I took down a shirt the other day and looked at it. A charcoal grey broadcloth which I had had made up several years ago to wear with a black suit for going out. There is nothing wrong with the shirt itself except that it has single button cuffs which means that it is slightly dated considering French cuffs are all the rage; not good for a hip shirt. For a moment I thought that this was a lesson to me not to buy clothes with limited uses because they go out of style quickly. But then, I realized that just a few years ago, no one really wore French cuffs to the workplace either. I realized that not only had hip clothing changed but also the clothes men wear to the work place.

Can you still wear your button cuffs to the work place and out? Yes but they won’t be as current. Even when people wear button cuffs to work now, they are often the two button variety. It must be mentioned that Americans can take a predilection too far and people wear French  cuffs on shirt materials that probably are better being made button cuff. I see linen shirts with them and cotton flannel shirts with them and Oxford cloth with them and I do not like that style. But that’s my opinion; today it’s all a matter of personal choice. And because personal choice has saved the future of tailored clothing, who am I to complain?

Double cuffs are everywhere on men’s shirts. The cufflink industry has exploded to provide cufflinks to go with this new style. All sorts of cufflinks are being worn now that could not have been given away five years ago. And women love cufflinks. They are jewelry, icebreakers and conversation pieces all at once. Consider that next time you select a pair.

But what is hip now vs. just a couple of years ago? Can I still wear all black when I go out? Hmm, a bit dated but can still be done, more likely to see a black shirt or sweater with a charcoal suit or the reverse.

Black suede is more common now for shoes and so are ankle boots, not those hideous laces up the leg things that look like unfortunate orthopedic prescriptions but rather Chelsea boots and similar styles. As a matter of fact there has been a veritable explosion of shoe styles in the last five years with men demanding that their shoes be as unique as their neckties.

Men still like dark shirts in black espresso brown, grey, charcoal and navy with or without patterns on them. In fact, Acorn fabrics of England have recently engineered some very colorfast black cottons in everything from voile and zephyr to royal oxford and tone on tone jacquard weaves. These black fabrics are midnight black or a pure black that will not look  dingy next to true black wool and will resist fading if washed in cold water and hung up to dry.

For shirts, color has made its way back into the evening.  Black suit with a wild checked shirt from Turnbull and Asser or a striped one from Duchamp. A lot of these shirts can also be worn in the workplace. Which is interesting because it seems like the concept of afterhours city dress and office wear are bleeding into each other more than ever before. Bold chalk stripes are very much in vogue and are as acceptable in the workplace as they are taking your heart’s delight to an evening at the latest lounge or restaurant with a colorful English or Italian style shirt which can hold its own against the chalk stripe (and vice versa), neck ties are optional but they are more often rich, heavy woven ones from England or Italy, the printed tie that was ubiquitous in America just a few years ago has evaporated taking with it a lot of the domestic manufacturing of them.

It seems that the reason less ties are being worn is the resurgence of the pocket square, especially in silk. American men are wearing them with both abandon and aplomb and in numbers that English men never did. Apparently pocket squares are the new necktie.

I have written about dressing Hip vs Old-Boy-Hip. The principal differences between the two genres are that Old-Boy-Hip is completely up to date but follows from dressing traditions of the past. Old-Boy-Hip has a reference to “propriety” as it has always been known and accepted. The right family, schools and professions are the Look I am speaking of and perhaps no one keeps this image refreshed in our minds better than Ralph Lauren. If Brideshead revisited took place today, they would all go to Ralph Lauren to get their clothes and they would all run into F.Scott Fitzgerald and all the movie stars from the 1930s. In the traditional workplace and social circles this look predominates as a vision.

Hip by contrast, although it obviously uses many of the construction techniques of Old-Boy-Hip, does not choose items which would logically follow as a choice from people reared in Old world traditions. This is a more democratic form of dressing (Although it can be either more flamboyant or more practical)and  suggests is it doesn’t matter who you are or what you know all you need to dress this way is to have talent, style and the resources. Dressing in a Hip manner is actually very in line with the dandy aesthetic because the look suggests you have no end and no beginning, no associations or obligations. All eyes (to steal a lyric) are on you. This look is more frequently seen in more avant garde professions and social circles.

Just a few years ago, these two looks were more distinct (albeit equal) and separate but they blend more than ever before. Although that is great news for the budget of anyone buying clothes to meet both criteria it does pose vexing questions about why two worlds might blend so much?

How would the two looks of socially oriented Hip and more office appropriate Old Boy Hip merge so thoroughly without anyone thinking that you are wearing office clothes to go out in or social clothes to work? The dress down workplace may be the culprit. That short but traumatic era killed the obligation that men had to wear a business uniform to most offices. Men merrily skipped to work in chinos and golf shirts, jeans and t-shirts, sweaters and corduroy jackets, flannel shirts and…well you get the idea. Not only did this new fad destroy the American made suit industry it confirmed American womens’ suspicions that their men were mostly idiots.

But dress down may have created its own backlash effect. After all, it’s actually more time consuming to select a casual outfit than a business one which is relatively unimaginative. Additionally, nothing irked an up and coming executive more than for someone he was sweet on to not see that he was a cut above the Hoi Polloi. American men with talent wanted to distinguish themselves again and went out to start buying ready to wear, made to measure and custom suits with price tags that would even scandalize a dandy.

And there you have it. Men wear tailored clothes because they want to, not because they have to. They choose a wider variety of shades and patterns than they ever did in a wider variety of shapes, styles and cuts than they ever did. And their bosses love it, even the old guard because after all, men are wearing suits again, never mind if it’s charcoal with a double red-orange beaded pin stripe, it’s a suit!

It is very much as if British mods had finally achieved power and could flex their individual style anytime and anywhere. Actually, it is more like their attitude has been usurped by men in both the American and increasingly in the English workplace.

Tastes here and in England, perhaps globally are in an evolutionary transition. Men are experimenting with colors, fabrics and textures more. Good taste is being redefined and individualized to a greater degree than before. Part of the problem is that there is not central repository of reliable taste for men to refer to and even if there was there doesn’t seem to be a reliable way to get the information to them or indeed would it be possible to get them to pay attention to it. This is in some ways more liberating but in others more unfortunate because it is more possible than ever to end up “Slick” by creating a disastrous combination.


If someone walks into Canali or Paul Stuart they have a very good chance of walking out with tasteful ensembles which is not the case for every men’s clothing store.  Some of the large clothing department stores rely on their name and foot traffic to sell concessional floor space to the highest bidder without regard to whether it fits into their “look” or their profiled customer’s interest. Few of these places can ever afford to showcase an entire style and so unless you’re lucky enough to get a salesperson with some taste and knowledge. Thus, you are pretty much on your own to throw something together and if you don’t have a trained eye or some elevated sense of taste, that can be a waste of money.


The net result is you cannot tell anymore if someone is coming from work or got dressed up to go out. I mean there are still hip variations that can’t get worn to most workplaces like a medium blue mohair suit worn with say a red cashmere sweater (or a white shirt with alternating blue and orange butcher stripes) and Lattanzi shoes in that medium brown color with a brown lizard belt and an orange and red pocket square. The two looks, Hip and Old-Boy-Hip have far from merged completely and they may move apart again. The only people being driven crazy by this movement and change are those people who need everything to stay the same. For the rest of us, it’s an awful lot of fun.