Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette! Today, we'll be discussing the style
guide for big and tall men and some of the frustrations they might find while
shopping and how to best avoid them. Many men who fall into the big and tall
category often find shopping an event that they usually want to avoid. It's our
hope to help alleviate some of this frustration by giving you some great
ways to help navigate your style. Now, have you ever noticed that when shopping,
it's pretty difficult, sometimes, to find a really good assortment of things in
your size if you are in the big and tall category. For example, say a 38 size waist
pant or larger, even if this brand does make that size available, there usually
won't be much physical inventory readily available for you to purchase that day.
For many years now, we've seen repetitively how designers often missed
the mark and take a long time to recognize that all people are not made
in the exact same shape. Because of this lack of awareness of what their customer
base actually looks like, sometimes, their sales actually do suffer. These companies
often have many men who would enjoy shopping from them but are left with
very few options. Now, thankfully, there are some places around and more that are
coming up that are catering to big and tall men. Beyond stores themselves, there
are also many ways to style yourself so that you are feeling confident each and
every day. Now, there are some great places you can go to get a shop for Big
& Tall style; some places like Kingsize.com Destination XL, Brooks Brothers,
Men's Wearhouse and the Nordstrom big and tall section. Alright, now that we've
discussed some great places to shop for Big & Tall style, let's move into some
other categories that help you perfect your style. Shirts, for example. Now, there
are a few key areas to make mention of when you're trying to make sure your
shirt fits appropriately. One main area you're going to want to focus on with
your shirt is the shoulders. You want the shoulder seams to fall naturally just
off of the edge of your natural shoulders. Now, if the shoulder seams are
falling too wide and sit too long off of your shoulders, the entire shirt starts
to look a little bit too blousey. If the shoulder seams are a little bit too
short, it will affect the overall width of the shirt and it will look too small on
you. If you happen to be someone with a larger back or happens to be a little
bit more muscular, this will feel quite uncomfortable. You might feel that
there's too much tension or pressure across the chest or even in the armpit
area. The next big area we're going to pay attention to is sleeve length. Now,
whether you're shopping for a casual shirt or even a dress shirt, the same
rule applies. Now, it's best to have your sleeve length fall about a half inch
below the break in the wrist. Now, by doing this, this ensures that when
wearing a blazer or even a sweater, you're going to have about a quarter of an
inch to maybe even 3/4 of an inch of your shirt cuff exposed. By keeping this
sleeve length, you will also ensure that the sleeve does not feel too taut. Many
times in my retail experience, I've seen high quality garments being returned by
customers who are a little bit frustrated by the fact that a shirt was
ripping at the exact same spot and the biggest problem was that they're buying
their sleeve lengths too short. If a sleeve length is too short, it causes
excessive tension around the elbow area, especially if you're someone who works
at a desk, you might notice feeling this tension
around the elbow area as you're working on your computer or writing at your desk.
Now, the next big area we're going to pay attention to on the shirt is the chest.
Now, if you happen to be someone who is a more flat or narrow chested individual,
you might find it's a little bit easier to shop for different shirt options than
a more muscular individual. However, there are times where it might be equally as
frustrating for someone who is of a narrow chest to find an appropriately
fitting shirt, as well. The number one to fix a shirt that might look too loose,
the best thing you can do is ensure that you're in the right size and that you're
in the correct fit. If you're still not satisfied, consider speaking with the
tailor about making minor adjustments to the garment to make it fit better for
your frame. Now, if you are an individual who has a wide and more muscular chest,
you will probably find that your issues stem from there not being enough room in
the overall total chest circumference area of the shirt and when this happens,
this usually causes a lot of gapping between the buttons on the front of the
shirt and a lot of pull lines all over the shirt, as well. One way to resolve
this is by selecting a larger neck size, this allows for broader shoulders and
also more room in your chest. The next area we're going
to talk about is the shirt length. The average shirt length of your button-down
dress shirt is going to fall just at the base of your backside. This is because
the designer usually will account for the fact that you're probably going to
be tucking your shirt in and to prevent it from being untucked to give a little
extra length. Next area we're going to talk about is the shirt width. Now, this
is something that you usually won't be able to select too much off the rack
outside of the usual classic slim or athletic shirt width options. Now, if
you're a gentleman whose waistline extend significantly beyond your
shoulder width, custom or made-to-measure shirts might be an option you would like
to consider. The next category we're going to talk about is jackets. It's
important to know your best jacket size and the exact fit you should be in. One
area we want to pay attention to on the jacket is the shoulders. You want to make
sure that the shoulders are actually falling gracefully off of your own
natural shoulders. We want to avoid extremely tight jackets which are giving
a lot of weird tension around the shoulder area. You'll notice this is
happening if you see your shoulder almost fully protruding out of the
shoulder seam itself. Now, at the same time, we also want to make sure that
we're avoiding overly wide shoulders in the jacket. You'll notice this is
happening but it almost seems to droop off of your natural shoulder, almost as
If you are the coat hanger. This is going to provide way more extra room in the chest
to the point where you can probably grab the fabric, you don't need all that excess
material. Now, one area we also want to make sure we make note of is the fit of
the jacket. You want to avoid jackets that are too tight that are causing a
lot of horizontal pull lines across the front and across the back of the jacket.
Now, moving on down throughout the rest of the outfit, we're going to look at
trousers. We want to make sure that you're in the correct size of trouser.
