The Short Suit Isn't a New Thing

View Gallery 9 Slides Advertisement - Continue Reading Below Wow, people are really freaking out about short suits. Ever since J. Crew made them mainstream this spring, everyone from your aunt to your little brother has an opinion on them. But, guys, the short suit is no new-fangled thing emerging overnight to ruin menswear in

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1

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Wow, people are really freaking out about short suits. Ever since J. Crew made them mainstream this spring, everyone from your aunt to your little brother has an opinion on them. But, guys, the short suit is no new-fangled thing emerging overnight to ruin menswear in the new millennium. It's been around for at least 100 years, steadily growing cooler until blowing up just now. This is the story of that journey.

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2

1900s: The English Schoolboy Uniform

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At the turn of the 19th century shorts were a symbol of boyhood and a mainstay of the English public school uniform, creating the original short suit. In order to appear mature, men wouldn't touch shorts for a few years.

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3

1910s: The British Warm Weather Army Uniform

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Like many sartorial innovations, the military is responsible for getting men to wear shorts. Before the First World War, the British army incorporated shorts into their tropical colonial uniforms, possibly inspired by Ghurka troops, where they matched to soldier's field jackets creating a suit of sorts. This came in handy shortly thereafter during the Great War, when the British invaded Mesopotamia to fight the Ottoman Empire.

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4

1920s: The Bermuda Suit

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The British army likewise brought their short uniforms to the colony of Bermuda, where locals adopted them. Some stories say the Bank of Bermuda had tailors make short suits and wool knee socks for their employees during a clothing shortage, an occurrence variously reported as taking place during the '20s or later in the '40s. This cemented the short suit as proper attire for business or politics in Bermuda. It's worth noting that the Bermuda suit, like many short suits to follow, is a broken suit, where the jacket doesn't match the, well, shorts in this case, a characteristic Italians would later term spezzato, which means "broken in two."

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5

1940s: The Desert Short Suit

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Face it, World War II has a certain glamour the First World War lacks. Probably because the Nazis were such clear villains so justly beaten. Either way, World War II legitimized and disseminated the short suit, especially General Creagh's infamous Desert Rats 7th Armored Division who fought General Rommel in North Africa.

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6

1950s: The Rockin' Short Suit

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In menswear, the military often invents things and then musicians and kids make it cool. B.B. King took up the short suit as distinctive stagewear in the '50s, where he wore it with two-tone shoes, forever making it cool.

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7

1970s: The Hard Rockin' Short Suit

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In the '70s Angus Young of ACDC adopted a cheeky take on the schoolboy's uniform as his hallmark stagewear, spreading the short suit to the masses. Young wore his short suits in velvet, just so you'd know he was a rock god, and not just some crazy kid.

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8

2000s: The Elevated Short Suit

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In the mid-2000s fashion innovator Comme des Garcons and new kid Thom Browne saw an opportunity in the market and filled it up with high-end short suits. Comme's Rei Kawakubo solidified her reputation as a fashion's leading intellectual with moves like this, while Browne made his whole name on them. Shortly thereafter, fashion rogue like Pharrell picked up on the trend debuting the short tuxedo in 2012, a move he revisited again at the 2014 Oscars.

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9

2010s: The Contemporary Short Suit

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Well, here we are, in a post-J. Crew world where the short suit is very much a thing. And guess what, high-end designers are still making them, debuting more than a couple just days ago at the London Men's shows. And though the short suit is now more popular than ever, if history's any indication, it's unlikely to fade away anytime soon.

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