The death of the pinstripe; why it's time to get in line with spring's new patterns
When was the last time you saw a man in a pinstriped suit? What once was the happiest of marriages - pinstripes, derived in the early 1900s as vertical lines no wider than a pin head, and tailoring - has gone awry somewhere along the line(s).
It’s hardly surprising; Churchill’s swaggering siren suit, rendered in pinstripe by Turnbull & Asser, might have been a thing of statesman splendour, but modern iterations call to mind Patrick Bateman and a dated, Wolf of Wall Street-era banker greed, as antiquated as gel-slicked hair and braces in the boardroom.
It’s telling that a search through Mr Porter - the world’s biggest men’s fashion retailer - turfs up but one pinstriped suit. Just one.
Stripes used to dominate certain pillars of a (very British) man’s wardrobe, providing a kind of sartorial flag system: pinstripes, or his more brash brother, the chalk stripe, for the office; club-striped ties for dinner or drinks; regatta stripes for sporting endeavours, be it a weekend at Henley or day at the races; and rugby stripes for the pitch.
But just as the traditional format of suits has been ripped up and re-stitched, so too has our relationship with this much put-upon pattern; who can think of a regatta jacket without connotations of Wind In The Willows?
It was a conundrum for Daniel Kearns, the designer behind the David Beckham-backed house Kent & Curwen, who took the linear lines of rugby, cricket and boating attire and re-worked them in fragmented grids and patchwork patterns. The effect nods to the “clubby” feel of stripes - they evolved in sports to highlight which team one played for - but less traditional and more playful.
Gucci too took the classic rugby shirt and tinkered with the format, elongating the shape for a more left-of-centre cut to this most public-school, establishment garment. How to recreate stripes without looking painfully corporate has also been a pre-occupation for Patrick Grant, the force behind E.Tautz and judge on the Village of the Year TV series, who knows a thing or two about the style mores of British dressing.
This season, as part of the brand’s tailoring offering, he has picked apart the twee seaside-ness of Breton stripes in a series of blousy shirts, as well as tailored jackets, a modern interpretation of the traditional striped blazer.
And in street-style circles (that curious fanfare outside a fashion show where peacocks dress up for the whir of the camera lenses), you’re nothing without a go-faster stripe on your trousers.
This is less about tracksuit slovenliness and more about adding a dynamic touch to tailored trousers, to elevate them from the confines of the office, Plus it’ll help streamline you too; stripes are coming full circle.
