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Even at the height of menswear's anything-goes era, the best slim suits for men held steady. Why? Simple: A good suit shouldn’t do any more than you ask of it. What does that mean, exactly? Also simple: A good suit should make you feel like you, but better—more upright, confident, handsome. Which also means it shouldn’t get in your way, in the form of garish patterns, off-kilter proportions, or any unwanted bells and whistles. As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it—and the suit hasn’t been broken since it was born, at least as we know it now, in the mid- to late-1800s. Sure, that’s a long time ago— Einstein was an infant, electric street lights were barely a thing, etc.—but the core principles remain the same.
Your suit should flatter, but, above all else, function. Which is why so many of the oversized or overly skinny options on the market today don’t make much sense. (They tend to do neither.) The slim-but-not-skinny suits below bend to modern sensibilities but do not break, giving all you slight fellas exactly what you should be shooting for in your tailoring: the unimpeachable ability to look wholly, effortlessly put-together no matter the circumstances.
So if you're on the hunt for the best slim suits for men, you landed at the right place and the right time: there’s a seemingly endless supply of options at the moment, and your pals at GQ Recommends found the only ones that matter. Pick your favorite, smash the ‘buy’ button, and then dial up your tailor to nail the fining touches.
Behold the suit that started it all: J.Crew’s ubiquitous Ludlow. For damn-near two decades, it was the default choice for office workers and wedding-goers across the country—and quite literally changed how men dress in the process. When the Ludlow was introduced way back in 2008, pencil-straight suits were all the rage, a la haute fashion options from designers like Hedi Slimane (more on him later) and Raf Simons. But it was J.Crew that made the silhouette palatable, bringing the look to the masses. If, somehow, you've made it this far without a Ludlow, you haven’t enjoyed the sheer bliss of plucking an alarmingly good (and alarmingly affordable) suit right off the rack and wearing it as is, on repeat, to every single formal event from there on out. Without the Ludlow, suits would look a whole lot different today—and your closet would be worse off for it.
Another Great No-Brainer Option: Boglioli (Read more here)
The biggest downside to a slimmer suit? If you're wearing one during the warmest months of the year, you’re less likely to feel the breeze blowing between the drape of your lapel and the upper rung of your (probably unbuttoned) shirt. The secret, then, is to rely on the fabric to do the heavy lifting—you'll want something that’ll keep you air-conditioner-cool in the aisles of an al fresco wedding but still comfortable when the sun sets on it. In other words, you'll want a suit exactly like Banana's Republic's nubby linen number, which is lightweight, laidback, and still looks killer with a crisp button-up and dark knit tie. When the vows have been exchanged and the ceremony's over, swap the dress shirt for a ribbed white tank or a silky camp shirt—the world is your linen-draped oyster.
Another Great Wedding Option: Ralph Lauren (Read more here)
To call Hedi Slimane the modern-day forefather of the slim suit is barely hyperbolic. First at Dior Homme and then Saint Laurent, where Slimane served as creative director during a pivotal four years in the 2010s, the French designer took the schlubby silhouettes of the aughts and cut them down to size—ushering in an era of slim-fit dominance in the process. Slimane may have taken his talents to Celine, but that doesn’t mean he’s stopped slingin’ his signature rock-god tailoring. Mercifully, the cut has loosened ever-so-slightly since his days at Saint Laurent, but all the trademark fixings remain: lightly padded shoulders to help you stand a little straighter, knife-sharp creases to help you look a little taller, and an aura of sex appeal less fancy—and less French—brands struggle to approximate. The whole kit will play nice with a vintage tee and derbies, but for best results, wear it exactly as Slimane intended: with a starched white shirt and vertiginous boots.
Another Great Designer Option: Prada (Read more here)
Picture this: It's the morning of a nerve-wracking presentation and you’re striding from the grand lobby of your office building into the elevator, nodding along to the corporate muzak on your way to the top. You step out into the glass-paneled corridor of your floor, colleagues abuzz, coffee a-brewin’. All eyes turn to you, the guy in the razor-sharp slim gray suit, looking for all intents and purposes like you own the whole skyscraper. You nail the presentation; a promotion follows. That, friends, is the power of Tom Ford's megawatt suiting, cut with a Savile Row tailor's eye for precision, and crafted from some of the swankiest fabrics on the planet. The designer's O'Connor suit offers all that and more, thanks to its structured shoulders, calculated length, and subtly rakish puppytooth pattern. Buy one and you'll start looking for excuses to break it out, presentations be damned.
