derek guy@dieworkwear
I encounter this attitude a lot here, and it demonstrates a great ignorance of one's own history. The suit certainly has something to do with white culture, but it's not wholly about white culture.
Depending on how you want to trace the origins of the suit, you can date it back to the 18th century, when Beau Brummell, widely recognized as the first dandy, set a new standard for men's dress. He advocated for a more simplified look, which stood in contrast to the fops of his day. He famously said, "If John Bull turns around to look at you, you are not well dressed; but either too stiff, too tight, or too fashionable." In the illustration above, you can see him wearing a dark coat with a white shirt and light-colored pants. You can see the same formula reflected today when men wear navy sport coats with tailored trousers in sober colors such as pearl grey or tan.
The suit later spread through the Second British Empire. "Cultural appropriation" would be a strange term to describe a uniform that was essentially imposed on people, especially those who worked in fields such as finance and law. (Look up early photos of Mahatma Gandhi as a lawyer).
The most remarkable thing about the suit is that it's the longest-running men's garment in modern history. It not only continued after the collapse of the Second British Empire—it thrived. This is partly because of the style's semiotics. The suit is relatively stable because it derives its traditions from the stability of British upper-class lifestyles. This is a world of mostly men’s activities, such as hunting, horse riding, a love for country homes and their comforts, London business meetings, military duty, and elite schooling.
But the suit is also much more than just white Anglo-Saxon culture. In the US, the classic American style was heavily shaped by Jewish tailors and clothiers, who worked in places such as the NY Garment District because they were not allowed into other trades.
For instance, J. Press was founded by a Latvian immigrant named Jacobi Press, who eschewed rabbinical studies to become a clothier. J. Press is famous for its soft-shouldered tailoring, Shaggy Dog sweaters, schoolboy scarves, and flap-pocket oxford-cloth button-downs. William F. Buckley above can be seen wearing a J Press shirt (you can tell by the flapped chest pocket).
And Kennedy? Whose image is often posted on blogs about WASP style? His tailor was also Jewish. He bought his clothes from Winston Tailors, who championed things like patchwork tweeds and kitschy ties during the heyday of Ivy Style. You would not be able to talk about the development of classic American tailoring without also talking about the contributions of Jewish clothiers and tailors, as they invented many of those styles. Even Brooks Brothers—the mothership when it comes to classic American men's dress—was owned for a time by the department store Garfinckel's, founded by a Jewish American named Julius Garfinckel.
Black jazz musicians, civil rights activists, poets, and authors also contributed to the look during the mid-20th century. I became interested in tailoring many decades ago because I was really into mid-century jazz and loved how artists such as John Coltrane and Miles Davis dressed. IMO, they're the ones that gave classic American style a sense of cool. The book Black Ivy by Jason Jules explores some of this history.
I can go on with other notable contributions from other groups, such as the zoot suits worn by Americans of Mexican, Filipino, and Japanese descent. But the point is that, even within just the history of the United States, tailoring is much richer than just "white culture." For decades, the suit was the lingua franca of men's style, worn by people of all backgrounds (racial, class, and creed). Each of those groups contributed much to the history of this garment, which is why it's so interesting.