Now, if you flat out don't know your size and you don't want to figure it out
yourself, you can always visit your local menswear store or local tailor and ask
them to give you a simple measurement and give you an idea as to what size you
should be shopping for. The ideal fitting waist of a trouser will allow you to be
able to stick about two fingers into your waistband comfortably. This will
ensure that when you put your belt on, there's not so much fabric that it
starts to almost have that trash bag effect but at
the same time, it's not so tight that you feel uncomfortable sitting down or
having your lunch. You also want to make sure that you're in the correct length
or inseam of trouser. You want to make sure that your trouser length is falling
just over the top of the shoe; any shorter and it starts to look like a bit
of a high-water trouser and any longer, it looks a little bit sloppy. Now, one
area to shop for these trousers and jackets and shirts that we've discussed
would be off the rack and some of the stores that we listed earlier in the
video or we could also go for a more custom or bespoke route, as well. Now,
choosing to decide whether or not you're going to go completely off the rack for
your wardrobe or include a few custom pieces are gonna come down to a few
factors such as budget, time, and your overall build. Now, off the rack, for
example, it's the one we're almost familiar with. It's a very easy way to
shop, we can go into a store, we can go online and get our purchase fairly
quickly and put it on and go on and about our day. Off the rack is a very
popular option, it's seen as quick and efficient. Now, this is often found
because of how quick it is to be able to make a purchase but also because of the
low cost that's usually involved compared to a custom garment, custom
garments are seen as something that's much more unique. It often involves a
little bit more time and a little bit more money but the uniqueness usually
wins out. Although custom garments are usually
much more expensive than off the rack items, I do recommend if you have the
disposable income to try it out, go for it. Some men might find that having a
custom garment made is almost a necessity for their wardrobe because of
their frame. Now, if that is you in that particular situation, the good news is
there are a plethora of great options to find to be able to have jackets, trousers,
and shirts made that are much more cost effective. Now, perhaps if you're finding
that going custom is a little bit too expensive, there is one area in between
off the rack and custom that you can utilize, it's called made to measure. Now,
made-to-measure is a great option to utilize if you've got the time. It is
template-based, a little bit more cost-effective than
going full custom and you can choose different options to personalize
the garment for yourself. Now, once you've got this great outfit put
together whether you bought it in store or had it made for you, we've got to add
some great details to make it stand out. Ties is our next topic. If you're a man
who already wears a tie from time to time, I'm sure you already know the
importance of finding the correct length for your tie. Big and tall men, in
particular, usually have a much more difficult time finding that correct
length for their ties. Now, this difficulty can sometimes stem from
having a large neck circumference sometimes mixed with also having a very
long torso. Some brands may carry ties in both a regular and an extra long option.
To view some great tie options in both lengths, check out Fort Belvedere now.
Some people when they get dressed, do all they can to put on size and make
themselves look a little bit bigger but if you're already a big and tall
gentleman, you might be looking for some ways to appear leaner. One way you can
appear a little bit leaner is by paying attention to the scale of the pattern in
which you're dressing yourself with. Now, the scale or size of the pattern and the
type of pattern you're choosing to wear can make you look larger or smaller. The
wide scale patterns like a buffalo checked shirt
tend to make the wearer look much broader. If this is not your goal, try wearing
small to medium sized check patterns, for example, and avoid horizontal stripes.
Having narrow pinstripes on a shirt or pants or a chalk stripe on a jacket of a
suit, for example, are another great way to make the wearer appear a little bit
leaner. Our research has shown that exceptionally small patterns can also
make a big and tall gentleman look bigger because they've got more room
that they're wearing this pattern with. So medium to small size patterns are
usually the best way to go. Now, next within the category of looking leaner,
we're gonna pay attention to color. A light and bright color like a white or
pastel blue are more eye-catching and can add volume to the wearer. To avoid
appearing larger than you are, try wearing dark color above the light color.
Darker colors like black and navy, for example, have the tendency to make things
look a little bit smaller. Next, we're going to talk about eyewear. It's
important to understand when choosing eyewear what your face shape is. Now, some
common face shapes that many people will find that they have
are square, diamond, heart, oval. Many people that have an oval-shaped face
find that they have a wider variety of options when shopping for eyewear. Those
with a diamond, heart, or square shaped faces will need to find other choices
that will help balance out their face shape. For example, if you have a square
face, try choosing a circular frame. Please take note, though, that not
everyone will easily fall into one of these different face shape categories
due to everyone's unique traits. Some people might have attributes of a
multitude of different face shapes. Once you have found the correct face shape,
it's important to also find the correct width. Some of us, myself included, are so
smart that we have got extra-large heads for all this knowledge. Now, because of
this extra width some men might have, it's important to find eyewear that
lands squarely over the ear as opposed to something that is too narrow. By
having eyewear that looks too narrow is certainly a common problem that some
gentlemen in the Big & Tall category might have. But it's also possible to
find eyewear that looks too wide, make sure the width of the glasses fall
naturally just off the width of your temples. Do the temple arms tend to bend
when you look at yourself in the mirror? If so, you should probably try a slightly
wider pair to help alleviate this problem. Also, some manufacturers make
their eyewear with a spring hinge which gives much more comfort and ease for
the wearer. Now, just to recap, remember there are a number of places to shop for
the big and tall gentlemen. When it comes to shirts, make sure you're in the right
fit, you know your neck size, and you're. getting enough length in that sleeve
Remember with pants, we want to be in the correct fit, you have the right waist size
and you're in the right inseam. For more information about pleats and other
details about pants, check out this great video from the Gentleman's Gazette. Also,
don't try to follow fad or trendy different design trends that might not
complement your physique, find those small to medium size patterns and a
color combination you enjoy and incorporating those things into your
wardrobe and remember, if you have the disposable income, you could always get
one or two pieces from a custom clothier as well. Today, I'm wearing a wool based
made-to-measure jacket navy plaid with some really cool silver gray button
hole detailing. I've got a light-gray
made-to-measure trouser on and I have black dress boots from Cole Haan.