suit

suit, in dress design, matching set of clothes consisting, for example, of a coat, vest, and trousers. The shift in Western masculine attire from the doublet to the present-day suit began in the 1660s at the courts of Louis XIV of France and Charles II of England. The reformed style consisted of a long coat with wide, turned-back sleeves and a row of buttons down the front, some of which were left unbuttoned to reveal a vest (later called a waistcoat in England), an undergarment almost identical to the coat.

At first the vest had long sleeves that showed below the turned-back sleeves of the coat and then the sleeves were dispensed with entirely. Neither coat nor vest had a collar or lapels. To complete the new mode, tight-fitting breeches were worn with stockings gartered below the knee. By 1670 this type of suit had become the firmly established style for men and was worn with no essential change until the end of the 18th century.

From the time of the French Revolution until well into the 19th century, a man’s suit consisted of a short, fitted waistcoat (called a veston in France); below-knee-length breeches or long trousers; and a long outer coat. A top hat was worn with it. By the 1830s, breeches were worn as compulsory court attire and by the elderly and the unfashionable, and long trousers were worn by everyone else.

The prototype of the modern suit appeared in 1860 as the “lounge suit,” which was for informal wear and consisted of long trousers; a waistcoat, or vest (often elaborately decorated); and a short coat. The desire on the part of the middle class for gentlemanly clothes led to great conformity in men’s suits; since the 19th century men’s fashions have remained more or less static.

Women’s “tailor-made” suits became very popular in the second half of the 19th century for sport and traveling. When women began to work outside the home after the Civil War and even more so after World War I, they adopted this form of suit, which consisted of a matching skirt and jacket. In the second half of the 20th century, women began to wear matching jackets and trousers (pantsuits).