Suit Fit 101: How To Get That GQ Look
Hello, gents (or ladies who are looking out for how your gents look)! Many of you will be suiting up this holiday season so keep in mind that fit is everything. Whether you're buying a new suit or dusting off an old one, always remember to take it to a tailor with these points in mind:
1. Shoulders
The shoulder fit is one thing you need to nail right off the bat, as it would take extensive reconstruction of the garment for a tailor to alter this. Get this right above everything else. If the top of your arm in the deltoid region puckers in/looks concave, that means the shoulders are too big and are hanging off you
2. Waist
The taper at the waist of the jacket gives that slimming, hourglass effect. You can have a tailor accentuate this with darts fairly inexpensively.
3. Sleeve Length
This is an easily alterable item so there's no excuse to have sleeves that are the wrong length! Keep in mind: easy to shorten sleeves, limited ability to lengthen. Shoot for the jacket sleeves to end at the beginning of your wrist and let about 1/2" of shirt sleeve showing. This is key.
4. Arm Width
Get a tailor to get rid of any excess fabric here.
5. Jacket length
Another item you should probably get right the first time because cutting a jacket shorter will throw off it's proportions. As far as "ideal length" is concerned, there's quite a bit of variability here depending on who you ask. Generally the slimmer the cut of the jacket, the shorter you can go. Mid palm isn't a bad target to shoot for, but I go even shorter with my jacket, essentially matching my sleeve length. Some people would say that's abhorrent, but in the end of the day it's personal preference and depends entirely on the overall look.
6. Leg width
As with the arms, get a tailor to slim 'em down.
7. Pant length
This is another easy one to modify. People will talk about full break, half break, and no break. Basically that refers to how much your pants fold or crinkle at the bottom. Again, it all depends on personal preference, but bottom line is there's no excuse for excess fabric billowing over your shoes. Personally, I prefer no break. Breaking/folded fabric with slimmer pants just looks silly. And non-slim pants look silly. So by applying the transitive property, one can conclude that anything other than no break looks silly. See what I did there?
In conclusion, whether you're pulling a new suit off the rack from a store or your old suit from your closet, get it tailored! Alternatively, if you're buying a new suit, consider going custom with a made to measure program like what Indochino offers. Basically you input your measurements on their website, and they send you a suit that's guaranteed to fit. I've been using them since 2010 and have never looked back! And you get to customize everything from the inner lining to what the monogram says. In case you were wondering, the plaid suit in the image above is from Indochino's Winter 2016 collection.
Looking for some inspiration? Check the men's fashion Instagram account we run called The Daily Dapper!
Get more tips and suit secrets in our video below featuring our buddy Viranlly from Indochino.