Change is afoot. In menswear, at least. As the likes of Gucci's Alessandro Michele and Pose star Billy Porter tear down conventional notions of style, there's more room to breathe. To wear that incredibly jazzy shirt if you so deem fit, good sir, or something even wilder.
And Idris Elba isn't listening. At the LA premiere of Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (the umpteenth instalment in the petrolhead's answer to the Magna Carta), the 46-year-old kept things classic. He wore the kind of suit that'll work on you, your father, and your father's father. For all the murmurings of a new menswear tidal wave (and it's one we whole-heartedly wish to surf), it goes to show that, sometimes, the classic stuff is just as effective in matters of style.
And in this instance, you can pay thanks to Tom Ford. The American master of big, bold Manhattanite tailoring has found the perfect foil in Elba, with the Luther star opting for form-flattering monochrome with a sharp suit-tie combo (and yes, the black shirt has been successfully liberated from the clutches of the over-zealous provincial bouncer).
Know that this sort of suit will work for a real smorgasbord of events, too: weddings, funerals, Bar Mitzvahs, job interviews, G20 summits, James Bond auditions and so on and so forth. Handy, especially when the wares of Tom Ford are a fraction above luxury tailoring elsewhere.
That's not to say we should eschew the progressivism of menswear at large. On the contrary, lean in. But if you're more of a classic dresser that prefers the fits of yore, take comfort in men like Elba. He's doing exactly the same thing.
