately, there are incredibly few scenarios where a black suit plays a role in that foundation.