The Sack Suit

The sack suit, or business suit, (or, in Britain, the "lounge suit") was leisure wear for men who might wear a frock coat, and the best clothes of vast majority of American men. A banker would wear a sack suit to a picnic, and a cowboy or farmer would wear it to church.

It first came into fashion in the 1850s as a very large, baggy garment, and then became more fitted in the '60s and beyond. It evolved into the modern three piece suit.

Its popularity was assured by the fact that it could be purchased, ready made, at prices working men could afford.

The most common colors were black or gray, and the pieces usually, but not always, matched. They could be almost any color though, and plaid was particularly popular.

The coat usually had four buttons, the top one of which was generally buttoned--the rest left undone.

The gentleman on the left is breaking the rule of matching trousers and upper garments, and is in fact wearing the striped gray tousers which one is supposed to wear with a morning or frock suit. Since he is also wearing a white tie, he may be a member of a wedding party, and this is his way of "dressing up" his ordinary sack suit, or maybe he is a just an American and doesn't worry too much about "the rules".

Note the splendid tall crowned bowler hat (typical of the late '70s and 1880s), the watch chain attached to one of the top vest buttons, the vest cut straight across the waist, and the bone, wood or gutta-percha (gavinized rubber) buttons. On frock or morning coats, the buttons were usually covered in silk or other fabric, while they were usually uncovered on sack suits.