Speaking about the history of men's suits; a suit is the traditional form of men's outfit in the Western countries. The modern suit appeared around the 19th century, but the suits originality has to be traced back to 17th century of the British King, Charles II. In the year 1666, as per the King Louis XI; his English court men need to wear a long coat, a waistcoat which is then called a petticoat, a wig, a neck tie which was called Cravat and knee breeches nothing but trousers and a hat. Then in early 1800s, the European men began to follow Brummel's style of clothing which included, well cut tailored suits with neckties. Later for the past four hundred years, suits with match coats, waistcoats and trousers have been in and out of fashion.

The modern suit originally was a 19th century English innovation in men's dress, usually meaning to the lounge suit that was only worn in the country and by the seaside. During that time, morning dress and frock coat garments were not suits, as they were worn with odd striped trousers; a matching trousers and waistcoat were considered informal, clothes described as such in the short-lived term "ditto suit". In North America, in the 19th century, for informal occasions, men used to wear morning dress in place of the formal frock coat suit. Thus, the lounge suit was informal dress reserved for recreation.

The lounge suit became much popular in the later 19th century as informal clothes to wear in town, until becoming the accepted alternative to the morning coat in the early 20th century. As the lounge suit became popular, all men would have at least one suit to wear to church; rich Victorian men continued to wear a frock coat to church. Before 1940, men preferred snugly-tailored coats and waistcoats; however, since then, the mainstream trend has been for sloppiness. The waistcoat or the vest was worn till the World War II when it vanished because of cloth rationing, returning in the post-war time, around 1970s, a tight-fitting adaptation of this suit style became associated with disco music and its culture, particularly popularized by the movie Saturday Night Fever. The tight three-piece suit was associated with the discothèque culture.

On the other hand, conservative styles of three-piece suits were popular in the early 1980s, but by 1985-86, three-piece suits were moving out and making way for cut double-breasted suits and standard two piece single-breasted. Towards the end of the 19th century, an informal evening version of the lounge suit raised in England, known as a 'dinner jacket' in British, in a dress code referred to as black tie. As soon as it was brought into United States, it was called as tuxedo. The dinner jacket was originally called 'dress lounge' in England to indicate that it was a lounge suit for evening wear. The 'dress lounge' was initially worn only for small private meetings with white tie. The 'dress lounge' slowly became more popular for larger events as an substitute to full evening dress in white tie. As black tie grew in reputation, it has become ever more acceptable as formal wear and today has all but replaced white tie, which today is only seen at ultra-formal occasions.