Calling menswear mavens

May 29, 2009 4:55 PM

What kinds of style and cut in formal and semi-formal menswear will flatter someone my shape?

I am trying to dress more like a grown up as befits someone who's almost 40, and get away from t-shirt and jeans all the time.

Unfortunately, my physique does not really seem to be flattered by lot of off-the-rack clothing. For my height (5'8") I have quite broad shoulders, deep chest (at least a 45 chest), and long arms, and big thighs. No gut to speak of. Sorta light-weight wrestler, I guess. In the wrong jacket, I look like a shaved gibbon, or a hired goon, contrary to my hopes of dapper and dandyish. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how to break down what constitutes "wrong".

Aside from getting things made to measure, what should I be looking out for or avoiding?

posted by i_am_joe's_spleen to clothing, beauty, & fashion (8 comments total)

"Athletic cut" is the term for tailoring that takes account of deep chests, though that usually brings to mind taller guys.

General rules: long lines in the jacket, single-breasted, relatively unstructured, no padding, lighter fabrics. Italianish. Slim-legged trousers. In practical terms, when trying on jackets, look for the position of the buttons and the pockets in relation to your waist, because that guides the basic sense of proportion in the suit. If you're longer in the torso or the legs, it makes a difference. A good rule of thumb is to have a jacket that's a little longer than your inseam measurement.

The 'drop' between chest and waist on off-the-peg suits won't help you much, and you may be near the limit of athletic cut. If you want a full suit, and your waist is under 35in, you're probably going to need it custom-made (or some good tailoring on whatever you choose) for it to look decent.
posted by holgate at 5:23 PM on May 29

Sorry to be a noob, but can you explain "inseam measurement?"

My waist is about 34", so that's depressing.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 5:37 PM on May 29

You might want to peruse vintage suits if you can find a shop near you. My husband's vintage suits are way more flattering than any of the modern suits he has. He is big chested but with a small waist.
posted by vespabelle at 5:56 PM on May 29

Inseam is the measurement from the bottom of the crotch to the bottom of the ankle cuff (on the inside of the leg).

Go for midweight wool in dark grey. It's thick enough to hold shape and drape well, and not so light as to be clingy. You'll probably have to buy a coat to match your shoulders and get the waist tailored. That's much easier (i.e. faster and cheaper) than going the other way around. If you're in the US, Banana Republic makes men's suits that are pretty decent quality for the price and have generous shoulders.
posted by barnone at 5:59 PM on May 29

Heh. I knew I should have said 'inside leg' instead.

Vintage might be an option. This thread at AskAndy pretty much sums up the options (including a few separates suppliers) and barnome's right: it's better to start with a jacket that fits well and have the trousers taken in than the other way round.
posted by holgate at 6:06 PM on May 29

Seconding holgate on a good tailor. Every man needs a good accountant, doctor, priest and tailor. You don't have to spend thousands on bespoke to get suits and shirts to fit well - a good tailor should be able to tidy up awkward jackets and pants for a nominal price. You can ask friends if they have one, but I've found that its usually just trial and error like dating. One day you bring in a jacket to a tailor you've never been too and after you get it back, and it fits like a glove, you never leave each other.
posted by thankyoujohnnyfever at 7:40 PM on May 29

When you look at jackets/suits, look for a subtle verticle stripe, emphasis on the subtle, not those loud stripes on black or navy. Something like a faint broken line on a darker background. Vertical patterns like herringbone in a jacket will work the same way that a single breasted jacket does as both create the up/down line you want. Double breasted makes you look wider. A plain, flat weave is good, too, and nthing the Italian cut as it's usually more body conscious. I'd leave the fuller/fluffier looking flannels on the rack. If you don't have anyone to help you shop, why not look for a well dressed menswear salesman who's about your build and ask him for help? Just don't give up.
posted by x46 at 8:49 PM on May 29

Men of your construction, must be sensitive to construction.

Oh, alright, the above link is simply the opening joke for a bit of speechifying.... Still, anatomy demands construction, in menswear (SLYT)....

The "standard" menswear dummy is a 6" "drop" (i.e. the difference between the "chest" measurement, typically taken under the armpits and over the shoulder blades, for adult men, and the "waist" which is typically 1 to 2 inches vertical to maximum hip measurement in adult men). But there are a dozen other "measurements" of you that determine how shirts, trousers, coats, shoes, hose/socks, outerwear and, for God's sake, lederhosen, will fit you.

I'm not kidding about the lederhosen, either. Lederhosen are insanely tough to fit for non-standard physiques. My best fitting pair cost more than $1200, but then, I'm a way tougher fit, than you. If you gain or lose 5 pounds, expect it to show, very, very obviously, in lederhosen...

You already know, from sad trial and error, that you look like a goon in a "46" rack suit. You want to look good in something. The difference between the standard size suit, and what you'll actually look great in, is partly cut, partly construction, and partly tailoring.

