Pinstripe Suit : Famous fans include Nigel Farage and Gordon Gekko-style bankers, but the material is gaining new meaning in the fashion-conscious man’s clothes
Nigel Farage, who is in the process of making an eighth attempt at becoming the next MP was photographed in the last week at Pontefract, West Yorkshire in his typical pinstripe outfit. It’s not just him who’s the only one. The stripe is making its fashion comeback, with the twist of this time. A term used to describe sartorial strength, the stripe had its roots in the banking industry it was used as a method to distinguish workers in various Victorian banks by how far apart the lines of white on their clothes.
“The pinstripe is a very smart look, one really appropriate for business,” says Peter Smith, of the Savile Row tailors Richard Anderson. In wearing the pinstripe, Farage is attempting to show that he’s serious about business.
As with others, Farage is very much out of touch. In recent times the pinstripe has been taken back from a plethora of snobbery-minded as Jacob Rees Mogg, Gordon Gekko-style financiers as well as dictators like Kim Jong-un. “Pinstripe is the fabric that refuses to die,” says Charlie Baker-Collingwood, the founder of Henry Herbert tailors. “We were selling lots of pinstripe back in the 80s, and then the demand slowed down during the subsequent decades However, now we’re back selling it. The fabric has changed in the past, however. The public shouldn’t be frightened of its commercial or negative connotations of right-wing – you could even wear it with sneakers. It’s an eye-catching fabric, so be sure you don’t go overboard with your accessories and let the pattern do the talking. If you’re not successful try David Beckham. He is always wearing a pinstripe extremely well.”
Alongside his former soccer player, current conversions include actor and musician, writer, activist and general Polymath Donald Glover, who wore a sleek Gucci model of his outfit at the Emmys. The boxer Conor McGregor had a custom pinstripe designed for his fight with Floyd Mayweather, with the stripes inscribed with “Fuck you” in an extremely crafted jibe at the opponent.
In the case of politicians, use of a pinstripe can be an intentional break of the “centrist blue suit” – the navy blue dress loved by politicians like Barack Obama and David Cameron in the pre-Brexit and pre-Trump days. Pinstripe is, however, is an attempt to bring us to a past time of elegance and traditional values. But, as Baker-Collingwood states it is not a good idea. “The pinstripe was once focused on greed. But it is now possible to wear it in a different manner nowadays – and ought to. The traditional notion that it’s the suit of a banker has changed. Pop stars wear it now. The pinstripe is reinventing itself.”
