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Should a Man Buy a Black Suit - Men's Style Fashion Advice - When to wear 2-Piece Black
Suits
Hi. Iím Antonio Centeno, the founder of Real Men Real Style. And today Iím going to be
talking about the black suit.
All right. Thereís a lot of people out there who will say the black suit is something that
you shouldnít do, you shouldnít wear. Itís hard for me to take a stand on this because
I used to be in the camp of you do not wear a black suit. But having been a custom clothier
for a while now and seeing that itís still one of the most popular fabrics out there,
and having been exposed to a lot of me who actually look great in a black suit, even
during the day, even under unnatural indoor lighting, I have to say that for the right
man, the black suit is a great piece ñ is a great suit to own.
I still do not think it should be the first suit a man owns. Because I think a charcoal
gray or a navy is going to be a bit more visual, isnít going to be a stark with contrast.
But the fact is, it looks great on some men. So my answer, you know, whenever anyone asks
me you know, what do I think about the black suit, I say for the right man, itís one of
the top three suits you should own. But again, it has to be the right man.
So let me tell you about who that right man is and if you fit that description, great.
Consider it. If not, I would avoid it.
Okay. So the black fabric. Itís traditionally is a very formal fabric. You would see it
in evening wear. So you would see it in black tie, basically the tuxedo. Thatís where we
see black and wear it. You know, you do occasionally see tuxedos in midnight blue but black is
traditionally the fabric of evening wear. So thatís where thereís a bit of, you know,
people feel it needs to stay there.
Also a thing with black is itís for stark high contrast individuals. So you need to
have very dark hair. I mean my hair, I donít even think itís ñ well, I donít like my
black when I wear it because I donít feel that my hair to my skin, thereís enough contrast
there. Iím a medium contrast individual.
If youíve got really dark black hair, a lot of Italian men, it looks great on them because
they got that black hair, theyíve got that olive skin, a black suit looks amazing on
them. And theyíve got that color within their skin. So the black doesnít ñ because black
tends to suck out color and thatís why it looks great with a white shirt because youíve
got a ñ you know, where it reflects all color and then youíve got the black which is soaking
up all color. And that contrast right there is very powerful.
If youíre an Irish gentleman, youíve got letís say, black hair with lighter skin,
you can pull it off. But itís going to be a bit harder indoors and under unnatural lighting
conditions. It can pull a little bit too much color out of your skin. But if youíre wearing
a tie which has a little bit of vivid color, that will help.
So itís for formal wear. Thatís one of the argument thatís, you know, itís a bit dated
of an argument. The other one is the stark high contrast. This still applies. So if youíve
got red hair or light-colored hair, light-colored skin or basically, between your hair and your
face, thereís not a whole lot of contrast, youíve got medium-brown hair and reddish
skin, the black suit is probably something youíre going to want to avoid.
Itís just ñ I would go with lighter color. I mean a charcoal gray is going to be fine.
A medium gray is probably better, maybe great suit for you. But black almost just too much
to stark for a contrast, not going to be probably the best suit for you.
The other one that ñ and I started talking about it, is how black absorbs color. So if
youíre going to wear other, you know, other things with it, like a dress shirt, which
of course, youíre going to be hopefully be wearing a dress shirt with a blue or black
suit. But youíre going to want to pay attention to, is the black suit sucking some of the
color out of it? So youíre going to want to avoid a lot of the pastels. Theyíre just
going to make it almost look like an off-white which is not going to look right. Instead,
go for ñ the only thing you want to go with is either a white or go with then something
that has some strong color and that which can kind of offset that absorption that the
black does again.
And you can also pull it off with a tie so you could actually wear ñ you could wear
a pastel-colored shirt, a pastel is nothing more than a color that has a lot of white
in it, you could pull one of those off if it reflects well with the tie that youíre
wearing.
Another great thing about black, and why a lot of men are drawn to it, is it is one of
the most flattering colors for forming a very lean silhouette. So if youíre a little bit
heavier of a gentleman, if you got a little bit of weight in the mid-section, itís not
going to make you look thin, but what a black suit will do, is it will help trim you up.
It will not make you look fat.
So women know this in a little black dress, all that stuff. A black suit for certain men
under certain conditions, especially if it fits his body well, maybe he doesnít have
bends on the back, itís just really ñ itís a good fit there. When you look at the guy
head on, itís going to actually maybe build up the shoulders just a bit, tighten that
mid-section, heís going to look lean meat.
Okay. So whatís my final conclusion? What am IÖ
Ögoing to say about the black suit, again, for the right individual, the black suit,
one of the three suits that you should own and definitely you can pull off. Itís not
just for funerals, itís not just for weddings, you can ñ look at Tom Ford, the guy wears
and rocks a black suit, everywhere he goes, you know, whether heís walking down, you
know, the streets in New York City or he is Vegas, I mean the guy has always got that
black suit with that crisp white shirt with the high color, you know, color ends here,
it looks great.
And a lot of it is about confidence too. You know, donít ñ youíre going to read stuff
on forms, youíre going to read stuff on websites where people are going to, you know, tear
up the black suit. Again my opinion, if you have the right hair, if youíve got the right
contrast, go for it.
All right. Antonio Centeno with Real Men Real Style. If you enjoyed this video, make sure
to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Weíve got a lot of other videos out there that I
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