It wasn’t quite on the same level as Elvis Presley meeting then-US president Richard Nixon at the White House in 1970 but, in June 2021, pop star Justin Bieber and his wife, model Hailey Bieber, met French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, at the Élysée Palace in Paris.

Pictures of the unusual get-together, reportedly held at the request of Bieber, who was passing through the French capital, were posted to Macron’s Instagram account as well as the singer’s own, which has 187 million followers. For days, it was something of a trending topic on social media.

Quite aside from the oddity of the president and the singer mugging for the camera and discussing the latter’s tenuous-at-best French ancestry, the meeting was a source of much comment and column inches for the contrast in fashion.

While Macron wore a classically styled suit, Bieber reflected a mainstream, less formal way of suit-wearing today – his was relaxed cut, open-collared and, crucially, paired with sneakers.“Nowadays, wearing sneakers with a suit is not only acceptable but encouraged,” says Olie Arnold, a style director at menswear retailer Mr Porter. “I think this trend started when dressing codes of institutions and companies started to loosen, and people started to be more relaxed with their tailoring. Sneakers bring casualness to the suit while still respecting the dress code for work and, say, an intimate outdoor wedding occasion.”

Covid-19 notwithstanding, pairing a suit with sneakers, as Arnold says, is not uncommon. Plain leather sneakers offer a smart look for the wedding itself and comfort for the dancing portion of the reception. (Full confession: this writer wore a handmade navy Liverano & Liverano suit from Florence, Italy, with plain pale pink Nike Blazers for his pandemic wedding.)

‘The suit is not dead’: tailors adapt to the casual wear trend

“There have been many celebrities that rock this outfit well, like David Beckham, LeBron James, Idris Elba, Robert Downey Jr and Michael B Jordan,” says Vincent Fung, senior partner at Hong Kong tailor Refinery, who adds that sneakers have become an easy way to “disrupt” conventional fashion.

Fung says that, for him, the key to successfully pulling off the look is adhering to the mantra of “less is more”, like pairing a casual suit with plain white leather sneakers from Converse or Common Projects.

“Suits do not go well with dad sneakers on most occasions – the Balenciaga Triple S would be tricky to match with a suit,” says Arnold. “However, if you are going for the Travis Scott and A$AP Rocky kind of street style tailoring look, Air Force Ones, Air Jordans and Dunks would be acceptable. Remember to wear an unstructured suit that is more loose-fitting.”

But could the sneaker replace formal footwear altogether when it comes to suiting? No – there will always be dress codes where sneakers are verboten, such as black-tie events and funerals.

“[Sneakers are] not exactly ‘competition’ with formal footwear because there will always be a time and place for formal footwear which sneakers cannot replace,” says Fung. Plus, as with everything in fashion, sneakers with suiting are not immune to the cyclical nature of taste.

Despite the move before the pandemic towards dressing down at work, the suit-and-sneakers look is still largely frowned upon in many professions, from law practices and financial institutions to the civil service. However, post-pandemic, the increase in working from home could accelerate the trend. “As the world has a whole new dressing climate since 2020, I can only imagine a more casual and laid-back dressing style for men on most daily occasions,” says Arnold.

“The trend is going to stay and become more popular because there is a trend of dressing down in the workplace,” says Fung. “The great thing is that it means people can actually get more use and versatility from their suits, rather than [them] just sitting in the wardrobe collecting dust.”

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