DId you have suits as a child?

[gladhands]

This forum has seen its share ho "help me choose my first suit" threads. I've always taken this to mean "help me choose my first ADULT suit", but a recent post on reddit, has lead me to believe that these neophytes have NEVER worn a suiit. I grew up in a rather poor community, but one where most children had suits for church. Is this just a black thing?

 

[Nicola]

I even had shoes and socks.

 

[MikeDT]

To answer the question, no. Didn't even have a tailored jacket until I was about 17. I don't count polyester and crimplene school blazers as real clothing.

The only children I ever recall seeing wearing suits to church, were black children. i.e. A black thing. Our family didn't go to church much, maybe once a year for Christmas. BTW I don't go to church at all now, and I still don't own a suit.

I'm white, 50, grew up in the UK, but now live in the PRC.

I even had shoes and socks.

I had shoes and socks as well, And smart pants and shirts, even had a bow-tie when I was about 2 or 3. They usually got wore to birthday parties and the odd wedding.

 

[Sonny58]

For a lot of people I think this is a generational thing. My parents grew up in a time when, regardless of your position in society, you dressed well. And they dressed their children well. I wore a coat and tie every Sunday to church and a suit on special occasions. But I think the standards began to change and I believe there are some subsequent generations that may have never owned traditional dress clothes as children. Church-going may have helped certain segments of society hang on to traditions but not always (it is not uncommon to see men wearing shorts and knit golf shirts to my church these days). For the record, I'm Caucasian in my mid-50s.

 

[archibaldleach]

I am pretty sure I got my first suit at some point in middle school. Nothing before then.

Edit: Also, I think that in the U.S., people are becoming less and less likely to dress for any sort of special occasion.

 

[dreamspace]

Found a christmas picture of me at age 4 or 5, they actually dressed me up in a white double-breasted kids suit, cheesy 80s stuff.

Fist suit I can remember though was some hand-down navy herringbone DB suit, which I used for my confirmation. Actually stood out since every other guy was wearing a black suit.

(Over here in Norway we have a slang called "Confirmation-suit", which describes a far too small and ugly/dated suit, hinting that the person wearing it is in dire need of buying a new and better fitting one.)

 

[add911_11]

I have my first local bespoke suit and shirt (forced by my dad rather than buying cheap junk) when I was at the end of O level.
My first pair of bespoke shoe by carreducker when I was at the end of AS level.

 

[edmorel]

what level are you now, Super Seiyan?

 

[gambit50]

I had a black tuxedo when I was a child. But cannot recall before that piece.

 

[aravenel]

I had lots of hand-me-down polyester blazers and stuff from the time I was 10. Almost never wore them though. Got my first suit at probably 16? I remember going to buy it with my dad. It was a charcoal herringbone Jos A Bank suit. In hindsight, it was appalling, but I loved wearing it.

 

[Master Squirrel]

Never. I would have been beat up in my neighborhood.

 

[dreamspace]

Also, I remember back when I was getting confirmed that EVERYONE wanted black suits. All but me had cheap and generic black suits...grandpa refused to buy me a black suit, as he said to me, "You're not going to a funeral".
They ended up buying me a (now) nice tweed or light flannel suit...I was absolutely devastated, in fear of standing out like a sore thumb among all the cool kids with their awesome black suits.

When the day finally came, I refused to wear it. So they had to dig up some old navy DB suit, opened everything and sew it back together after fittings and measurements. Nice thing about having alterations tailors and seamstresses in family!

 

[aravenel]

Grandpa was a wise man

 

[HughJ]

I can think of at least 2 from my childhood (the first one at 4 or 5), but the real highlight was a black and gray speckled "Miami Vice" sportscoat. I can remember pairing that with a zip-up leather skinny tie. Yup.

 

[VinnyMac]

Over the years, I had suits for Easter and for some school "Picture Days."