While working as a costume designer for over two decades, Chloe Chapin, Ph.D. ’23, often wondered how men’s clothes evolved from flamboyant to plain.
In her new book, “Suitable: The Sartorial Revolution and the Fashioning of Modern Men,” Chapin finds her answer in a 75-year period between the 18th and 19th centuries, during which Enlightenment ideas of liberty and equality helped give rise to the American and French revolutions.
In this edited interview, Chapin talks about the fashion of the founders and how their adoption of plain and dark suits came to symbolize American republican ideals of democracy and equality.
What sparked the idea for “Suitable”?
The idea was born during a conversation I had with actor Daniel Radcliffe in 2008 when he was starring in the Broadway play “Equus,” which I designed the costumes for. When I complimented the gorgeous midnight blue tuxedo he wore to the opening night party, he told me about the history of British royalty wearing midnight blue for formalwear, which I thought was so glamorous and fascinating.
