--- title: Tom Wolfe Dies at 88: Why the Writer Wore White Suits description: The author was known for his signature white suit—a look that came about by accident. "It has done me so much good," he said of the style. canonical: https://time.com/5278215/tom-wolfe-white-suits/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-15T20:11:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:57:50.174Z article:section: History og:title: Tom Wolfe Dies at 88: Why the Writer Wore White Suits og:description: "It has done me so much good," he said of the style og:url: https://time.com/5278215/tom-wolfe-white-suits/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd8a0068f549f8a5/69893072929fad547cbf08e5/wolfe.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Tom Wolfe og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tom Wolfe Dies at 88: Why the Writer Wore White Suits twitter:description: "It has done me so much good," he said of the style twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd8a0068f549f8a5/69893072929fad547cbf08e5/wolfe.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Tom Wolfe First Started Wearing His Signature White Suit  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. May 15, 2018 8:11 PM UTC  Author Tom Wolfe in his Upper East Side apartment in New York City on Oct. 21, 2004 Author Tom Wolfe in his Upper East Side apartment in New York City on Oct. 21, 2004Corio—Redferns/Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. May 15, 2018 8:11 PM UTC The novelist and journalist Tom Wolfe, who [died on Monday at age 88](http://time.com/5277987/writer-tom-wolfe-dies-87/), will be remembered for his impact on the development of the New Journalism, his inimitable — though oft-imitated — writing style and his incisive ability to define the culture he observed. But the author of such classics as _The Right Stuff_ and _The Bonfire of the Vanities_ will be remembered for something else, too: his suit. For decades, Wolfe had been known for wearing an outfit TIME once [described](http://time.com/vault/issue/1998-11-02/spread/92/) as “a trademark white suit and vest, a high-necked blue-and-white-striped shirt complemented by a creamy silk necktie.” He might be caught in other outfits — a tux or summer seersucker, or the blue blazer with which [he flew under the radar](http://time.com/vault/issue/2004-11-08/page/91/) while touring colleges to collect material for his 2004 novel _I Am Charlotte Simmons —_ but the white suit was essential. He’s wearing the white suit in his [portrait](http://npg.si.edu/object/npg%5FNPG.2003.23) at the National Portrait Gallery, and he’s doubtless wearing the white suit in any fan’s mental picture of him.  Everett Raymond Kinstler's potrait of Tom Wolfe, seen at the National Portrait Gallery in 2006 Chris Maddaloni—CQ-Roll Call,Inc./Getty Images And, as it turns out, the story behind the white suit is essential Wolfe too. In a 1989 Q&A with TIME’s Bonnie Angelo, Wolfe [explained](http://time.com/vault/issue/1989-02-13/spread/108/) how the look came about: --- > “” --- His happy attitude toward being associated with his clothing continued throughout his life. In 2008, in [a Q&A with TIME readers](http://time.com/vault/issue/2008-09-08/page/6/), the writer — who also [described](http://time.com/vault/issue/1998-11-02/spread/94/) window shopping as his primary hobby — took a query about whether he ever got tired for being known for the way he dressed. Quite to the contrary, he answered. “It has done me so much good. Not long after I published my first book, I quickly found I was terrible at being interviewed,” he said. “But then I’d read the piece and it would say, ‘What an interesting man; he wears white suits.’ And so it was a good 10 years where the suits were a substitute for a personality.” Although few today would remember Wolfe as a man without a personality, his observation still holds true: those who write about him cannot resist mentioning the white suits. 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