Thread by @PulpLibrarian

Today in pulp I ask: is it time to bring back the leisure suit?

Let's find out... #SaturdayThoughts

Now we all know what a man's lounge suit is, but if we're honest it can be a bit... stuffy. Formal. Businesslike. Not what you'd wear 'in da club' as the young folks say.

So for many years tailors have been experimenting with less formal, but still upmarket gents attire. The sort of garb you could wear for both a high level business meeting AND for listening to the Moody Blues in an espresso bar. Something versatile.

What we needed was something tailored, well cut and snappy, yet also suitable for fun and relaxation with the boys. A 'leisure suit' if you will...

Now the idea of a 'leisure suit' started on the West coast of America after the war. Days were warm, life was relaxed, it was the atomic age so a more deconstructed kind of jacket worn with chinos seemed a better fit for those mid-modern times.

The Californians took inspiration from the English too. The safari suit was a staple of gent's attire in the warmer parts of the world and it showed you could still cut a handsome figure even without a tie.

By the early 70s the young radicals of the swinging 60s were getting into business jobs ("one word: plastics!") But they didn't want to be square. Surely there was something smart but casual these thirty-something white collar workers could wear to the office AND the golf club?

And so the modern leisure suit was born. A shirt-style jacket, worn with an open collar and matching pants. Crucially the colour would be plain: cream, pastel or block colour was the new look.

The raft of new man-made materials also make the leisure suit affordable. Polyester in particular seemed to fit the easy (but highly static) style that the 1970s was introducing into formal ware.

Jeans companies soon began diversifying into leisure suits in a big way, especially as the bottom seemed to be falling out of the traditional denim market.

And there were various different levels of casual you could buy. From the plain and simple zip jacket and flares combo...

...all the way up to pastel shirta acket and turned up cuff look. The leisure suit seemed to be the perfect option for the modern man about town.

But fashions change and by the late 1970s the baggy charm of the leisure suit was starting to wain.

I blame all those New Wave bands.

The successor to the leisure suit was the deconstructed silk suit and t-shirt combination of the 1980s. Sleeves rolled up of course!

But let's face it: when the weather's warm men everywhere will always yearn for a casual pastel combo to walk along the beach front in. Even if they live far inland. In a bungalow. In Scunthorpe.

So here's to the leisure suit: I'm sure its time will come again! After all what better way to stand out in a crowd?

When we're all allowed out again of course...