Is This the Summer of the Short Suit? Thankfully, Probably Not.J.Crew and other fashion labels may be heavily advertising the look, but that doesn't mean it'll take off.
ByLaura Entis•
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
夏天如果你是一个花花公子,我去过ld. It's hot, it's muggy and yet you're still expected to show up at work in a suit, which makes for a sticky daily commute.
Retailers appear to think they've designed a solution: Behold, the short suit.
As you can see, the short suit is just as awkward as you'd expect: Traditional suit on top -- complete with a button down shirt, sports coat and in some outfits, a tie -- and shorts on the bottom.
To be fair, it's not an entirely unprecedented look – back in the mid-2000s, Tom Brown (in)famously made a splash with his"shrunken suit,"although in that case, the pants were more capris, less true shorts.
Circa now, we can most likely thank Pharrell Williams for the sudden explosion of short suit offerings. At this year's Academy Awards herocked a tuxedo version, and now short suits can be purchased at major retailers including J.Crew (for a cool $400), Topman ($390), Asos ($286), Reiss ($500), and Comme des Garcons ($895), although, asBusinessweeknotes, the last option is really more of a skirt-suit.
Related:Goodbye, Suits. Sport These Smart Looks but Shun Interview No-nos.
Unfortunately, most men don't possess a fraction of Pharrell's ability to make the ridiculous work (regardless of your thoughts on theenormous brown hathe wore to the Grammys, it ended the night with its ownTwitter account, which makes it a default success), and despite J.Crew'sassurancethat its short suit has "an old-school country club vibe (moreGatsby, lessCaddyshack) and is almost guaranteed to win the battle for best-dressed at nearly every summer occasion" I can't see this trend catching on. Exposed calves + the inability to wear socks = not going to happen in the workplace.
AsBusinessweekpoints out, just because retailers are advertising the short suit doesn't mean they're actually making many of them. (The J.Crew version, for instance, is only available for sale online). "It's an easy and affordable way to kind of be in step with what's going on," Jon Patrick, creative director atJ.Hilburn, a made-to-order menswear company, told the outlet. "It's also a merchandising play, because guys will come in and buy ties and shirts and a bunch of other stuff."
In other words, the short suit is pretty much a marketing stunt, which means everyone needs tocalm down about the short suit. Unless you work incertain enclaves of Brooklyn, you should be safe.
