Changing styles in suit designs
March 02, 2017

With the coming of every New Year there are new and improved designs of suits in the fashion and tailoring industry. For many decades most of the designs of the suits and trousers were nearly the same and just went up and down a little.

There was also a set trend where one type of design came in vogue and replaced the one that was in fashion but now things are pretty different. These days most of the suit designs go hand in hand which means that all types of suit designs except the very loose ones are in fashion according to the choice and preferences of the clients.

So, there is no specific style of suits which can be defined as in fashion and others out. Having said all that, last two years saw a very different approach to the designing and cutting of suits which had not been seen for many decades or perhaps was not even known in the world of formal clothing.

I am talking about the “crocked cuts” or what we can call a diagonal cut to the existing design of suits. This indeed had been considered a great sin in the world of tailoring but somehow the idea came from casual clothing where hip-hop shirts and casual shirts saw a change in the designing and cutting pattern of the shirts.

This was the asymmetrical cutting of clothes and then stitching them in the same way. For example, we all know that shirts are generally made symmetrically and both the front parts are stitched equally which are put together by buttoning. But this was experimentally changed and one can say that it might have been influenced by Indian (specially Bengali) style of shirt designs where the ethnic shirts were and even these days are diagonal (a bit turned) cut from one side (generally right)in the front and tied or buttoned the same way.

Earlier, the only people seen wearing this kind of pattern of shirts were either the cooks and chefs of hotels or the cassocks of the Anglican Church clergy. But with the advent of these shirts a new road was made towards introducing them into formal clothing. The idea of having a formal shirt stitched this way was not sane enough as formal shirts and even casual shirts look good only if the front is made symmetrically.

There was one more problem regarding the tie! Funny it might sound but how on earth any man or a woman can wear a tie or a bow on the side of the collar! Therefore, this idea did not gain any momentum in the formal clothing industry but here comes a twist.

Suits stitched this way, either a parallel straight cut from one side or a semi diagonal cut above the chest area started to look good and soon coats, Indian style full blazer/coats and waist coats have been designed in this pattern and they have been appreciated by a larger section of fashion gurus.

This trend has become quite explosive and I think, in few months we might see more and more people opting for this kind of a design which is very different from the age old pattern on symmetrical designing. On the contrary, it seems difficult that this design will become as contemporary as once double breasted coats/ blazers became in the later 80s and mid 90s but only time will decide the future of these types of crocked or diagonal cutting of suits.

So, while it’s in trend, just have one.