The pinstripe suit used to be all about power. It’s time to reclaim it
Notorious devotees include Nigel Farage and Gordon Gekko-style bankers, but the fabric is finding a new life as part of the fashionable man’s wardrobe
Nigel Farage, who is now threatening to make an eighth bid to become an MP, was pictured this week in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, in his usual pinstripe suit. And he’s not the only one – the stripe is making a fashion comeback, but with a twist this time. Traditionally a sartorial by-word for power, the pinstripe has its origins in the banking world, worn as a way of distinguishing workers at different Victorian banks based on the distance between the thin white lines on their suits.
“The pinstripe is a very smart look, one really appropriate for business,” says Peter Smith, of the Savile Row tailors Richard Anderson. So, in wearing it, Farage is attempting to say that he means business.