Year of the Double-Breasted Suit

I like my suits the same way I like my women: smart, attractive, and double-breasted. Why should you be surprised? Crazy people may claim 2011 is the year of the rabbit. Others might say it is the year of the diamond dogs. Well, I say 2011 is the year of the double-breasted suit. Can you feel it? I certainly do, as I recently took delivery of a Paul Stuart navy double-breasted (DB) suit picked up in the sales. To me the DB suit most closely resembles a true suit of armour, presenting a bold, united military front and a wraparound completeness absent in the SB suit. Of course a man must have the right physique to pull it off. Sometimes recommended for hollow-chested pipsqueaks, the DB looks best, I think, on a tall chap with strong chest and a confident, forthright manner. The DB suit's peak lapels lend height and make the wearer look like an avenging archangel come to take names and kick arse in reverse alphabetical order, like Mosley cracking commie skulls in the streets of London. There is widespread reluctance to take on the DB suit, and I confess I do not know why. Perhaps namby-pamby trads shun it because it projects masculine boldness, a role that makes them feel uncomfortable when all they want to do is hide out in the study and fondle their grosgrain. Or perhaps it is too formal at a time when so many chaps work out of the home in stained bathrobe and rotting slipper. Whatever the reason, I have increasingly noticed, there is certainly no lack of DB suits out there. Two chaps in my office are known to wear them on occasion. Several actors in the film Fantastic Mr. Fox sported a DB suit, as did Royal Tenenbaum. Both Paul Stuart and Brooks Brothers have included them in recent seasons. Ovadia & Sons offer two models for the S/S 2011 season and a beautiful DB chalk stripe number for the coming autumn. If you have not already done so, consider making 2011 the year you acquire a DB suit, a much neglected though essential component of a man's sartorial collection.