Because fashion is never about comfort, is it?
That familiar and iconic suit of the sixties is now referred to as the English-cut suit. It’s a flattering look with clean lines, especially on men with slim, boyish physiques. In the sixties, James Brown, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye and the Beatles wore these youthful skinny suits. They wore them well.
Nowadays, with the success of Mad Men and popularity of designers like Ozwald Boateng, the English suit has experienced a huge revival. It’s no wonder. For women and men, the sixties was a swell decade for fashion, worth mending, dry cleaning, airing and wearing out.
So where’s the beef? Just look for any male over 6 feet tall, weighing over 160 pounds.
Dwyane Wade and Russell Westbrook enjoy keeping a tight grip on the family jewels…
Black men tend to take up more space than Europeans and Asians. English-cut suits, even if made by an African living in England, tend to make Black men look as though they’re wearing hand-me-downs from a brother from another era.
Neither The Rock nor The King minds the squeeze…
Three of Hollywood’s beefiest offenders are Tyler Perry, Idris Elba, and The Rock, Dwayne Johnson. These thick boys, like Otis Redding back in the day, with their big guns and track star thighs bulging like sausages, seem about as comfortable stuffed in a skinny suit as a woman balancing on six-inch heels.
“Wonder if this suit looks tight…”
Sitting in a skinny suit seems unsafe. Risky.
Whenever Tyler Perry, Idris Elba, or Dwayne Johnson sit down for talk shows, it seems they might pop a button on the pants or split a shoulder seam on their English-cut suits. Whenever they attempt to cross their massive legs, which is a natural habit of both women and men, they immediately uncross them, settling for a cross of the ankles instead.
So it’s doubtful the suits have any give. Until the suits gather a few threads of spandex, in the meantime, since these big guys are never short on money, maybe some of it should be spent on an extra yard of fabric.
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Do you like big Black men in British suits?
