Men's tailoring: star designers are reinventing the suit for the modern workplace

Where items in need of an image overhaul are concerned, the conventional suit is right up there with instant coffee and cheese in a tube.

Struggling to find relevance with the contemporary consumer, the whistle and flute largely wins its followers out of necessity not in-satiable desire.

To an increasing number of London men who find themselves absolved of the responsibility to don a two-piece for the office, the suit is funerals-and-weddings-only attire. But there are still millions who find themselves shackled to tailoring during nine-to-five pursuits for whom the act of putting on a suit garners the same excitement as stepping on to the Central line platform.

With such ubiquity in mind, it makes sense that the humble two-piece has become fashion’s latest plaything. At least it has become something of a point of interest for style disruptors Virgil Abloh, of Off-White and Louis Vuitton, and Demna Gvasalia, of Vetements and Balenciaga, who are equally inspired by the notion of spinning routine clothing items in a high-fashion sphere.

Following his spring/summer show for Balenciaga in October, Gvasalia cited “neo-tailoring” among points of interest. This manifested itself in lightweight jackets with soft shoulders and unlined fabrics. “It’s a way to make new generations wear tailoring,” noted the designer who, like Abloh, has made more than an effort to garner the youth vote with his clothes. “It feels like wearing a jogging suit, that’s what makes it approachable.”

In a new collection which launches on Mr Porter next week, Abloh moves this idea of remixing workwear with sports and streetwear on a step. “Two worlds collide into one,” says Abloh of his new Off-White offering entitled Modern Office, “the besuited businessman and that young skater hanging out in the park on the Lower East Side.”

Perfectly suited to the Mr Porter customer who walks a fine line between wishing to indulge his style credibility and impress at the next meeting with his CEO, Off-White offers its signature tonal embroidered jersey in toned-down hues, office-ready prints and a more “put together” silhouette — think less oversized bomber, more sculpted chore coat.

The result is far from anything you’ll see in The Wolf of Wall Street, or in fact on the backs of your most orthodox banker mates. For those who feel shackled by the drabness of conventional workwear, there’s much to delight in. Notably because if you really look at the pieces in this collection what you will find is classics redefined for a modern man. Of course it’s the ability of Abloh and Gvasalia to communicate with future fashion consumers that sets them apart from their contemporaries, and it’s this point of difference that makes this development in the working man’s wardrobe so interesting.

When Gvasalia launched Vetements in 2014 with the dream of lighting a match under the banal (he thought) idea of luxury, few could have predicted the effect his vision would have — not just on those with access to the brand but to the broader fashion consumer.

The same is true of Abloh, who has won himself sovereign status among those who queue up in the rain to get their hands on his latest collaboration with Nike.

Does this mean the suit as we know it could be, like DVDs and not-at-all-smartphones, little more than a picture in a photograph album to the youth of tomorrow?

Not likely. But it certainly suggests the future for working men involves further loosening of the collar. Since women have carved out a new working wardrobe for themselves that combines the practical with the professional, it certainly seems like men are in need of an update.

Whether that will mean printed bomber jackets, office caps and “neo-tailoring”, only time will tell.