Another Great C-Suite Option: Saman Amel (Read more here)
To non-GQ readers, bringing a suit on vacation might sound a little bizarre. But if you spend your time OOO exclusively in boardshorts, you’re missing out on the rush of saddling up to the hotel bar —ideally one outside, by the water—in a perfectly crisp suit, ordering a Tiki cocktail, and gazing out at the setting sun with the salty breeze blowing across your bare, sunburnt chest. Todd Snyder’s seersucker Sutton suit is the platonic choice to fulfill that fantasy, largely because it explicitly avoids “James Bond in a tropical setting" cosplay. Don't think of it as the fancy European sports car Bond inevitably wrecks fifteen minutes into the movie—think of it as a discreet upmarket sedan, one just as loaded with every available performance upgrade.
Another Great Vacation Option: Suitsupply (Read more here)
In a perfect world, if you put “high fashion corporate-core” into one of the newest AI image generators, you’d get this suit: single-breasted, subtly-striped, cut razor-sharp and with approximately zero extraneous details. It’s the perfect shade of black to fit in where black suits do their finest work—funerals and weddings, sure, but also the office, the front row of the latest Prada show, or a family gathering where you plan to flex so hard on your least-favorite cousin he leaves you alone until the next one.
Other brands have tried, other brands have failed: so goes the story when you try to replicate a signature Ralph Lauren concept. Close to sixty years after Ralph Lauren shocked menswear buyers with his wide, brash ties, the brand that bears his name stands alone in its ability to blend the ultra-casual and the high-end, yielding standout pieces like this lax-yet-cool, unstructured-yet-flattering chino suit, which is soft to the touch, slightly stretchy and, from afar, not all that distinguishable from more standard fare. But it's the details—like a fully-lined interior and a three-button finish—that set Ralph Lauren apart, and keep it on the throne of American fashion. Long may it reign.
If you’ve ever dreamed of dressing like the European bodyguard of an incredibly wealthy, low-profile foreign dignitary, Dries has you covered. You know the look: a suit so blue it almost looks black, finished with a certain sheen and worn with a dark dress shirt and black boots to, uh, boot. The legendary Antwerp Six designer takes his cues from that archetype but adds his own flair to the mix, not in the form of unnecessary details or vanity buttons, but in the shape of the suit itself: slim, trim, and positively emanating “fuck-around-and-find-out” energy.
For the sexiest rendition yet of the trusty navy suit, turn to the Swedish tailoring gurus at Saman Amel. Their expertly-cut herringbone number would sync up swell with suede loafers, a strong-collared dress shirt, and a swanky, candlelit dinner overlooking a sweeping seascape. (Not all that hard to find in Sweden, it turns out, despite popular misconception.) Like the garnish on a well-made cocktail, the slightly wider peak lapels offer a welcome dose of rakish energy; the base is fantastic as is, and then you’re left asking, “What is this?” as you rush to gulp it down. Refreshing, right? That’s this suit, baby. And you in it? A tall, fresh glass of Scandi water, too.
Spend a little too much time on Cigar-Tok (look it up), and you’ll fall down a deep rabbit hole of videos involving coastal hotels, high ceilings, gold-plated tools, custom matches, and laughably tiny coffee cups. The one upside? The guys in those videos are likely wearing something a lot like Suitsupply’s aptly-named Havana Suit. It’s crafted from a blend of wool, silk, and linen, making it ideal for at least three seasons, and the mid-brown tone with the nubby woven finish elevates it above more anodyne alternatives. Want to stand out at a summer wedding? Wear this.
A bold blue suit is never a bad idea, especially when it’s as effortlessly cool as the one made by the Italian suiting legends at Boglioli. Whether you rock it with a crisp white tee or a weathered denim shirt, you’ll master the subtle art of both blending in and standing out—a fine balance long understood by a certain British superspy. (Yes, we're talking about Bond…again.) And given the suit’s slim cut, you’ll look slimmer, too, thanks to a duo of flush pockets at both the hips and the chest. This one’s 100% wool, making it a better option for the fall and winter months, but that’s A-OK in our books. After all, what better way to cure your wintertime blues than with a grail-level blue suit?
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