A statement in stripes: in London, the 'broker's suit' says confidence, but not to loudly.

Trans-Atlantic visitors to London's financial district are sometimes struck by the apparition of middle-aged men striding around purposefully in loud pinstripe suits. Are they Shemp Howard fans? No. They are "city gents," and they are wearing what is still sometimes referred to as the "broker's suit."

The pinstripe suit, once the uncontested badge of authority and affluence in the City, is still around. But according to those who remember its great days, it is not as numerous as it was. The predominant City color today for both men and women appears to be a subdued black, occasionally offset by an outsized umbrella with a corporate logo.

Max Justice, managing director of Couch & Hoskin Ltd. Bespoke Tailors, recalled that the pinstripe suit was pretty much of a uniform as late as the 1950s. Couch & Hoskin, founded in 1908 and located at 40 Eastcheap in the heart of the City, makes clothes to last, seeking to create customer relationships that run across generations. Suit prices start at 1,395 [pounds sterling] (about $2,267),"reflecting," Justice noted modestly, "excellent value."

Couch & Hoskin's clientele ranges in age from their late 20s to their late 50s. Justice said that the firm's admittedly high prices can deter young customers. But he said: "The younger guys that are making their way in the City, they like to look good when they are going about their business."

Justice, an inevitable student of social trends, said that the pinstripe suit has been coming back. He sees it as a sign of both confidence and seriousness of purpose. And he sees optimism all around him. The London financial world is doing very well.

Asked why people like the pinstripe look, Justice said: "It's an ego thing. They're confident. They want you to know it."

Justice also has seen a move from the two-button pinstripe to the three-button, "the three-button suit being a little more formal."

He said that the loud pinstripe began to fall from favor during the harsh economic climate of the 1980s, when senior financial executives, who were trimming payrolls, became reluctant to call attention to themselves.

"A lot of people were being fired," Justice said. "And obviously people wanted to be a bit low key while they were doing the firing."

Justice noted a similar change after Sept. 11, 2001, when casual business wear became unpopular. Casual dress, he said, was thought to be breeding a casual attitude, not good in such dangerous times. "People needed to smarten up, mentally and clothes-wise," he said.

He also believes that the ending of the military draft in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s helped end the day of the bowler hat. Military service, he said, had helped acclimatize future professionals to wearing headgear.

There is a difference, Justice noted, between the pinstripe, whose markings are made from pinhead-sized dots, and the much more aggressive chalk stripe, which "looks like somebody has drawn on it with chalk."

Justice often sells suits in pairs, a pinstripe and a plain one for less formal wear. He sometimes has to steer customers away from the very powerful stripes. Louder stripes, he said, can overwhelm people.

"To be honest," he said, "you have to have sort of a brave character to contemplate wearing that stuff."