Getting a lot of pushback on the idea that you need more than two weeks to shop for a suit. I think this is bc most people don't know how a suit should fit. So here are five things people often overlook
I've already talked about collar gaps. This can be caused by various things: a tight chest, shoulder slope doesn't match your own, or jacket doesn't fit ur posture. From this, you can see how fit is a 3D concept, not as simple as chest size
Another common issue is shoulder divots, which is when you see an indentation on the sleevehead. This can be caused by poor make. Or an overly narrow shoulder, esp across back. Sometimes can be fix by alteration; sometimes not.
3. Jacket is Too Tight
If the chest is too tight, the lapels may also buckle away from the body. If the waist is too tight, you will see pulling at the waist button when it's fastened.
4. Jacket is Too Short
A good rule of thumb is that the jacket should always cover your bum. A better rule of thumb is that the jacket should bisect you halfway between your collar and the floor when you're wearing heeled shoes.
5. Sleeve Pitch
Sometimes the jacket's sleeves don't match the natural way your arms hang. This will cause drag lines when you are standing naturally. This can be a very difficult and expensive alteration, which is why you should take time to shop around
6. Balance
A coat's hem should hang evenly when viewed from the side, or the front can be slightly lower than the back. However, the front should never be higher than the back. This will make the coat look like it's riding up on you.
7. Overly Long Back Rise
RTW manufacturers often build pants with an overly long back rise to sell suits to a broader range of ppl. But as a result, the trousers end up collapsing under the seat. Look at yourself in a three-way mirror and aim for a clean fit
These are just some basic fit issues. Then there's the issue of how you want the silhouete to look—clean, drapey, elongating, rounded, etc. See this post on how to understand silhouettes in tailoring
Ultimately, any garment, whether a suit or casualwaer, is about making you look and feel good. But it takes a while to train your eye. This requires sampling things and mulling for a while. I wouldn't want you to plunk $1k on something and regret it later.
If you want to learn more about how tailored clothing should fit, you can read these posts:
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.