Wedding season causes enough migraines as it is—booking flights and hotels, finding the right gifts, making sure nothing too nefarious happens at the bachelor parties—before you even start to consider what you’re going to wear. So how about we go ahead and strike that from your to-do list altogether? Below, we’ve rounded up eight superior lightweight suits that’ll help you to keep cool in the face of outdoor nuptial heat waves and late-night dance floor wildness. Tailored from breathable fabrics with minimal lining, all of these are neutral enough to handle a summer’s worth of fit combinations—from aloha shirts to vintage polos to good ol’ fashioned button-downs and ties—so they’ll never see you in the same thing twice. Oh, yeah, and did we mention a whole lot of ’em clock in at well under $1,000? Save your dough for the post-reception bar.
The Leveled-Up Linen Suit
In the wrong hands, linen suits can be all kinds of terrible: baggy, sack-like, as unflattering as it gets. You know exactly the type we’re talking about, because your swagless cousin Dale probably got married in one at a resort somewhere in the Caribbean, and his wedding photos all look like this. Well, Todd Snyder has just about the surest hands in menswear, with a knack for making clothes that are reliably handsome and accessible, splitting the difference between of-the-moment and timeless. Applied to a linen suit, that means a trim two-button cut that’s structured enough to wear to work, while still embracing the texture and character of the fabric itself. If only Dale had copped one of these instead.
The Rule-Breaking Suit
Listen, we’re not condoning pulling up to a tux-only affair rocking a short suit, patchwork or otherwise. But if the dress code skews a little more lax, why not take advantage of the opportunity to flex those calf gains? The key to pulling it off without drawing too much attention to yourself is making sure the rest of your outfit is as low-key as possible. A white shirt and black loafers will keep you from venturing into “for the LOLs” territory.
The Italian Summer Suit
Ever been to Milan in the summertime and marveled at all the perfectly sprezzed-out dudes whizzing by on Vespas without even a bead of sweat on their foreheads or a single hair out of place? This is the suit those guys are wearing: immaculately tailored from a luxe silk-cotton mix in timeless navy blue, with no padding to speak of and slightly wider-than-normal lapels. To go full Italiano, pair it with a crisp white shirt, a subtle tie, and a piping hot shot of espresso.
The Office-Ready Suit
Kingsman’s razor-sharp suit might be cut from the same breezy fabric as your everyday chinos, but the classic Savile Row flourishes—strong shoulders, ticket pocket, waist-hugging fit—are all class.
The Southern Prepster Suit
No warm weather suiting roundup would be complete without some seersucker, the puckered, ultra-light cotton that natty Southern lawyers and buttoned-up Ivy League kids have worn to keep cool for generations. And J.Crew’s take—an unlined, unstructured version of their classic Ludlow suit—is even breezier than normal. If you have any reservations about pulling off those blue-and-cream stripes (you absolutely can), the mind-boggling sub-$300 pricepoint should at least make it easier to take the leap.
Four More Wedding-Ready Suits We Love
The durable cotton ripstop you’d typically find on military-inspired gear has officially made its way to the highest echelons of the tailoring space: the double-breasted suit.
8 out of 10 scientists agree: even when done up in an easy-wearing, lightweight cotton, a Tom Ford suit will make you look like a movie star.
A suit ready-made for far-flung destination weddings, on the beach or at a painfully scenic desert oasis.
Your go-to shirts, shorts, and swim trunks all come in bright, saturated hues this season. Why shouldn’t your suit too?
