Is it even worth owning a suit if it fits me poorly?
(No.)
All right guys, hey, welcome back!
This is Style Tips for the Everyday Guy.
I'm Eric, and I'm here with our Lead Stylist from Cladwell, Alison.
(Hi).
And, today we're talking about how a suit should fit.
Really important topic.
And the first question I have for you - we were talking about this, and it kind of blew
me away was that we know a suit should fit.
And, it should fit the right way, but how important is it that it actually fits properly?
It's very important.
I would go as far as to say that a poorly fitting suit is the worst item that a man
could wear.
And, a good fitting suit is the best item that he could wear.
Wow.
So that, when you told me that, it blew me away.
It's a huge spectrum.
You can go from the worst look you can possibly wear as a man of an ill properly fitting suit
to the best look you can wear.
So, it's really important that we nail this down.
We talked a bit about how to do that - tailoring options, things like that.
And, I think that's a whole separate video to get into because there are a lot of options
there.
But in this video, we're going to get right into and show you guys how a suit should actually
look and fit on your body.
So, let's just start with the jacket.
And start at the top.
So, walk me through the shoulders, the back, the neck.
What should it look like?
Sure.
Well, starting across the shoulders, the biggest thing overall for the entire suit is that
it should be fairly snug, which I think makes people a little bit nervous.
But, it should be fairly snug, but you don't want it too tight to where it's pulling anywhere.
(Ok).
So, when it's across the shoulders, the thing to look for, especially over your shoulders
right here.
You don't want it too large to where it's extending pass the shoulder.
You want it fitting smoothly and flat over the curve of your shoulder.
A good way to tell that is if you are raising the arm of the blazer, or of the suit jacket
rather, if there is a deep crease across your are, then it's probably too tight.
Across the back, you don't want any pull lines across the shoulder blades.
Again, that means it's too tight within the shoulders.
And then, at the top of the jacket around the back, you want it to lay smoothly against
your shirt.
So, if you have a gap between the collar of the suit jacket and the collar of the shirt,
then that's no good.
It's probably too tight on you.
Ok.
So, form fit is really important, but not too restricting where you don't feel like
you can move your arms, your shoulders - that kind of thing.
Right, a good fitting suit should give you full mobility.
But because of that, to give you full mobility, it should be fairly form fitting to your body.
Great.
Yeah, we were talking about Fred Astaire.
If you picture him dancing in a suit, his suits were perfectly custom made for full
range of motion.
You might not be a Fred Astaire kind of dancer, but you can picture him in a suit, and what
that's like.
Ok, let's move down to the chest.
How should the chest fit well?
Again, it should fit very flat and smoothly across when you have it buttoned closed.
Some people will reference the "X", to avoid the "X", which is the pull lines you might
see.
If you see pull lines across your chest, than it's too tight.
(It's too tight, ok).
Ok great, let's move into the arms and then into the sleeves as well.
Sure.
Let's see.
The arms, again, you want it fairly form fitting, but you want to have room.
Most jackets are going to be layered over a dress shirt, perhaps a dress shirt and a
sweater.
So, you want to have room for that where it's comfortable, but not where it's baggy.
So, the length of the sleeve should hit about at the wrist or just above the wrist because
you want to have this little bit of your shirt to peak out from underneath your blazer.
That's a good visual to have.
About half an inch to an inch of your shirt should hang out.
Ok, so the sleeve should be shorter than your shirt sleeves coming out.
Yes, absolutely.
And then, what about the length of the jacket?
How far down your torso should it land?
Or, where's the target area for it?
It should be about - I kind of say about 4-5 inches below the belt.
It kind of varies depending on your height.
A good thing to think is that from the back, you kind of want it to cover your seat for
the most part.
So, that's a good visual for you to have.
You don't want it long so that it's extending below the bottom of your crotch of your pants.
That's too long.
A rule that some people follow is that if you put your arms to your side and curve your
fingers upward (it's kind of hard to explain), but it should be that the jacket should hit
just about where your fingers are curling up.
Ok, that's good.
So, you don't want it too long or too short.
There's a middle ground you want to aim for there.
Ok, that's great.
We've got the jacket.
Let's move onto the pants.
What should we be thinking about for fit for suit pants.
As well as for dress pants, you kind of want a slightly snug around the hips and a straight
leg down to the floor.
But again, not too tight.
You don't want any pulling lines across the front.
It just looks awkward and looks like your pants are too tight, which they are.
(Yeah, you don't want that.
Nobody wants that.)
Nobody wants that.
But, a nice straight fit down the leg.
For the back, again, you want it to lay smooth and flat over your seat.
Not too tight where it's hugging every curve, but not too big where it's sagging because
that just looks sloppy.
Right, and now the length of the pant?
Where should it land?
Just about at the top of your shoe.
Some people are slightly uncomfortable with that.
It feels too short to them, but when you sit, your pant should raise.
It should be off the floor.
There should be a gap between your shoe and the bottom of your pant when your sitting.
So, it should just very smoothly - most dress pants, the nicest visual is no break in the
pant whatsoever.
If you have a small break, that is ok.
If you're not familiar, a break is kind of the crease that you get in the pant when it's
laying over top of the shoe.
So, a slight break is ok, but if you have a really deep break, it's just kind of distracting,
and it makes you look like you are swimming in your pants.
Right, you don't want the extra bunching down there or anything.
And so lastly with the pants, what about cuffs or pleats?
Where does that sit today in terms of trendiness?
Sure.
Cuffs and pleats are outdated at this point.
The problem with those is that it's very difficult to flatter a man.
It takes a very specific body type to flatter cuffs or pleats.
So, I just say avoid them all together.
Cuffs make almost everybody look shorter.
And pleats make them look wider in the hips, and you don't want that.
Great, all right!
Guys, we hope this helped.
If it did, give us a thumbs up.
Obviously, if you are buying a suit, this is a major investment for your wardrobe.
So, if you're going to do it, do it right.
And if you're going to make the investment in a suit or multiple suits, find a tailor,
make sure they are pre-measured, or however you want to do that, so that it's fitting
the right way, and you're looking your best in the suit.
So, thanks so much Alison for joining us today.
Thank you guys for watching!
Be sure to go to Cladwell.com to get your personal roadmap to dress better, and we'll
see you next time.