Back to Braces

A fashionable executive lift

Suspenders hold up a lot of history. First worn by French aristocrats in the court of Louis XVI, they were considered a mark of the well-dressed American man from colonial times to the early 20th century. As late as 1910 it was difficult to buy a pair of trousers with belt loops. But when World War I doughboys came marching home, they wore coarse yarn belts, and by the late 1920s the popularity of suspenders began to wane.

Now a budding revival of suspenders is under way. Businessmen, lawyers, brokers and investment bankers are returning to the old way of holding up their pants. Evidence of the resurgence can be seen on Market Street in San Francisco, in Chicago's financial district and in the environs of Wall Street. The nomenclature, however, has changed. The preferred term these days, borrowed from the British, is braces.

The renaissance is taking place among a group of men best known for their slavish adherence to the standard, pinstriped uniform of business. But with the stock market up and recovery proceeding, some executives are looking for a way to be discreetly dashing. Robert Greenhill, head of investment banking at Morgan Stanley, sports a pair festooned with yellow dollar signs. Well he might. Greenhill has negotiated more than $25 billion worth of deals in the past five years. At rival Goldman Sachs, Merger Specialist Peter Sachs also wears brightly colored braces.

Some suspender wearers go for out-and-out flash. Lewis Preston, chairman of Morgan Guaranty Trust, wears a pair of bright red braces. Even at Brooks Brothers, the citadel of conservative fashion, suspenders can be found in 28 different colors, from canary yellow to wild pink. Says Assistant Buyer Karen Clark: "Braces are one way these men can be kind of crazy within a perfectly acceptable realm. It allows them a bit of individuality."

The return to suspenders has also been spurred by changing fashions. Designers of more traditional men's clothing such as Ralph Lauren and Alan Flusser have popularized pants with a double front pleat. Explains Allan Ellinger, president of Alan Flusser Inc.: "The only way to make pleated trousers drape properly is to use braces."

Any man considering a switch to suspenders must be prepared to make a financial investment. Good-quality braces start at around $18 and go up to $75 for embroidered silk ones. Many wearers have a pair for each suit. Furthermore, a classic set of suspenders must be anchored by six buttons affixed to the inner waistband of the trousers. Using metal clips to hold up one's pants is considered only slightly less outre than wearing a pair of white socks with a business suit.

John Fedders, the 6-ft. 10-in. head of the enforcement division of the Securities and Exchange Commission, is a strong advocate of braces and calls belts "decadent." Fedders, who has been wearing suspenders since graduating from law school in 1966, even has a snap-on red pair for his blue jeans. Says he: "When I get to a meeting and want to attract attention, I'll just casually let my coat fall open, and instantaneously someone will comment on them."

In a less permissive era, showing one's suspenders was considered unseemly. Not so today. When Drugstore Magnate Lewis Lehrman ran for Governor of New York last year, his political trademark was a prominently displayed set of fire-engine red ones. Lehrman lost, but he is sticking with his red suspenders. After all, he says, "they hold my pants up." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.