The jacket is pretty good in that there's minimal waist pulling, and the collar hugs his neck even as he moves his arms. The main issue is that the sleeves are too slim, causing them to catch on his arms. Compare this to the second pic, where sleeves drape cleanly.
If I were in charge of his fitting, I would also shorten both the shirt and jacket sleeves so they don't look like they're enveloping his hand. The slimness of his jacket sleeve is also causing the French cuff to push out against the jacket. Not ideal
Compare that to these sleeves, which are
1. Fuller 2. Drape cleaner 3. At the correct length, such that they only show a sliver of shirt cuff and end around the person's wrist bone.
Tailor the shirt first, then adjust the jacket according to the shirt.
The main issue I see with a lot of Elon's tailored outfits is that he likes to wear cowboy boots, which is fine as a concept. But his trousers are often too slim for the boots. This results in the tops (the boot's shaft) pushing out against the trouser legs.
We see this happening here. The tops of the cowboy boots are pushing against the trouser legs, which is then causing the trousers to crumple. This is not very elegant.
Compare the above to Bush's black tie + cowboy boot combination. The fuller trousers drape more cleanly across the tops of the boots. This looks more elegant.
Cowboy boots have a very high vamp (the part of the shoe that covers the top of your foot). In other words, the boots slope up very high. If your trousers are too slim or have not been properly tailored, they will catch and crumple. See the fullness of GWB's trousers here:
If Elon wants to wear slim trousers with boots, he should get side-zips. Cowboy boots need to have wide tops. Otherwise, you would not be able to slip your foot in. However, side zips can be opened and then closed via the zipper, making the shaft slimmer. These are from Tecovas:
In fact, in the 1970s, Frank Sinatra had dozens of side-zips made for him by various bespoke shoemakers based in California and London. He wore these on stage with dinner suits (aka tuxedos) and dark worsted suits while singing. They also had a higher heel.
In this video, you can see a young Bill Bird at Peens, a tree-making operation once owned by John Lobb (the bespoke firm in London, not the ready-made firm in Paris). Bird is failing to be discreet about their famous customer as he shows off Sinatra’s lasts.
However, Elon should wear fuller trousers. Doing so will create a more streamlined silhouette, going from his jacket to his trousers. This will give the impression of a more harmonious whole rather than breaking the top and bottom halves into distinct blocks.
Black tie is fundamentally party clothes, so they can be fun. You can wear tartan velvet dinner jackets with Prince Albert slippers or Belgian loafers if you want. But a governing principle should be elegance. Widening sleeves and pants here will help in this regard.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
We should first start with some definitions. Technically speaking, these are not monograms.
A monogram is a motif where two or more letters are interlaced in such a way that you can't remove one letter without distorting the others. Here is a SAB monogram where the S forms the crossbar on the A and B. If you removed the letters S, A, or B, the symbol would lose meaning
Have you ever felt that the average person dressed better in the past? IMO, the reason has nothing to do with respectability, body shape, or even suits.
It has to do with the loss of what I call "shape and drape." 🧵
Let's start with some definitions. The term shape refers to silhouette, which is the shape of our clothes when we remove all the details (i.e., the outfit's outline). Notice that Hepburn's outfits have a distinctive shape that's not just her human form.
In this thread, the term "drape" refers to how the fabric hangs and moves. In most cases—although not always—you want the fabric to hang cleanly, that is, without puckering, pulling, or wrinkling (although later, we'll see this is complicated). Drape also refers to movement.
Most people would not describe Trump as someone who wears slim-fit clothes. But here, we can see his trousers are quite slim in relationship to his body. You can tell because the hem barely covers the opening of his shoes.
If you're a heavier man who wears a suit with slim-fit trousers, you end up breaking the top and bottom halves into distinct blocks. Notice how much the jacket hangs over the trousers. There's a lot of empty space between the jacket's front edge and his pants.
Aside from the fact that this guy sells online courses on how to get rich, I will explain why it's obvious from his clothes that he's not an aristocrat but rather a middle-class striver. 🧵
When I use the term "aristocrat," I'm referring to the ruling class in Europe with hereditary rank and titles. For the sake of this thread, I will mostly focus on Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries, as that's where we get most of our norms regarding classic men's style.
For much of history, men had their clothes made by tailors or women in their homes. Ready-made clothing was limited to slaves, miners, and sailors. That was until the mid-19th century, when ready-made clothes and shoes started coming out of the industrial revolution.
IMO, the best way to have these conversations is to start with what inspires you. When it comes to men's tailoring, I think the period between the 1930s and 1980s, especially as these clothes were worn by certain people, is the most beautiful (in the genre of men's tailoring).
If you agree with this, then it helps to understand the underlying principles that make this aesthetic appealing. At its core, this style derived from a period of time when men had wardrobes divided between city and country.
In this thread, I will talk about some dos and don'ts of men's tailoring using one of my favorite style icons, George Costanza. 🧵
1. Don't wear suit jackets by themselves
If you do, make sure the jacket can convincingly pass as a sport coat. DeSantis' is obvs wearing a suit jacket bc the fabric is smooth and shiny. George is wearing a slightly textured jacket with brass buttons (making it a blazer).
2. Formal suits should be worn with ties
By formal suit, I mean something you'd wear to a business meeting. Navy or grey, made from a smooth, sometimes shiny wool. These really benefit from having a bit of decoration between the jacket's front edges.