Without accurate measurements, as a start, you have no hope for understanding clothing, or communicating with skilled tailors. So, get measured, professionally. Here is a general "about.com" guide to men's measurements, but they clearly state you'll need "help" in getting yours, accurately. Don't be embarrassed, or shy; a skilled tailor, taking the full set of men's measurements, particularly for a non-standard physique, is going to probe and push a bit, finding hip joints, clavicles, elbows, wrists, knees, ankles, and your waist. There may be some shaking of heads, on the tailors' part, if you are far off the standard sizes. That only means, generally, that you are a more interesting specimen than any who have passed through the tailor's establishment recently. Ideally, you'll emerge from a measurement session not only with your accurate measurements, but with some personal advice about what can and can't be reasonably altered, from stock sizes, to fit your body.

My guess, based on your description of yourself, is that you'll always have a tough time finding a "stock" size suit coat, that fits you well. A "44" will be too tight, all around; a "46" which should be your natural size, will still, likely, bow the lapels, be tight across the back, and will still be further bowed, by you, in wear, in the lapels, across the breast pocket (as a result of upper arm movement), and be tight across the shoulders and in the arms; a "47" may be your best bet in a "rack" starting point, but it won't "fit" in most measurements, including arm length, and your selections of "47s" in rack sizes is vanishingly small, as fewer and fewer makers, continue to make odd size garments, in this day and age, particularly in a "down" economy, are poor, to non-existent. A "48" is so laughably grand on your frame that it inspires grins, all around, if not guffaws. Moreover, if you try the suit pants, that come with such "46" suits/jackets, in standard "6 inch drop," you might find further conundrums.

A "46" suit pant will be a 40" waist measure, and will likely be too tight, for you, in the thigh, and not nearly roomy enough in the crotch for you to sit easily, without pulling big wrinkles, and short cuffs, in the legs. With a waist measurement of only "34 inches," a standard "size 46" suit's waistband (the smallest coat size you are like to find accomodating) is going to have to be cut down at least an additional 6" for you; this is no longer "tailoring," it is radical pattern surgery, involving additional waistband darts, tapering over the pocket area, and front pleats, if it is even possible, as a tailoring adjustment to a stock size suit. If you went ahead with all this, and still, after all that, hemmed the "46" suit pant a little long, to accommodate you sitting, it will bunch, visibly, at the ankle, when you stand. Worse, when you, an athletic build guy, try on a 40" waist suit pant, without a lot of experience in what that is going to feel like on your body, you're going to immediately dismiss the the 40" waist as "way, way too big". Which it is, by 6", if your actual waist size is, indeed, 34". But such a 40" waist pant is unlikely to have a enough material in the seat, thighs, or calves to drape properly on you.

The "athletic cut" suits holgate mentions above are typically, 8", or in rare cases, 10", drop suits. Better, I guess, as a starting point, by far, than "standard" size suits. But, you'll find, perhaps, at best, 10% of a retailer's off the rack selection in "athletic" sized suits; that may mean you'll have few choices of fabric, pattern, and style, in such a reduced rack selection. Moreover, in my experience, a lot these "athletic cut" suits have pants that are no more "athletic cut" than I am a goose; too often, such suits have pants that are too tight in the thighs, calves and seat. The result is a coat that "sort of" fits, and a trousers that are good, only in the waistband; you spend any time seated at any event you wear these suits to, with your calves exposed above your socks, and big bunches of wrinkles at your knees and hips...

Moreover, "make" or construction means a lot to suit wearers, at the ends of the fit spectrum. In the mid-range of size and fit, most suits are made up with thermoplastic fiber sheets that are "fused" under controlled heat and pressure to the suit fabrics, as a means of providing dimensional stability and desirable shaping characteristics in finish pressing operations. Very small men, and very athletic men, benefit, tremendously, from earlier, non-fused, kinds of construction. Typically, fused elements in mid-price rack suits, such as chest pieces and shoulder pad assemblies, offer opportunities for additional shaping and tailoring when made in traditional "full floating" constructions, that really benefit men on the extremes of standard fitting models. Look at old Cary Grant movies to see what a beautifully fitted, full floating construction suit can mean for a man's appearance, if you doubt me on this...

Face it, my friend: nature has endowed you. But all such divine gifts come with costs and responsibilities. Hi thee and thy narrow waist, large chest, and capricious loins to a custom tailor, or a similar Far Eastern establishment, and brag no more, please, in The Green.

What you really must decide, knowing how much you differ, empirically, from the norms of men's sizing, is how much frustration you are willing to endure, and how much money you are willing to waste, on "altering" standard "rack" goods, before you find a competent tailor, with whom you can work to look fantastic, in made-to-measure.

From what you've posted, I will suggest that you don't spend $1 more on rack goods, at least in suits and formal wear. You're a made-to-measure honcho, period. You need the services of good tailors, and you'll really be satisfied with nothing less.
posted by paulsc at 2:14 AM on May 30 [2 favorites]