How To Buy A Suit — That Actually Fits
A friend of mine recently recommended a great video from GQ’s website about what to look for when buying the suit. It’s short and very informative for anyone looking for a modern fit. Although I recommend watching the video, here is a short summarization (or you might say, primer) of the steps… so you can pop back here right before you head to the store for a quick refresher.
- Shoulders: The suit’s shoulders should hug yours.
- Chest: You should be able to easily button the jacket without it straining, but there shouldn’t be too much space between the button and your chest - no more than a fist’s worth.
- Length: When your arms are hanging straight down, you should be able to cup your fingers under the sides of your suit jacket.
- Pants: They should be slim, and fit naturally on your hips (”You’re not in a 1940’s movie. You don’t need to wear them at your navel”)
- Sleeves: insist on having them taken in, and altered so that a quarter inch of the shirt cuff shows.
- Buttons: Start thinking about the number you want
- 3 buttons - kind of a ’90’s thing. You should go for one of the other choices these days.
- 2 buttons - the most conservative, classic
- 1 button - kind of crazy, but you can pull it off (can’t you?)
- Vents: Think about the kind you want
- center cut vent is pretty conservative
- side cut vents are a little more trendy
- *never go with a ventless jacket
- Lapels:You have two real options here (both good)
- Peak
- Notched
- Tailor: Know what he can do for you
- Seal the Deal: When you pick up your suit, ALWAYS try it on again.
UPDATE: Here is the video…
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September 29th, 2007 at 6:00 am
Nice post, I always found that the most important thing when buying a suit is to go to a tailor, and keep returning, the more they know you the better they will do. Go to them for just shirts and slacks too and you’ll always look sharp.
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September 29th, 2007 at 8:50 am
Great tips! My dad definitely is a conservative suit buyer so it’s interesting to learn more about the “modern fit”. Great picture too!
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October 2nd, 2007 at 1:34 am
Guys, check out http://www.aSuitThatFits.com for hand tailored suits at high street prices. You can design your own tailored suit choosing between all the options mentioned above.
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October 2nd, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Some good advice…also if anyone’s interested, Scali, Galloway, Rokis and I went to a tailor when we we’re in Hong Kong and got some pretty amazing suits for cheap compared to US prices. This place only goes on referrals and was not advertised anywhere in Hong Kong, pretty amazing that we happened to stumble on it. The owner of the shop is touring the US in October and November to do measurements and sales. The schedule is too big to post here so if anyone is interested let me know, he’s going to be in a number of major cities. The website is now “under construction” but was just up not that long ago:
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October 6th, 2007 at 2:15 am
Thank you for sharing!
January 2nd, 2008 at 12:21 pm
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