--- title: On buying a suit author: George Mandis date: 2014-02-03 tags: post, post, suits, purchases ---

I made it all the way into my 30s without ever having need or want to purchase a suit, but today I can check it off the bucket list. It was in preparation for my friends' wedding this coming summer, but I chose something I could wear for any number of formal occasions.

A suit is a funny thing. It's the all-purpose formal wear for men, equally suited to take part in a wedding, a high-stakes business meeting, a social gathering or a funeral. And with this particular suit I might be able to get away with wearing it to all of those. It's my impression that women get to enjoy a wider variety of dress from occasion to occasion, but it's quite possible I'm generalizing and biased.

The weirdest component in my opinion has to be the necktie. It apparently seems to have originated from a 17th-century Croatian fashion accessory that caught the eye of the Parisians.  Hmm.

Now that I've taken the plunge and bought a suit I'm surprised to find how much I like it. Suddenly I find myself daydreaming about a second suit in my life... Though now that I actually know my measurements (another somewhat embarrassing, late-in-life thing to cross off the list) I'm considering getting in touch with my Serbian relatives and their men's clothing business to see if I could get something special put together and shipped.