Illustration: Kate Gibb; Photographs: Sal Traina/Penske Media/REX/Shutterstock (McQueen), Getty Images (Davis, Jagger)

Style

The Double-Breasted Suit Is Back, and Shedding Its Stuffy Image

This year a phalanx of double-breasted suits marched down runways, everywhere from Calvin Klein to Ermenegildo Zegna. A look at the history and future of this bold look.

By Troy Patterson

August 24, 2017 at 11:15 AM UTC

This article is part of the August 28, 2017 issue of businessweek.

The double-breasted suit jacket is essential to the image of 1930s Warner Bros. gangsters, 1980s Salomon Brothers bankers, and, this season, everyone and his brother.

Or so it seems. At every turn, high-end designers, established suitmakers, and upstart tailor shops are doubling down on double-breasted suits and blazers. It’s a bold look: The overlapping front closure and multiple buttons strike the eye with a force that their single-breasted brethren can’t match. We live in interesting times that call for interesting clothes, and though it’s been out of style for some time, the double-breasted suit fits the cultural climate again. With its structure and extra folds of coverage, it amounts to a flashy form of armor.

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