The details:
1. Never buy a new suit with your girlfriend or wife.
- This may sound like I'm being sexist, but the best judge of how well clothing fits is you. Also, the rules that apply to women's clothing are quite different to the rules that apply to men's clothing, so you'll find it easier to fight this battle alone.
- The guys in the store are really helpful when it comes to picking out a suit that's of the correct fit and moreover they actually love to be asked to help you!
2. Decide on fabrics.
- I've already covered summer suits, so I won't go into details about them here, but you need to decide when you're going to be wearing your new suit. If you're after a new suit for winter then wool and wool blends will keep you warm, while lighter fabrics like linen and cotton blends will be more suited to warmer climates.
- Blends are often best, because you tend to get the best qualities out of both materials. For example, a wool and polyester blend has the durability of wool, but is breathable like polyester. I have a suit that's a blend of polyester, wool and Lycra, which although perhaps slightly odd has served me extremely well for over two years now.
- The weave of the fabric for most people will be a less important feature, but be weary of seersucker weaves, as the thread tensions create a fabric that has lumps in it and often looks a bit odd. Although I like twill weaves (how most jeans are made along with houndstooth jackets), they're seen as a bit old fashioned now. Stick to a plain weave and you'll have no problems.
3. Colours.
- If this is going to be your first suit, pick a conservative colour. Charcoal greys and navy blues are ideal. I often find that black can seem a little sombre, so I wouldn't recommend it for your first suit, but nevertheless they can often carry with them a certain gravitas that other coloured suits don't (it's like the alpha male of suit colours).
- Try to avoid any suit colour that has the words "sharkskin" or "tonic" on the label. I'm probably being a little bias, but I hate this fabric! It may be the rage at the moment, but in a year you'll just look out of fashion and they require a lot of maintenance to keep the even sheen.
- Wide check patterns are a really nice way to add a some subtle colour to a suit and although this isn't a look for everyone, it will make you standout from the crowd without being outlandish. The guy to the left is on the right lines (although I hate his tie), but the suit David Gandy is wearing in one of the pictures below is perhaps a better example.4. Lapels.
- Notch lapels are the standard on single breasted suits, so stick to them (unless you're going for a double breasted suit jacket, in which case it will be a peak lapel).
5. How should it fit.
- To be honest, I could go through the exact lengths of arms and trousers, but you could be reading this all day if I did that, so I'll give you visual examples.
1. Your shoulders should finish with the shoulders of the jacket. If the shoulders of the jacket hang over your actual shoulders then you need a smaller jacket and vice versa.
2. The lapels should be of a conservative length and finish about four to six inches above your waist.
3. You should have room to be able to comfortably use the top button on a two button suit jacket. Never do the bottom button up, as almost every jacket is cut for using only the top button. For three button suit jackets, stick to either the top and middle buttons or just the middle button.
4. The bottom of the jacket should finish in line with the bottom of your crotch.
5. You should have one to one and a half centimetres worth of shirt cuff visible around your jacket sleeve and the shirt sleeves should stop at exactly where your wrist begins to widen into your hand. The pink shirt to the right may help with this.6. The jacket sleeves should finish one to one and a half centimetres above where your shirt sleeves end. Ignore the idea spouted regularly about jacket sleeves being long enough to reach the bottom thumb knuckle, as this will make the jacket look too big and you'll constantly be getting the sleeves dirty at that length.
7. Trousers should finish with enough room to just touch and cover the laces. In general, if the heel of the shoe is visible and no sock is visible when you're standing still and upright, you've probably got it right. The best way to tell if you've got the length wrong is to look for bunching at the bottom of the trousers (where fabric lays on top of itself).
6. Three Piece.
- I am a believer in the three piece suit. You will always look smarter and you can always make the choice not to wear the waistcoat on a hot day. Also, you can mix and match a lot better with a waistcoat to hand (I'm going to do a post on this soon).
- If you do opt for the three piece, the bottom button of the waist coat must always be undone and you should wear braces with the suit rather than a belt. Waistcoats are a nightmare to size, but if there's bunching around the waist you've chosen a size too small and if there's enough room around the front to put your hand down the front you need a smaller size.
- The secret to testing the size is to breathe in deeply and hold that breath. If you can feel a little bit of pressure around the front of the waistcoat then you've probably picked exactly the right size.
- If you can find a suit with a double breasted waistcoat (in the picture to the left) then get it! These have a little bit more class than the single breasted waistcoat although they do often need some tailoring to be a perfect fit.
7. Don't wear turn-ups.
- This just adds an unnecessary horizontal line that will make you look shorter. Although I appreciate that this may only apply to people like me who have Short Man Syndrome.
8. Accessories.
- Black shoes should be worn at all times. Brown shoes are a much more informal colour and although you do see people wearing them with business suits, that doesn't mean that they should.
- This will also mean (if you're wearing a two piece suit), that you'll need a black belt and thus a black watch strap.
- As I've previously stated, you need braces for a three piece suit.
9. Tailored vs "Off The Shelf".
- M&S do a tailoring service with their suits which is also very reasonably priced, so you can have the best of both worlds in M&S.
- Getting a bespoke suit though is a huge investment, but nevertheless they will always hang perfectly off the body and look better than an off the shelf suit. Although I've never used it, the website http://www.itailor.com has fantastic reviews for their bespoke suits, so that could be worth a try.
10. Quality.
- The quality of suits has been increasing hugely as of late and because of this you can pick up a suit of a high quality without spending a fortune.
- As with any suit though the key is to try it on and let your body feel the quality. Sometimes the best way to understand this is to go and try an expensive suit on and then a cheaper one.
I may end up adding stuff to this post, but until next time:
Dress Hot - Be Hot!
I own none of the images in this post.
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