Film's best suit

Posted Oct 29th 2006 at 9:19AM by Anne Metz (Subscribe to Anne Metz's posts)

Filed under: CELEBRITY STYLE, Fashion, Celebrity, News, Stylish Living

GQ Magazine recently named the three-button suit worn by Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 thriller "North by Northwest" as the best suit in film history. The ventless, tailored suit has been copied countless times by film actors (Tom Cruise in "Collateral" and Ben Affleck in "Paycheck") and designers alike. I'm happy to see that the best suit in film history is a gray suit, versus say, the black suit that Marcello Mastroianni wore in the film "8 1/2". Why? Well, if that particular suit was the greatest suit in film history, I think that men would be mislead into thinking that they should start wearing black suits. Black suits are for funerals, my friends. Gray suits -- and brown and blue -- are for everything else.

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Tags: cary grant, CaryGrant, cinematical, men, suits

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)

Patrick hardy 10-31-2006 @ 2:13PM

Do you honestly think that that suit would have looked anywhere near as good on anyone OTHER THAN Cary Grant?!

judi rhodes 10-31-2006 @ 2:16PM

u cannot beat the suit no way, no how. and there will NEVER be replacements for the older, but outstanding actors!!! judi

Howard 11-01-2006 @ 7:56AM

Almost anything worn by Fred Astaire can compete. Astaire and Grant were clearly co-number ones in the style categoty.

Thelma Chris 10-31-2006 @ 2:28PM

I knew it was Cary Grant before I read it, it's nice to be right once in a while.

LAWRENCE 10-31-2006 @ 3:27PM

The suit worn by Michael Rennie in the 1951 classic 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' was no slouch either. Also, the suit worn by Michael Douglas in the movie 'Disclosure' (in the elevator scene with Donal Sutherland) was a pretty decent.

Kimla 10-31-2006 @ 2:44PM

James Cagney was always best suited in my opinion.

Janice 10-31-2006 @ 2:40PM

I agree with Patrick, that suit looks great because of Mr. Grant. :)

Fran 10-31-2006 @ 2:41PM

I never noticed that suit before.

Nadine 10-31-2006 @ 2:43PM

I'm kind of partial to that long-tailed jacket Rhett Butler wore in Gone With the Wind when he said that infamous "Frankly" line......sigh.....

Gordon 10-31-2006 @ 3:21PM

Who decided that black suits for men are only for funerals?
You've got to be kidding! Further the image on my screen of
Cary Grant has him wearing a dk blue suit.

Maurice Goodman., Jr. 10-31-2006 @ 2:42PM

Interesting , particularly, the fact that the suit did NOT have a center vent. The vent became a staple mostly because Brooks Brois. and J. Press and opther college suppliers used it, but the vent of both single and double varieties had exactly ONE purpose. It was so that the jacket might be used on horseback. It made the jacket for "sporting".

By the same token, the flap on a pocket was for informal, sporting clothing. A proper...even today...man's suit coat has NO flap and no vent.

People may say that the vent makes the coat less prone to wrinkle when one sits, but that is, FACTUALLY, EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE.

Similarly, the slip-on patent leather shoe one sees that men wear, is intended as "at home" informal wear withu a tuxedo or "black tie" suit, called informal on iovitations of the past. Formal always meant white tie and tails with which you wore shoes for out of the house, not slippers, patent or not.

ed rosenblum 10-31-2006 @ 2:46PM

Re: black suits are for funerals: does that go for women's basic black outfits? Or is just another sexist limitation on men?

Elizabeth 11-01-2006 @ 5:13AM

if it was just the fact he was wearing it (don't get me wrong it did help) then why that suit? he wore hundreds of suits in loads and loads of different films.

Cassondra 10-31-2006 @ 3:00PM

Who cares? The bottom line is always the man, not just the suit. If the man wears the suit well, it really doesn't matter. I know Cary Grant made the suit, the suit definitely did not make the man.

ed rosenblum 10-31-2006 @ 2:52PM

Nadine, comment #4, may be interested to know that Rhett Butler's long jacket was the inspiration for the "zoot suit" style of the early World War II era.

Elizabeth 11-01-2006 @ 5:12AM

who says black is only for funerals.....sorta like white being only for a bride and offwhite for someone who has been married before? come on... how many virgins do you know that wed? so I am thinking black should also be worn by brides too...

Pauline Harold 10-31-2006 @ 2:51PM

What about a red suit? Our Pastor has a really red suit he plans to wear on his birthday.....he is famous for his up-scaled & most outstanding suits! I am sure he will pull this one off in style too. He is something else, but we wouldn't have him be any other way, he is really special. & He deserves a new RED suit.....!!!! But I gotta see this.....!!!!!! I wouldn't miss that Sunday for anything in the world......!!!!!!

FRANCES DZURIS 10-31-2006 @ 2:58PM

TIME TO RE-WRITE THE DRESS CODE FOR MEN AND WOMEN AND GET RID OF THE DUMB BLACK AND WHITE RULES. BLACK SUITS FOR FUNERALS AND WHITE SHOES ONLY BETWEEN MEMORIAL DAY AND LABOR DAY ARE SIGNS OF THE PAST. OUR DAILY LIVES ARE MOVING TOO FAST FOR QUAINT RULES LIKE THESE.