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The Best Men's Grey Suits of 2024 Aren't Just for the Office
Ten takes on the conservative classic that are anything but stuffy
Recent movements in menswear have promoted a carnival of colour and flamboyance: a defiant reaction, perhaps, to the insistent gloom of the past few years. But Technicolor dreamcoats and kaleidoscopic trousers will take you only so far, and as of late, some of fashion’s most forward-thinking designers have looked to the past: specifically to that most apparently conservative of items, the grey business suit, an outfit more readily associated with legends of traditional mid-century masculinity (Gregory Peck; Cary Grant) than the more avant-garde affects of today’s style icons.
Not that the new grey suit is stuffy. When Zegna designer Alessandro Sartori opened the brand’s AW23 show with a slate two-piece and then, two days later in Paris, Bianca Saunders followed suit (so to speak), both relieved the grey suit of its corporate connotations — the former with three-quarter-length sleeves and a relaxed fit, the latter a pullover blazer.
And where more orthodox takes on grey tailoring has been presented in following seasons, it's the styling that has given them the edge. Kim Jones dared us to sport us grey suits with neon polo shirts beneath – and, if you're feeling extra gutsy, a bejewelled cardigan on top – at Dior SS24; for Burberry Winter 2024, Daniel Lee championed extremely deep-plunge knitwear below oversized grey blazers; a spiky-haired model who walked the Versace AW24 runway rocked his fog-coloured five-button suit with shiny black leather gloves, equally-as-shiny black leather shoes, a silver necklace and thickset eye makeup. The message is loud and clear: grey suits can be colourful, too.
So, hunt out that grey suit you archived long ago — or treat yourself to a brand-new one (preferably one of those that we've listed below) — and wear it any time, anywhere, with all the sartorial eccentricities you’ve acquired over the past few years. We’re thinking prep knits and penny loafers on workdays; polos and sneakers on weekends; and with not much underneath — as prescribed by the current Mr Nova Check — on holiday.
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