Book Review: Suitable

Suitable: The Sartorial Revolution and the Fashioning of Modern Men by Chloe Chapin

I’ll start by saying, I absolutely love this book and unreservedly recommend it to literally every person who wears clothes. Fashion scholars, lay people, every gender whether you wear suits or not, American patriots, American immigrants, people from other nations who either love or hate America[1], there will be sections that are fascinating for all.

Understand that I am not a neutral reviewer—I have absolutely loved fashion history and criticism written through a sociological lens since I was an undergraduate in the 1990s fantasizing about one day pursuing that as a career path. 

I was predisposed to find this book engrossing.

This book is right up there with what I consider classics of the scholarship by academics like Allison Lurie and Valerie Steele. (Maybe those are just classics to me because they are among the first authors I read in the field.) 

In the interest of full disclosure, I must mention that I know this author and have attended conferences with her for years. That said, perhaps because of Covid, I have never actually met her in person, and our collegiality does not make me feel obligated to plug this book with a positive review. I genuinely love it, and think it is vital reading for anyone even obliquely interested in the subject matter.

But is it still worth reading if you love fashion yet don’t like tailored garments, historical menswear, or business attire? Yes.

Is it still worth reading if you have no patience for old white men in three-piece suits? Yes.

Is it still worth reading if you benefit from the status quo in terms of gender, race, class, nationality, etc.? Yes, definitely.

Chapin presents a nuanced view as to how even as they confer power to the wearer, suits simultaneously confine, limit, and restrict.

Some notes I made while reading, of remarkable elements:

• A great quote in support of the power of a suit from RuPaul (you’ll have to read it, no spoiler here)
• Deep dive on natural dye processes with logwood for black cloth
• A discussion of trouser pattern cutting innovations to accommodate men’s dangly genitals & the invention of the fly

I listened to the audiobook, read by the author, and I’m glad I did. Chapin voices quoted sources in such a way that you can tell exactly what she thinks of them, whether they are uptight curmudgeons or prim busybodies. 

The prose is not dense or pretentious but expect academic jargon like hegemony and synecdoche. If those aren’t words you use on the regular, consider it an opportunity to expand your vocabulary.

The American Theatre Costume Association (ATCA) hosts a summer book club discussion on a recent title in the field and this is the one for this summer, and I cannot wait to talk about it with colleagues!

[1] Because the sartorial transition from ornamental menswear to what became the modern suit, occurred so closely around the time of the American Revolution (and probably in part because the author is American herself), the advent of the men’s suit is inseparable from the development of America as a young country.