The Suit as Criminal Workwear

The Suit as Criminal Workwear was the title of a conference paper presented at the Workwear symposium at Parsons School of Design in New York, USA in collaboration with the University of Arts London on February 13, 2010. This paper was based on the first chapter of a book commissioned by Reaktion Publishing, entitled Dark Looks; Style & Sub-cultures of the Criminal World. The paper recontextualised the role of men’s tailoring – specifically the suit – in the context of criminal identity, psychology and practice.