What is the best fit for your suit?
-Or why is there so much nonsense on the internet about how a suit should fit you perfectly-
So, are all suit fitting advice on the internet really nonsense? Shouldn't there be some clear guidelines we can just follow and voila, we're wearing our perfect fitting suit?
Of course, not all suit fitting advice is nonsense, but often it is simply not applicable for most readers and as a result it becomes nonsense for someone who tries to follow it. But why am I so harsh about such solid and good advice? Usually you can read about it in highly ranked magazines and a few good blogs. They show you excellent info graphics or pictures and explain how a perfect fit should look. I must admit, once in a while I do get envious about all the effort taken by some of these writers to make their point. I, on the other hand, am going to take an entirely different approach here. I certainly do not intend to show you any professional, glossy info graphics or pictures where a red arrow points to the “mistakes” by the wearer, contrasted with other pictures of the right way to wear your suit jacket. It might very well turn out to be nonsense advice to the reader. I prefer a more subtle approach here; one that is not just black and white but rather grey, which means you need to start thinking for yourself as well.
In my opinion, it is the complexity of a perfect fitted suit, which makes it quite difficult to give general advice without it ending up being useless. It all depends on the wearer of the suit, the wife of the wearer (yes you read it right - I will come back to this influence later) and of course the tailor who is tailoring the bespoke suit for the man or the woman who is looking for the perfect fitting suit. Furthermore, it does matter whether the suit fitting is done before or after lunch; whether the customer is relaxed and in a good mood or is rushing in from a terrible meeting with the boss. All of these will affect how you feel about the ideal fit of your tailored suit. Believe it or not, in my opinion, 'feel' is the only thing that really matters in a perfect fitting suit.
Let me give you an example in relation to the length of the suit jacket. My standard advice here is that the length should ideally be up to the mid-knuckle of your thumb when you stand relaxed with your arms down. And guess what, this is usually very good advice, but sometimes it just does not make any sense and my well intentioned advice ends up being meaningless for the wearer. This can be the case when my customer is an older gentleman who likes to wear his jacket long, almost as long as an over coat. How could you possibly convince this person to wear his jacket according to my advice and still feel comfortable about it? He simply won't be convinced. Even if by some remote chance he agrees to go along with my well-meaning advice, he may not voice out his discomfort. Very likely he may never wear it simply because he does not feel it suits him, despite the fact that it does physically suit him very well. Or, when the wife of a gentleman sees the latest Milano Fashion show and insists that jackets have to be short and should just come down to the end of his pants zipper. How would this make any sense with regard to my standard advice on the length of a jacket? Even my (diplomatic) comment that his physique does not even remotely resemble a Milano male fashion model, would be dismissed with a wave of the hand. It is very simple, if she nods he will feel good about it and that will determine his ideal jacket length. You see, all the well-meaning advice in the world cannot beat the 'feel'. And let's not further complicate matters with details such as different lengths for the front and the back of jackets. Typically, the length of the front of a jacket and the back can vary by one inch, but this is a topic by itself and would need an entire article.
Let me give you another example where feel is definitely a better indicator of perfect fit compared to a standard rule. The shoulder fit: my standard advice for a comfortable fit at the shoulder is that the seam of the sleeves and shoulder on the suit should meet where your shoulder joint can be felt. Ensure that the rounding is smooth and as close to the shoulder as possible and voila the perfect fitting suit jacket ((at the shoulder) is yours. But hold it. How about someone who works out and has well-built arm and shoulder muscles. This customer may feel that instead of showing the full width of his shoulder, his suit should be tailored to look smoother by shortening the actual shoulder length to make his arms appear a bit longer, just the half inch? This would be the correct adjustment to make, otherwise his already well-built shoulders would seem even bigger and he would look more like an American Football player wearing his gear under his jersey. Hence, my well-meant advice is not suitable for such a gentleman. Or take an opposite case, a gentleman who is very slim with a small built. Would it not make sense to give him a better feeling by adjusting his shoulder to appear a bit wider than they really are? That involves broadening his shoulder length in contrast to my standard length advice? I truly believe it would make him feel better despite “violating” my well-meaning standard advice.
I can go on with a longer list of examples but I trust that you've gotten my point.
Summary
There's no doubt about it, 'feel' beats well-meaning advice anytime, when it comes to suit fitting. Hence, go ahead and read the good advice on the internet but ultimately decide based on your gut feeling rather than some one size fits all fashion advice, which does not take into account the unique individuals who will actually be wearing the suits.
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