Meadow Brook Hall was finished in 1929: 88,000 square feet, 110 rooms, standing on what became Oakland University’s campus. Marry in a house like that and a question arrives with the date. Should the suit belong to the house, or to the man?
The case for 1929
It’s a real case. The building is one of the great American houses of its decade, the photographs are going to be full of it, and a three-piece with a watch chain would sit inside those rooms without a seam showing. Couples propose it every year and they aren’t being silly.
Why it still fails
Because the house is already doing that job, and doing it better than any suit can. Dress to 1929 and a groom becomes the second-most convincing period object in the frame, which is a losing position. He also has to wear the thing at a party, where the watch chain stops being a decision and starts being a costume his friends mention.
What to wear instead
The plainest dark suit he can find, cut close to him. Against 110 rooms of detail, plain reads as confident, and the contrast is what makes a photograph of a man in a great house rather than a photograph of a great house with a man in it. Half-canvassed, $300 to $500, gets the chest to hold that line all night.
Also for Rochester Hills: The Conservatory at the Royal Park: Light From Four Sides. More on wedding suits, or plan your visit to our Oak Park showroom.
