It's been a month for dark suits. First Barack Obama bagged the US presidency in his grey whistles (“I basically buy five of the same suit and then I patch them up and wear them repeatedly,” he said on the campaign trail); then there's Francis Bacon's exhibition at Tate Britain with its Man in Blue series of be-suited figures; and finally, brooding from the flank of every bus and from every billboard, we have Daniel Craig as 007 in a black two-piece, with white handkerchief in his breast pocket and open-collared white shirt, strolling through a bone-dry desert with his eagle-eye stare.

In all these cases the suit is designed to work as a symbol, hardwired to an archetype of masculinity. For the presidential candidate it represented the competence of an experienced professional, for Bacon it is the covering of that fleshy flesh of his vision of man, a second skin of male conformity, and for 007 it's his equivalent of cape and tights, the superhero costume that defines him as Her Majesty's finest gentleman spy. But while grey, blue and black suits all have a place in the modern wardrobe, it is the last that will serve you best at this time of year.

Alexandra Shulman, the Editor of British Vogue, once wrote: “Who can forget Audrey Hepburn in her little black shift dress as Breakfast at Tiffany's Holly Golightly?” Well, the little black dress, or LBD as it is known in the trade, has its male equivalent in the LBS, or little black suit. And, dare I say it, is even more versatile than the girls' version of this staple.

Yes, it works for the Christmas party, or even more formal events (Bond, we note, has swapped his Italian Brioni tux from the promotional poster for Casino Royale for an American Tom Ford lounge suit in Quantum of Solace). For black tie just add a white shirt and plain, er, black tie. This look, made famous by Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, has become known as Hollywood Black Tie and will pass muster at all but the most starchy gatherings. But then consider this: replace the black tie with a coloured one and you're transformed for the boardroom. Remove it altogether, à la Daniel Craig, and you can do office meeting, cocktail party, or fancy restaurant.

Dress it down completely by substituting a T-shirt (in black or white) for the shirt and you're ready for a fashionable outing. Add knit (a roll neck or crew neck or fine-gauged knitted polo shirt, in a dark, plain colour) and you'll look like a creative professional - an architect or advertising exec. Match your little black suit jacket with jeans and a white or black open-collared shirt and you'll resemble the designer Tom Ford himself, fit for any cool bar or nightclub.

The specifications of the LBS are important though. It should be single-breasted and up-to-date, with one or two buttons rather than the higher-fastening three-button style that was de rigueur in the Nineties. The cut should be sharp, with a gently defined shoulder and taper at the waist. Trousers are slim and have few pleats or are flat-fronted.

You can find this type of LBS at several places, from the top-end brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Giorgio Armani, Kilgour and, of course, Tom Ford, but it's also available at the more affordable end of the market, from labels such as Reiss and M&S Collezione. Now pay attention, 007....