Hello, Guest.
Article about how to find a decent man online:
There are a lot of variables, a lot that can go wrong and a lot of money wasted in the process. So we tapped up the best tailors to give you an expert guide on how to buy a suit that flatters and is built to last
How To Buy A Damn Good Suit, As Revealed By Tailors. No matter our occupation, we’re all in the business of self-salesmanship.
>>> GO TO SITE <<<
Every day we set about selling ourselves to employers, clients and potential partners (whether professional or romantic). And there’s no more persuasive outfit to do so in than a suit — a garment that, properly cut and styled, gives a man confidence, and gives others confidence in the man. Comprising a jacket and trousers in a matching cloth (and sometimes a complementary waistcoat), the suit as we know it today has changed little over the last century. Sure, there have been fluctuations according to fashions of the day (proportions growing slimmer in the sixties, and more voluminous in the seventies, for instance), but the sort of classic suit you should aim to buy will be immune to those whims. Select or bespeak a suit of sufficient quality and timeless style, and it should last you a lifetime — perhaps even be passed down to your offspring. Here’s how to buy a suit that will prove a blue chip investment in selling yourself. What To Consider. First, you need to ponder what purpose or occasion you’re buying a suit for. The suit purchased for work in a sober office environment will be very different to the one obtained to wear to a summer wedding in the countryside. What are you trying to communicate with the suit, what image do you hope to create? What sort of climate conditions will it be worn in — does it need to warm you or keep you cool? That’s going to dictate the cloth: lighter (perhaps open-weave) wools, linen, cotton or even seersucker for summer or tropical climes, heavier worsted, flannel or maybe cashmere or vicuna (if you can afford it) for the colder months and highly air-conditioned environments. Then there’s style preferences: double- or single-breasted jacket, peak or notch lapel, two- or three-piece, flat-front or pleated trousers? Single-breasted is more versatile and conservative, while double-breasted is dashing and can, contrary to popular belief, have a slimming effect on the heavier man, who’d also be well advised to choose a roomier pleated trouser – a flat-front pant flatters the flat bellied. A peak lapel lends a sense of athleticism to the man with sloping shoulders. The waistcoat of a three-piece boasts the key benefit of allowing a guy to still look put-together even after removing his jacket in the office. Budget and body type will dictate whether you choose a ready-to-wear, made-to-measure or bespoke suit. The man whose stomach is larger than his chest has little choice but to go bespoke, while the slimmer gent may be sufficiently served by something properly altered off-the-rack or a good, efficient made-to-measure service. If he has the wherewithal, however, even a guy in great shape should strongly consider bespoke, which will allow him to co-design a beautiful long-lasting suit, made to his own unique measurements and specifications. One that fits him exquisitely. How It Should Fit. Fit is the foremost concern when buying a suit. Though maybe ‘fit’ is the wrong word. Head-to-toe Lycra fits a man perfectly, but does little to accentuate his better attributes and hide his failings, which is a suit’s ultimate goal. In the words of renowned sartorial commentator G. Bruce Boyer, “Good tailors are not after fit , but effect . And effect means proportion . The idea is to help your figure, not to reproduce it.” One of those very good tailors, New York’s Alan Flusser, tells us that in fact, the quickest way to deliver an unenviable impression is for a man’s clothes to “fit so tight as to look as if he’s been poured into them. Fit should be neither tight nor loose – a man should be able to sit comfortably in a buttoned jacket without feeling the need to unbutton it. “If your clothes bind you and make you uncomfortable, it’s impossible to look natural and therefore stylish. Unfortunately, today, the straightjacket fit has reached epidemic proportions. The upshot of such a skin-wrapped male is forfeiture of any personal stylishness that aspires to withstand the test of time.” Alan Fusser Made-To-Measure. Flusser breaks down the specifics of enduring, form-flattering fit as follows: Shoulders & Chest. Should be “wide enough to be comfortable to move in and for the sleeves to fall without breaking across the upper sleeve – however not so wide as to make your head appear small.” He reminds ready-to-wear shoppers, “If shoulders are too narrow, they cannot be widened.” The same goes for a too-tight chest, which is impossible for a tailor to remedy, so try a size up. Lapel Notch Height. “Should sit high enough on the chest to produce as long an upward sweeping line as possible, however not so high as to make the coat appear as if it is pulling backwards.” Flusser points out that notch placement is another permanent feature that cannot be changed. Waist Button. “The most serious detail in a jacket’s consideration and the most prevalent design flaw of the modern shorter jacket trend,” Flusser says. “Like the fulcrum of a seesaw, it’s the garment’s pivot point, its centre and the dividing line between the jacket’s upper and lower sections. Too high and it shortens the torso, too low, and it lowers the waist, throwing off the balance between the jacket’s top and bottom sections. If the jacket’s waist button sits too high, as it often does today, there is no remedy.” Collar. “It should hug the neck when the head turns, yet leave 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch of shirt collar showing.” Beware so-called ‘prole gap’, where a jacket sits away from the shirt collar, a deadly menswear sin (observable in almost every type of suit worn by Leonardo DiCaprio in The Great Gatsby ). Jacket Arm. “Sleeve length should show 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch of shirt sleeve and be tapered enough so it does not bellow around the shirt cuff.” And the length: “Jackets must be long enough to cover the buttocks, short enough to give as long a leg line as possible.” There’s an old saying that goes, “A good suit jacket is like a good lawyer – it should always cover your ass.” Trousers. “They should rest on the natural waist, as opposed to the hips, so the line continues that of the jacket above. Trouser rise (the distance between the base of the crotch and waistband) should be long enough to allow the trouser waistband to sit near the natural waist as well as the jacket’s waist button. Side pockets should lay flat and not gape.” The leg, he says, should be “cut to give a fuller to narrower taper line down to the ankle. The trouser bottom opening should be in relation to one’s shoe size. If (UK) size 11 or more, no less than 20”, if size 8 to 11, somewhere between 16 and 19 1/2 inches, depending on personal preference.” If you choose to install turn-ups, cuff width, he says, is “in relation to wearer’s height: below 5 ft. 10 inches in height, I recommend a 1 5/8 inch cuff width. Above that height, 1 3/4 to 2 inch cuff width.” As to how much or little break – the amount the trouser overlaps the shoe or merely ‘kisses’ it, as the case may be – “That’s a personal choice,” Flusser reckons. Fabric. Your choice of fabric weight and texture dictates how a suit drapes on the body and its suitability to environmental conditions. The pattern, meanwhile, determines whether or not the suit will flatter you. Super-fine wool cloths would seem the obvious choice for warmer climates, but they’re delicate and easily damaged or worn out, with a short lifespan. They’re also trickier to tailor than medium and heavy weight cloth. Says Kevin Seah, a Singapore-based bespoke tailor who specialises in summer-friendly suiting, “I always prefer a medium weight cloth, up to 10 ounces, which gives more structure and shape than the lightweight ‘supers’. Kevin Seah Bespoke. “If you cut it well, build in a little room, it can give you great comfort, and it holds shape far better than lighter cloth.
How to find a decent man online