Welcome back to the gentleman's Gazette and our two-part series on how a suit should fit.
In the second part, I discuss secrets to how a suit should fit that a rarely discussed.
Now that you know the basics of how a suit should fit, let's look at some advanced things
that are usually not talked about.
First of all, the back.
While most people look at the front, a back can really tell you if a jacket fits perfectly
or not.
First, the top of your back right underneath the collar; you shouldn't have any lines that
are horizontal or vertical.
Same thing all the way down.
The only area where you can have a few wrinkles is around your armpit underneath the shoulders
simply because you need that for the range movement, otherwise, if you see a suit from
the back and it's very clean and hangs very neat and the vents don't gap, I can bet with
you that the rest of the suit will fit well because something like that will never fit
like that off the rack.
You'll always have to have either some alterations or it's a made to measure measure or bespoke
garment.
At this day and age, many men have sloped shoulders and in my case, my right shoulder
is more sloped than the other.
So if I take a ready-to-wear garment, I can always see wrinkles directly underneath my
armpit simply because my shoulder hangs lower by about 2 inches or 5 centimeters and I can
also see concentric wrinkles under my right shoulder.
That's something I can only fix by either changing the entire jacket or I can add in
a little bit of padding on one side which then gives you the issue that you may see
a little gap on the sleeve, otherwise, you have to go with a customized pattern that
will deviate the flaws of your body and make you look dapper.
We move to the front of the jacket.
You ideally want to see an hourglass shape or a v-shape on top and then a skirt that
drapes slightly out in the bottom, it's very flattering.
In the US, there used to be a sack suit style but that's not really flattering because it
makes you actually look like a potato sack.
If you see X wrinkles, that means your jacket is too tight especially around the buttoning
point.
If you see vertical wrinkles in the front on your chest, that means it's too big.
One thing that's often never talked about is balance and by that, I mean the length
and the proportions of the front and the back when looked at from the side.
As I mentioned before, most of the time, the back is shorter in the front and getting it
completely level is very hard to achieve and usually only something you find with bespoke
tailors.
One thing that has a huge impact on the way your jacket looks are the front quarters and
how they're cut.
Traditionally, the quarters a much more closed which in my opinion, provides an old man look
versus if you have more open rounded quarters that are cut up slightly, It provides a certain
dynamic.
Now, if you open your quarters too much, you may actually end up seeing the tip of your
tie or maybe even your dress shirt from underneath the buttoning point which is a bad look.
So you always have to coordinate the quarters with the rise of your pants.
If you have more open quarters, you want higher rise pants.
If you have a lower and more closed quarters, it doesn't matter which brings us to the next
point.
which is the buttoning point.
If your tie pokes out from underneath the buttoning point, the fit is off.
In most cases, the buttoning point should be around your natural waist which is usually
the belly button were slightly above the buttoning point can have a huge impact in how you're
perceived visually.
Let's say you're a shorter guy, you can slightly elevate that buttoning point because it will
give you the appearance of having slightly longer legs.
The same is true for my body type; I have a long torso and relatively short legs, so
I bring up the buttoning point ever so slightly, that way I look pretty proportional I get
that one to one aspect ratio in my length and I'm just dapper and people would never
assume that I have shorter legs than another man of my height.
It works the same the other way around, if you have long legs in a short torso and you
want to balance it, you can bring the buttoning point a little lower.
Now, don't go too extreme because otherwise, you easily look like a guy in the 90s when
they had very wide jackets with lots of excess fabric and a very low buttoning point.
Also, when your jacket is buttoned, you want to be able to pull it a little bit and have
about two inches of five centimeters of room.
Sometimes it can be a little less but you don't want it to be too tight otherwise it's
uncomfortable; and if it's too wide, you get puddling creases.
Note, when you wear a three-piece suit, you should wear your jacket unbuttoned versus
if you have a two-piece suit it should be buttoned.
Of course, we could talk about buttoning points but it's gonna be subject of another video
so stay tuned.
