Suit
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.
Artwork Details
- Title: Suit
- Department Store: Lord & Taylor (American, founded 1826)
- Date: 1950
- Culture: American
- Medium: wool
- Credit Line: Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Robert Riley, 1964
- Object Number: 2009.300.877a, b
- Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute
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1900–1902
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ca. 1900
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1950s
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