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Broken suits

Under a new dress code, MPs have been barred from wearing ‘broken suits’. Is that because Boris has been turning up with a busted trouser zip?

No, a broken suit simply means the trend for mismatched jacket and trousers – a look largely scuppered by Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle’s new ban on jeans and chinos and his insistence upon ‘business attire’. It comes after many men stopped wearing suits during lockdown – when meetings were held via video, you could dress for business on top and in leisurewear below.

The combo sounds awful, like Jeremy Clarkson in dad jeans and sports jacket…

Only if you do it badly. With carefully chosen separates, it should be possible to pull off a stylish appearance. The notion of broken suits has been a fashion theme for a few years, especially in Italy, where they have a word for it: spezzato.

How delightfully elegant. What does it mean?

Erm, ‘broken’… but everything sounds better in Italian! Strictly speaking, spezzato means matching the trousers of one suit and the jacket of another so it should still be smart. Stefano Pilati, the creative director at Ermenegildo Zegna, pioneered the look on the catwalk in 2014, wanting to move away from the uniform-style formality of matching jackets and trousers to something more individual but still dapper. The look has been widely adopted by the likes of David Beckham, below, and actor Ryan Gosling.

So how do we get the best combination?

The Gentleman’s Gazette advises against using very formal jackets or those with pinstripes, suggesting chequered or houndstooth designs work well. Also, stick to similar fabrics top and bottom.

And while the two parts should be from the same ‘colour family’, such as stone chinos with a taupe jacket, they ought to be different enough to emphasise that the suit is broken. If you’re feeling bold, add a waistcoat that matches one of the separates. But men’s style magazine GQ counsels: ‘Don’t overcomplicate with crazy patterns or a whimsical hat.’