Sartorial Picks

Formal Wear

Formal wear is the category most men engage with least frequently and therefore feel least confident about which creates a slightly unfortunate situation where the occasions that matter most are also the ones where the styling decisions feel most uncertain. We've been there. Standing in front of a mirror forty minutes before a wedding wondering if the tie width is right and whether brown shoes actually work with a navy suit and whether anyone will notice the jacket sleeves are slightly too long. The answer to most of these questions is that getting the fundamentals right matters far more than the details and that the fundamentals are simpler than most men think. A well fitted suit in the right colour with appropriate accessories and decent footwear covers the vast majority of formal situations convincingly. This section is about building the foundation that makes formal occasions feel like something you can handle rather than something to get through.

0 items

26 items

Beige Suits

The beige suit is one of those pieces that a lot of men avoid because it feels like it requires more confidence than a navy or charcoal and they're not entirely wrong but the confidence required is less about boldness and more about understanding what works with it. The key with a beige suit is keeping everything else relatively simple and clean. A white or pale blue shirt without a tie in a casual setting. A simple white shirt and a brown silk tie for something smarter. Brown leather shoes rather than black because the warmth of brown leather works with beige in a way that the contrast of black doesn't. We love a beige suit for spring and summer events specifically because it reads as appropriate for the season in a way that a darker suit sometimes doesn't and that seasonal rightness is worth something beyond just the aesthetics of the suit itself.

Browse Beige Suits

50 items

Black Suits

The black suit is one of those wardrobe staples that sounds simpler than it is because the occasions it genuinely works for are more specific than most people appreciate. Black works brilliantly for evening events and anything with a formal or black tie adjacent dress code. It works well for funerals and occasions where sombre formality is appropriate. It's the suit of choice for people working in hospitality and creative industries where the all black look has a specific cultural weight. Where it's less versatile than people expect is in daytime business settings and weddings where navy or charcoal typically read better. The accessories you pair with a black suit matter more than with other colours too. White shirt and black tie is the obvious combination. But introducing some texture through a knitted tie or a subtle pocket square pattern can stop the whole thing feeling too severe.

Browse Black Suits

22 items

Charcoal Suits

Charcoal is probably the most useful suit colour a man can own for actual professional purposes and the reason is that it reads as serious and competent without the austerity of black or the relative informality of navy. It photographs well which matters more than people admit. It works with a wide range of shirt and tie combinations. It can be dressed down with a more casual shirt and no tie for smart casual situations without losing its inherent authority. We'd suggest a charcoal suit as the first proper suit purchase for someone building a wardrobe for professional life because it covers more situations more convincingly than any other single colour. A mid charcoal in a fine wool is the fabric and shade combination we'd start with. It works year round in a way that a very heavy charcoal flannel or a very light summer weight doesn't quite manage.

Browse Charcoal Suits

31 items

Check Suits

The check suit requires a specific kind of commitment that not everyone is immediately comfortable with but rewards that commitment with something that looks significantly more interesting than a plain suit in the same cut and fabric. The trick is keeping everything else in the outfit simple enough that the check has room to do its thing. A bold windowpane check in navy or grey with a white shirt and no tie looks genuinely excellent. A more subtle herringbone or houndstooth in an earth tone with a simple knit and no tie at all creates something that feels properly contemporary. The scale of the check matters a lot. A large check is bolder and more casual in feel. A smaller tighter pattern reads as more formal and works in more traditional professional settings. Start with a mid scale pattern in a relatively tonal colourway if you're not sure and you'll find it integrates into your existing wardrobe more easily than you expect.

Browse Check Suits

43 items

Double Breasted Suits

The double breasted suit was dormant for a while in the mainstream and has come back with considerably more confidence than it left which makes this a good moment to be thinking about one if you haven't already. The double breasted jacket creates a very specific silhouette that's more formal and more dramatic than a single breasted equivalent and that drama is the point. It suits a certain physical type more naturally than others. Taller men with a defined waist tend to wear it most naturally. Shorter men can make it work but need to be more careful about the button stance and lapel width. Keeping it buttoned is important with a double breasted jacket because wearing it open defeats the purpose of the silhouette. A peak lapel double breasted in navy or charcoal is the classic interpretation and it's classic because it's genuinely excellent.

