Want to do a quick thread on how to dress if you're a larger guy. There's not a lot of info or inspiration online about this, and I feel this leads people to think that they don't have options or can't dress well bc of their body type.
First, why don't we have much inspo online? Few reasons:
1) Fashion industry doesn't include larger male models 2) Not many well-dressed men in general. So the subset of stylish, large guys who post online is small 3) A hidden reason: a problem with grading
Grading refers to how companies create paper patterns for new sizes. A pattern is like the architectural blueprint for any garment. A company will create a sample (typically in size 40) and then grade up and down to get the patterns for sizes 36, 38, 42, and 44.
Once you hit a certain size, you can't grade from a size 40 w/o throwing off proportions. You have to create a new pattern. Many companies don't do this bc it costs $. Combined with the slim-fit trend, this has led a lot of larger guys to have bad shopping experiences.
Dressing is also very personal and can bring out our insecurities. Whenever I tweet about a certain style (e.g. double-breasted suits or long coats), someone will say "can't wear that if you're big" or "can't wear that if you're short."
There is such a thing as dressing for your body type. But I feel that, bad shopping experiences and insecurity can lead a lot of guys to feel like they have to wear anonymous clothes. When someone says, "I don't think I can wear that," I hear, "I don't want to be perceived."
So how can you dress well if you're a larger dude? Let me introduce my buddy David, who is one of the best-dressed guys I know. He's a high school art teacher and leather craftsman who lives in Rochester, New York.
When David teaches, he wears tailored clothing. But since we live in a dressed-down world, he mostly relies on sport coats instead of suits. The tailoring here fits well: no puckering or pulling. Clean drape across the chest. Coat ends halfway btw collar & floor. Very classic!
He also wears suits for fun. Again, notice the proportions on this black corduroy suit: high-waisted trousers to lengthen the leg line (low-waisted trousers are unflattering on heavier men). Coat buttons comfortably. Lapel ends halfway btw collar and shoulder seam.
When you're a larger dude, tailoring often doesn't have enough cloth at the front. So when you look at yourself from the side, the front of the coat's hem will be higher than the back. This is bad. The hem should be even. Or the front can be lower than the back.
The other thing you'll notice is that David is not wearing super slim-fit pants. Slim-fit pants often create a disjointed silhouette from your torso to your legs. Hollande below looks like a popsicle stick. Akihito's silhouette is better bc the jacket flows into legs.
For casualwear, David relies on workwear. I think this is great bc it plays to his strengths. IMO, larger or athletically built guys often look better than very slim guys in their workwear. Their build works with the style. This is better than trying to squeeze into Saint Laurent
These sorts of casual fits are also great for his other job, working as a craftsman who makes custom leather watch straps. You need to dress for a lifestyle. But again, notice that the proportions fit him, and they're not overly slim. Combos are coherent and not wacky.
One of the nice things about having a wardrobe composed of tailoring and workwear is that you can easily mix and match. The sport coats here are made from textured materials—tweed and hospack—which looks coherent with denim (don't wear smooth suit jackets with jeans).
Something to notice is that David's style is not anonymous. It's not just flat-front chinos with a dress shirt. His tailoring fits well, he has some fun suits (black corduroy), and his casualwear has a point of view (workwear with cool outerwear). Silhouettes are flattering.
But even when he dresses simply, he looks great bc the clothes fit well. Clothes should be built for movement. Don't buy stuff where the top is so small, you can't hug someone. Top so short that you can't reach up, or pants so low rise you can't bend down.
If you're into watches, David makes some of the best custom leather watch straps. He's a watch enthusiast himself and can suggest the right leathers. Everything is hand-sewn by him in NY. Follow him at @davidlanedesign, IG davidlanedesign, and his site:
Style lessons from Robert Redford, one of the most stylish men in the last century. 🧵
A tailored jacket continues to be one of the most flattering things you can wear. However, for it to look good, it has to fit right. That means a jacket that bisects you halfway from your collar to the floor when you're in heeled shoes. Also trouser + suit jacket silhouette flows
It also helps to know how to use this visual language, especially with regard to ideas about formality. For instance, a dark business suit cries out for a tie. If you don't want to wear a tie, try a more casual garment, like a sport coat.
Let's start with a test. Here are two tan polo coats. One is machine-made. The other is handmade. Can you guess which is which?
Please answer before moving on. Then you can scroll through the answers to see whether most people got it right.
The first coat is machine-made. It's from an American ready-to-wear company called J. Press. The second is handmade. It's from a London bespoke tailoring house called Anderson & Sheppard.
You can spot the difference by how the edges are finished.
I've seen people here suggest Obama was a stylish president. I couldn't disagree more. Outfits like these read better in 2025, but during the slim-fit, Euro style craze of his presidency, Obama was routinely panned for his "frumpy dad style." See Vanity Fair.
His style transformation really came post-presidency. I suspect, but don't have proof, that this is partly the influence of his wife, who is quite stylish. Even his suits look better now. See clean shoulder line + shirt collar points reaching lapels + nice four-in-hand dimple.
Although it's rarely expressed in outright terms, people often use a very simple heuristic when solving fashion problems: they wish to look rich, which is often disguised as "respectable."
I will show you why this rarely leads to good outfits. 🧵
In 1902, German sociologist Georg Simmel neatly summed up fashion in an essay titled "On Fashion." Fashion, he asserted was simply a game of imitation in which people copy their "social betters." This causes the upper classes to move on, so as to distinguish themselves.
He was right. And his theory explains why Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor, was the most influential menswear figure in the early 20th century. By virtue of his position and taste, he popularized soft collars, belted trousers, cuffs, Fair Isle sweaters, and all sorts of things.
It's funny to see people imbue traditional men's tailoring with their own prejudices. They assume every man who wore a suit in the far past must be a staunch conservative like them. The truth is much more complicated. 🧵
This bias, of course, stems out of the 1960s and 70s, from which many of our contemporary politics also spring. I don't need to belabor this point because you already know it. The framing is neatly summed up in this Mad Men scene — the rag tag hippie vs man in a suit.
Thus, people assume that men in suits must always be part of the conservative establishment. But this was not always so. The suit was once a working man's garment. When Keir Hardie, founder of the Labour Party, arrived for his first day in Parliament, he wore a suit.
There's no "right" or "wrong" answer here, so feel free to go with your gut. I will then give you my views below. 🧵
In men's tailoring, the area below the jacket's buttoning point is colloquially known as the "quarters" among menswear enthusiasts. Or the "front edge" by actual tailors. These terms refer to the edge of the coat, connecting to lapels.
Some suit jackets have very closed quarters, such as you see on the left. In this way, the jacket forms a Y-shaped silhouette.
Other suits have open quarters, such that the front edge sweeps back on the hips, as you see on the right. This forms an X-shaped silhouette.