Suit

Lord & Taylor

1950 · wool · Costume Institute

The gray flannel suit, like this one dated to 1950, became an icon of the post-World War II era focus on work and upward mobility, as men returning from war replaced their military uniforms with a corporate one. Sloan Wilson's 1955 novel, "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit," and the 1956 film of the same name portrayed this development as a constrictive, potentially destructive influence. The gray flannel suit became even more popular after the book's publication and publisher Simon and Schuster created life-size cardboard cutouts of the silhouetted man on the book's cover and distributed them to stores.

Artist

Lord & Taylor

Date

1950

Medium

wool

Culture

American

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Robert Riley, 1964