Browse Double Breasted Suits

22 items

Dress Shirts

The dress shirt is where a lot of men make quiet compromises that have louder consequences than they realise. An ill fitting dress shirt with a collar that gaps or sleeves that are the wrong length undermines everything that goes over it including even a very good suit. The fit points that matter most are the collar which should close comfortably without pulling and without a gap when buttoned and the sleeve length which should allow about an inch and a half of cuff to show below the jacket sleeve. Beyond fit the fabric matters more than most men appreciate. A proper cotton poplin or twill shirt has a weight and a drape that cheaper synthetic blends simply don't replicate and the difference is visible especially under lights. White and pale blue are the two colours that work with everything and if you only have two dress shirts in your life they should be one of each.

Browse Dress Shirts

50 items

Grey Suits

Grey sits alongside navy and charcoal in the triumvirate of suit colours that form the foundation of a proper professional wardrobe and what grey offers that the others don't is a certain softness and approachability that darker colours don't quite have. A mid grey suit reads as authoritative without being intimidating which makes it very useful for situations where you want to project competence without stiffness. It also works beautifully with a wider range of accessories than most other suit colours. Pink shirts look excellent with grey in a way they don't quite work with navy. Brown accessories that feel slightly off with charcoal work brilliantly with lighter greys. The range of tie colours that work is broader too. If you're building a two suit wardrobe and already have a navy or charcoal a grey is almost certainly the right second choice for the versatility it adds to everything you can do with both.

Browse Grey Suits

37 items

Linen Suits

The linen suit is one of those pieces that only works in specific conditions and knowing those conditions is most of the battle. It's a warm weather suit and it behaves accordingly. In the right context which is summer weddings and garden parties and holidays somewhere that justifies it it looks genuinely brilliant. Relaxed and considered at the same time. The kind of thing that reads as effortless because the fabric itself is doing a lot of the work. Outside that context and particularly in cooler temperatures linen loses something and the creasing that looks charming in a garden in July looks like you slept in it on a Tuesday in October. The creasing is worth accepting as part of the deal rather than fighting against because trying to keep linen perfectly pressed defeats the purpose of wearing it. A natural or off white linen suit with a simple open collar shirt and loafers is the combination we keep coming back to because it's genuinely hard to improve on.

Browse Linen Suits

47 items

Navy Suits

The navy suit is where we'd tell almost everyone to start when building a suit wardrobe because it covers more ground more convincingly than any other single colour. It works in formal professional settings with a white shirt and a conservative tie. It works for weddings and smart events with a pale blue shirt and no tie. It works in more creative environments with a knit underneath instead of a shirt. The range of shoe colours it accommodates is broader than any other suit too. Black works. Brown works. Burgundy works particularly well. Even a clean white trainer works with the right navy suit in the right context. The shade of navy matters more than people think. A mid navy is more versatile than a very dark navy which starts to approach black and loses some of the warmth. A fine wool or wool blend in mid navy is as close to a universally correct suit purchase as we can recommend.

Browse Navy Suits

22 items

Pinstripe Suits

The pinstripe suit carries certain associations from its history in traditional British business and finance that have made it feel slightly charged as a style choice in a way that plain suits don't. Some of that charge has dissipated as suiting has become more relaxed generally but it's worth understanding what you're working with. A subtle fine stripe reads as classic and authoritative without being particularly bold. A wider more pronounced stripe is more of a statement and sits in slightly more fashion conscious territory. We love a navy pinstripe with a white shirt and a simple knit tie for something that acknowledges the classic references while keeping the overall look contemporary. The key is not doubling down on the traditional associations by adding everything that goes with them historically. One nod to the classic and the rest kept current.

Browse Pinstripe Suits

48 items

Slim Fit Suits

Slim fit suiting dominated menswear for a good decade and is now in the interesting position of being neither the progressive choice it once was nor the outdated one it risks becoming which means the current moment is actually a good one to wear it if the proportions are genuinely right for your body. The slim fit works brilliantly on men who are naturally lean through the torso because the cut follows the body rather than creating a shape artificially. On men who carry more width it can create compression and discomfort and that discomfort shows in how you hold yourself. If slim fit works for you it's a genuinely sharp option that looks neat and intentional. If you find yourself tugging at the jacket or unable to button it comfortably without restriction it's worth looking at a more contemporary regular or relaxed fit which is where a lot of the more interesting suiting is happening right now anyway.

