WORDS
Nicholas Ross
While nuptials were largely neglected during the Covid pandemic, all the proverbial buses have started to arrive at once for subsequent wedding seasons. Facing this wave of celebrations, grooms and guests alike may crumple at the thought of what to wear. Thankfully, there are ways to outsource the decision or deliberate with a council of experts. For over two decades, the people at Favourbrook, the formalwear destination on Pall Mall, have dressed men for those biggest of days.
‘Last year was our best year yet,’ says Favourbrook founder Oliver Spencer, ‘and was for the most part driven by weddings. We saw an even mix of formal and more casual weddings, as well as the increasingly popular trend for black tie. A lot of grooms were also using black tie as an outfit change for the dinner-and-dancing element of the day, which is great since it brings an undeniable sense of old-school glamour.’
The brand’s speciality is the formal wedding, which features the traditional morning suit. Its most popular rendering consists of a black merino-wool tailcoat finishing behind the knees, grey cashmere-stripe dress trousers, and the sartorial trinity of waistcoat, tie and pocket square. Favourbrook makes the majority of its morning suits in London and produces some fantastic takes on this classic. These include a charcoal, two-piece morning suit and the two-piece, navy style it made for Royal Ascot two seasons ago.
That said, the morning suit offers limited scope for individuality. Which is where the trio of accessories comes in. These pieces of smart real estate provide opportunities for bold colours, intricate patterns, and statement-making fabrics such as silk and linen. And Favourbrook boasts one of the world’s largest collections of waistcoats, most of which it houses in its Piccadilly Arcade boutique.
A laid-back wedding, meanwhile, calls for the groom to wear a lounge suit, which most male guests will typically wear, too. ‘The key here is not to look as if you’ve just put on your work suit and spruced it up with a waistcoat,’ says Spencer. ‘For summer weddings in the UK, or anywhere for that matter, we would always suggest a linen suit. It’s a lightweight, breathable fabric that has a very natural drape to it.’
This season, Favourbrook has created a number of pastel-tone styles of lounge suit: from sky blue and pink, to stone grey and tobacco. And when it comes to black tie, Favourbrook is always ahead of the game. While it produces excellent versions of the classic black tuxedo set-up, it excels in modern twists on the theme, which can involve linen jackets with ornate floral embroidery or rich cotton-velvet styles. Whatever the dress code, there’s no doubt that Favourbrook will suit you.
Favourbrook, 16-17 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5LU; favourbrook.com