The DB Stare

[Holdfast]

Look, it is simply a false premise that DB suits are outmoded. True, they are not widespread on Wall Street, but they are currently very fashionable and trendy. So, if you are generally getting looks outside the office, it is just as likely that people are noticing you for expressing the trend as they are for being odd.

Yep, DBs are definitely on the rise. They won't peak for a couple more years though; I see them more in designer shops (or in the fast-fashion shops that copy designers) rather than being truly widespread yet. It'll happen though, before the wheel turns again.

 

[unbelragazzo]



Yep, DBs are definitely on the rise. They won't peak for a couple more years though; I see them more in designer shops (or in the fast-fashion shops that copy designers) rather than being truly widespread yet. It'll happen though, before the wheel turns again.

Unfortunately most of the DBs that are "on the rise" are abominations. With the exception of Corneliani and Brioni, the DBs featured in this article touting their return to runways are disasters:

http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/coming-soon-double-breasted-suits/

A really good DB is an awesome and stylish object. But it is very rare in my experience. And DBs that fall short of this look worse than imperfect SBs. I'm at the beginning of my journey through the world of bespoke, but currently I've got a few jackets in the works, one of which is DB, and it is significantly more difficult to get right than the SBs.

 

[Manton]



Look, it is simply a false premise that DB suits are outmoded. True, they are not widespread on Wall Street, but they are currently very fashionable and trendy. So, if you are generally getting looks outside the office, it is just as likely that people are noticing you for expressing the trend as they are for being odd.

really? Because I see very, very few. Quite close to none, actually.

 

[gdl203]

I don't see any, except on some rare old school dudes and silly menswear blogs where they are cropped and skin-tight

 

[TheFoo]



really? Because I see very, very few. Quite close to none, actually.

I don't see any, except on some rare old school dudes and silly menswear blogs where they are cropped and skin-tight

I'm not saying they are common or widespread. I'm just saying that magazines like Esquire and GQ have been talking them up over the past few years and feature them quite regularly. Thus, anybody who cares about what's fashionable is likely to notice you're wearing one. Bottom line: it may not be negative recognition.

All that said, I do notice them on younger guys. Usually, they are terrible abominations and not business-appropriate, but they are DBs nonetheless and clearly worn to be fashionable.

 

[F. Corbera]

I am going to wear DBs more often because of this thread.

 

[Manton]

I don't know what's in the mags these days but I feel like I see fewer DBs on the street than ever.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

I think age has something to do with it as well. Older guys that I work with wear them a lot and it doesn't look out of place at all, at least to me. I have noticed that at my company a lot of people have been stepping up the formality in the past year or so. I am not sure if it is recession, or the media, PR or what, but I don't work in the finance industry and I see it. Still nobdy under 50 wearing a DB though.

 

[ykurtz]

I've been wearing DB blazers for the past six years, and I would say in the past year or so, they are starting to pop up more often. In Chicago, I noticed quite a few during the week, actually, in 2010-2011. Now in SoCal, they are still quite the anachronism. The one or two I've seen (other than myself) have been in La Jolla, and in both instances, the men wearing them weren't speaking English.

 

[TheFoo]



I don't know what's in the mags these days but I feel like I see fewer DBs on the street than ever.

Yes, but that's because you are very old and your perspective is stretched over a much longer time period.

 

[patrickBOOTH]



Yes, but that's because you are very old and your perspective is stretched over a much longer time period.

You're saying his DB sightings are diluted? What a jerk.

 

[F. Corbera]



I don't know what's in the mags these days but I feel like I see fewer DBs on the street than ever.

Do you mean (a) fewer on the streets of NYC overall or (b) of the suits that you do see, fewer are DBs.

Fewer real suits are worn each year, it seems to me, whether DB or SB.

 

[TheFoo]



You're saying his DB sightings are diluted? What a jerk.

I'm saying in comparison to the 1930's, DBs are certainly much rarer today. But compared to 2005 or even 2010? I don't think so.

 

[F. Corbera]



Yes, but that's because you are very old and your perspective is stretched over a much longer time period.

If he only hung out with dopey and you more often, he would see more DB suits.

 

[Manton]



Do you mean (a) fewer on the streets of NYC overall or (b) of the suits that you do see, fewer are DBs.
Fewer real suits are worn each year, it seems to me, whether DB or SB.

Both. I haven't traveled much lately except to California, where I see hardly any suits at all. I never see DB there except on Will (literally, I think he is the only person I have ever seen wear DB there in 4 decades other than me, and I haven't done it in eons). Other than that I have been to Chicago recently, which was quite "suity" at least on Friday (not on Saturday) and did not see any DB. In New York, where I am most every day, suits sightings are up from 2008 but DB sightings are way down. At least in my field of vision.