Browse Slim Fit Suits

50 items

Suits

Owning a suit that actually fits properly and that you feel good in is one of those things that sounds basic but that a surprising number of men have never quite achieved. We've met men who've owned suits for years that they fundamentally didn't like wearing because something was always slightly off about them and they'd just assumed that's what suits felt like. It doesn't have to. A well fitting suit in a good fabric makes you feel like a different version of yourself in the best possible way. The foundation principles are consistent regardless of style or price point. Shoulders that sit correctly on your actual shoulders. A jacket length that covers your seat. Trousers that break cleanly at the shoe without pooling. Sleeves that show a little shirt cuff. Get those things right and you have something that works regardless of what it cost. Get them wrong and no amount of expensive fabric saves it.

Browse Suits

10 items

Summer Suits

The summer suit solves a specific problem that regular suiting doesn't which is how to look properly dressed when the temperature has risen to the point where wool feels like a punishment. The answer is fabric and weight. Linen has the most breathability but creases enthusiastically. Cotton and cotton blends are more crease resistant and still significantly cooler than wool. Fresco weaves in lightweight wool offer the best of both worlds if you can stretch to them but they're a more specialist purchase. Beyond fabric the summer suit tends to work better in lighter colours than winter suiting. Stone beige cream mid blue and lighter greys all work in a way that feels appropriate to the season. A summer suit in a lighter colour with a linen or cotton shirt and loafers is the warm weather formal look that requires the least effort to pull off convincingly and rewards the least amount of overthinking.

Browse Summer Suits

17 items

Three Piece Suits

The three piece suit is a commitment that most modern men make only for very specific occasions and that specific occasion quality is actually part of what makes it so effective when deployed correctly. It reads as significantly more formal and more deliberate than a two piece and that formality commands attention in situations where that's what you want. The waistcoat does particular work for men who find jacket sleeves slightly awkward because it gives you something to do with the jacket off that maintains the formal register of the outfit. The key with a three piece is keeping everything else extremely clean. This isn't the outfit for interesting accessories or experimental shirt choices. White shirt good tie clean pocket square and footwear that takes the occasion seriously. Let the suit be the thing because it's already doing a lot.

Browse Three Piece Suits

16 items

Tuxedos

The tuxedo is the piece most men own once and then slightly dread wearing because they're not entirely sure they're doing it right. The rules around black tie are actually quite clear once you know them and that clarity is reassuring. Black dinner jacket with satin or grosgrain lapels. Matching trousers with a single stripe down the side seam. White formal shirt with a placket front or bib. Black bow tie that you've actually tied yourself rather than a clip on because anyone who cares about these things will notice. Black patent leather or highly polished plain shoes. The instinct to personalise with coloured bow ties or novelty cufflinks is almost always worth resisting because the tuxedo looks best when the conventions are observed rather than worked around. If you're going to invest in one buy the best you can manage because you'll wear it repeatedly over many years.

Browse Tuxedos

12 items

Tweed Suits

Tweed is one of those fabrics that does something very specific very well and understanding that specificity is the key to wearing it convincingly. It's a cold weather fabric with a distinctly British character and those two things together make it perfect for certain occasions and wrong for most others. A tweed suit works brilliantly for country occasions in autumn and winter. Shooting weekends. Outdoor events in colder months. Anywhere that the setting is rural or traditional enough that the associations of the fabric feel appropriate rather than affected. In urban settings tweed suits require more confidence and more careful styling to avoid looking like you've come from somewhere else entirely. A more modern cut in a lighter tweed pattern with contemporary accessories is the way to make it work in city contexts without leaning too hard into the country house aesthetic.

Browse Tweed Suits

25 items

Two Piece Suits

The two piece suit is the foundation of professional dressing for most men and the reason it's held this position for so long is that it genuinely works across a wider range of situations than almost any other garment combination. The jacket can separate from the trousers and work as a blazer over different trousers. The trousers can work with a different jacket or a knit. When they're together they create a coherent formal look. This versatility is worth thinking about when you're buying because a suit where the jacket and trousers have some independence of usefulness gives you significantly more value from a single purchase. A mid navy or charcoal two piece in fine wool that's well fitted is the closest thing men's wardrobes have to a foundational piece and it's one of those purchases where spending properly once is dramatically better than replacing something cheaper every few years.

Browse Two Piece Suits