Functioning chic. “You have to suffer to be beautiful”. True? False? The truth lies in the middle. This slogan was coined by the USA clothing company Clipper Craft in 1960. It was surely incisive, but menswear, then, was so far to adopt fabrics and treatments apt to make classic wear practical and comfortable. Today this is possible, but we must distinguish between comfort and sloppiness: with sweatshirt and oversized jackets – unless you are under 18 – you’ll look like homeless. In hyper-traditional clothing, the sartorial one, it’s difficult (but not impossible) to find a match point between elegance and practicality. As an alternative, there’s a world too much hastily described as “casual” that, on the contrary, is chic and functioning at the same time. Look at the outfits I suggest you. They’re only one thousandth of what you can find in stores and represent a synthesis between classic, newness and comfort. Advertising of the USA clothing company Clipper Craft (1960).