( CNN ) -- The seersucker suit is having a moment . Recently worn by the likes of Jay Z , Kanye West , and Leonardo DiCaprio ( as designed by Brooks Brothers in the movie `` The Great Gatsby '' ) , seersucker has jumped out of its humble beginnings and into the modern dandy 's closet . And if you think seersucker will make you look like Colonel Sanders , Trent Lott or some preppie named Biff , it 's time to think again . The hip hop world and famous athletes are leading the modern seersucker movement , said Esquire 's fashion market editor Nic Screws . Instead of wearing a frumpy seersucker suit , these men are tailoring their summer wear to show off their physique , she said . `` I think seersucker is always having a moment during the hot months , '' she said . `` The reason it seems like a trend is that menswear ( now ) has guys upping their game . '' Men have become bolder in their fashion experimentation , Screws said , and are now willing to take on a fabric that is fashionably more advanced than chino or denim . This season 's advances with seersucker include shoes , bags and belts , she said . Menswear `` is a lot more aspirational than it 's been in a long time , '' she said over the phone from Esquire 's 80th anniversary October cover photo shoot . Seersucker is one of a handful of fabrics -- like denim and jersey -- that has cultivated a distinctly American identity . Even though the fabric has ancient roots in Persia and India -- its name derived from a phrase that translates as `` milk and sugar '' -- it has been used to outfit men ( and women ) up and down the U.S. East and Gulf coasts for more than a century , according to Brooks Brothers ' in-house historian , Kelly Nickel . In America , seersucker started out as a blue-collar fabric , used by service staff and factory workers to cope with soaring temperatures in and out of pre-air conditioned buildings . But an interesting social phenomenon happened in the 1920s , thanks to the advent of the seersucker suit , as popularized by Ivy Leaguers and high society men outfitted in Haspel and Brooks Brothers . Haspel of New Orleans lays a claim to originating the seersucker suit , circa 1909 . Joseph Haspel had a business producing seersucker overalls for Louisiana factory workers at the turn of the 20th century , when he put his sewing skills into a practical and stylish suit . In a flamboyant sales pitch , Haspel wore his seersucker suit to the beach , jumped into the ocean and was dry by dinner , said his great granddaughter and current president of the company Laurie Aronson . `` We 're the originators , not the imitators , '' she said . `` Haspel still does it best . '' Brooks Brothers started selling seersucker suits in the 1920s , said Nickel . While the origin of the seersucker suit may lay with Haspel , Brooks Brothers is the one who popularized it , she said . Both companies ' classic takes on the seersucker suit have left an indelible impression in this country about what a seersucker suit should look like . The most iconic image of the outfit comes in the form of Gregory Peck 's turn as Atticus Finch in the 1962 film `` To Kill a Mockingbird . '' While defending field hand Tom Robinson , Finch wears a three-piece seersucker suit in a hot courtroom . Aronson 's grandfather personally fitted Peck in a Haspel suit for the role . That iconic look , said Screws , is all about nipping and tucking in the right places . `` It 's about showing off your waist , having the right length , showing a little bit of sock , showing a little bit of ankle , making sure you have the right amount of cuff hanging out of your jacket , '' she said . The 1980s helped develop the association of seersucker with Northeastern preppies , said Nickel . The look emphasized seersucker in a pastel rainbow of colors , even as plaid , festooned with outrageously colored socks and polo shirts . Author Tom Wolfe 's `` go to hell pants '' epitomized the brazen use of seersucker in this fashion movement . When Trent Lott organized `` Seersucker Thursdays '' in the Senate in 1990s , plenty of senators -- men and women -- joined in the tradition . Billy Reid , a Southern gentleman and fashion designer based in Florence , Alabama , prefers the classic approach . `` I prefer to keep it simple , '' Reid said . `` Solid shirts and subtle ties , belts and shoes that compliment not scream out . The seersucker is a enough to make your statement . '' `` Seersucker is not something that whispers , '' Nickel said .
Frumpy , boxy seersucker is out , and seersucker is in . They are boldly new in fashion , using seersucker in new ways . He and his Brothers helped with the cool fabric .