Now that you know all the important aspects of how a jacket should fit, it's important
to keep in mind that a heavier fabric just like the one I'm wearing here right now drapes
always better then a similar cut or the same kind of a suit in a thinner fabric.
It's just the added weight shows wrinkles less and it hides more tailoring flaws or
flaws of your body versus a very thin fabric, highlights every issue there is in your body
and the tailoring.
So, if you really want to test the tailor and see how good they are, go with a very
lightweight thin fabric.
As you know the jacket is only one part of the suit, so let's talk about the trousers
or dress pants.
They should never be too tight nor too baggy.
They must have the proper inseam length which means a slight break or no break and to learn
more about that please check out our in-depth video on pants breaks.
Pants must have the right circumference around your waist, bum, thigh, knee, and ankle.
You always want clean lines and no wrinkles although it's very difficult to achieve, your
pleats should never gap and I believe that a higher rise trouser has it's unnatural ways
which is slightly lower above, is much more flattering, and comfortable to wear especially
with the suit.
If you're either not in perfect shape, or your clothes are not tailored, you probably
will need either a belt or suspenders.
I think suspenders are better for suits because they're more comfortable unless you mind that
weight in your shoulders, otherwise, they will keep your pants at the same height all
day long versus with a belt chances are your pants will slide down a little.
Now what does it mean not too long or just right?
We already created an in-depth guide about how pants should fit and that applies for
all suit pants and dress pants as well, so I urge you to check that out because otherwise
we'd have a forty minute video here.
The outfit I'm wearing today is three-piece suit tailored of a Harrisons of Edinburgh
fabric.
it's a fine hounds tooth in a dark brown with an off-white because this is a more casual
suit, I opted for a more casual cut inspired by the 1930 suits from Clark Gable it happened
one night.
I have three patch pockets with nice pleats that open up in front.
it's a single breasted suit, lapels are not too wide not like in the thirties or contemporary.
there's a three-year-old whose suit which means you only button the middle button.
the waistcoat is single breasted without a lapel and I leave the bottom button unbuttoned
because that's a tradition and you can learn more about that in our guide here.
The pants have a fishtail back, they're tailored for suspenders specifically so there are no
belt loops.
they have inward facing pleats because I have big thighs and that gives me extra room.
I opted for a light turquoise lining because it adds a dash of color especially since I
wear a jacket unbuttoned with my best.
the pants have nice cuffs but the real special thing about the suit is the back it's a so-called
action back which has shooting pleats that makes it very easy for me to move my arms
around because it gives me extra room and it has more decorative elements and side vents
which is unusual because additionally they only had no vents.
the suit was custom made for me by a tailor according to my pattern specifications and
so it's really the style that I wanted.
it has a Milanese buttonhole which you can see it has a raised silk thread and it's a
very neat little detail that just shows someone thought about it.
I paired it with a plain white dress shirtit has a very close collar and as such it's perfect
to be worn with a collar pin which I'm doing here with a gold one from Fort Belvedere pairs
well with my orange silk knit tie from Fort Belvedere and my gold Monkey Fist cufflinks
likewise from Fort Belvedere.
the ring is citrine and gold which goes well with the warm tones of my outfit which are
perfect for fall winter.
the socks I'm wearing pick up the brown colors as well as the blue of the wool silk pocket
square Fort Belvedere and the socks are for Belvedere as well the shoes are chukka style
boots with a leather sole Goodyear welted - made out of a brown suede that goes well
with the ensemble I like the last about it which is round but not pointy at the same
time it's not the usual round you'd encounter now that you've seen part 1 & 2 of our series
on how it should fit make sure to check out our video on sleeve length our video on how
pants should fit and the proper pants length because without them those two would be incomplete.
On top of that, if you want to learn more about suits and figure out quality hallmarks
please check out our video on a hundred dollar versus a thousand dollar suit and 500 vs.
$5,000 suits.