Posts related to fit

A few weeks ago I was getting dressed for work one morning, and put on a shirt I hadn’t worn in a little while. Something felt off, in that I wanted the shirt to fall a little higher around my waste. It was slightly longer than I wanted. Did it look bad? Probably not. But did I want it perfect? Yes I did. Needless to say, I changed shirts and and left for work.

I came to the realization while driving that everything doesn’t need to be perfect. The shirt I chose not to wear wasn’t too slim or too baggy. It didn’t have bizarre colors/patterns. We are talking less than an inch in length that I was being picky about. And that’s dumb.

We can’t stress the importance of fit enough though. It’s one of the main things that separates an OK outfit from a great outfit. And how you define your style doesn’t mean that every item of clothing has the perfect fit. There are definitely important aspects about fit, like making sure your clothing fits your body type. But don’t try to make everything perfect. It’s a dead end street.

There’s a topic that’s been stirring around the ACS conversations for a while now, and we think it’s a good time to address it. I recently had a brief Twitter debate on styles vs. brands vs. age appropriate clothing. While I’ve already addressed how to think of styles vs brands, we want to start talking about dressing your age.

We aren’t going to break down age brackets here yet, but plan on doing so over the next few newsletters. But here are a few thoughts to keep in mind if you’re having trouble determining how to dress your age.

I recently had a brief debate on Twitter about many of the brands we’ve recommended vs the age group they appeal to. And I wanted to make clear that we are not targeting any specific age group. We are all about helping out any guy that needs help, whether he’s 18 or 50.

Here’s the thing, good style is all about just that…the style. And fit is extremely important as well. The brands that we regularly mention here on the site or newsletter are brands that we’ve found to work for our body types. If they didn’t fit us well, we wouldn’t talk about them.

But we don’t know every brand and body type. What we write and show you is to give you visual inspiration on how to dress better. Not “buy this brand”. You have to find the brands that work for you, and if you’re having trouble with that, we can certainly help. Just ask.

There are certainly styles that will work better for a younger guy than an older guy, and the same vice versa. But there are tons of styles that work across all age groups and body types.

So don’t focus on the brands so much as the style. Where you buy from doesn’t matter so much as how it looks and fits your body. When you nail down your style/fit, then you focus more towards the brands that accomplish those things best for you. But also don’t be so quick to write off a brand because you think it’s for younger/older guys.

In the coming weeks/months, we will start addressing different age groups and body types, because this is an important issue to address. So stay tuned for that, and subscribe to the newsletter so you don’t miss it.

The first suit I bought was just after college from JC Penney. It was black, baggy, and cheap feeling. Not a good look. But I didn’t know better, nor did the salesman that told me the suit looked great. Shame on him. And shame on me. It wasn’t until I got my next grey suit, and visited a tailor, that I realized how important the fit of a suit is and the variety of options you can wear to make a suit shine.

For a long time I never considered using a tailor. My clothes seemed to fit fine. But once I started to take my style more seriously, I figured I’d give it a try. I found a tailor close to my house and took an old pair of jeans there. I tried explaining to her what I was looking for and she seemed to not pay attention to what I was saying. This turned out to be true. When I went back a week later, the fit was too slim and she cut the pants too short. She would never get any more of my business.

Weeks later I bought my first $100+ pair of jeans that were too long and needed some slimming. I found Ali – a highly recommended tailor on Yelp. Upon arriving, Ali asked me how I found him and other questions about myself. We then chatted as he took measurements and pinned the backside of the legs of my jeans to show me what the outcome would look like before I said yes. It felt odd at first but I trusted that he knew his craft. We chatted a bit longer before I left. I felt like I had made a new friend.

A week later I show up and I’m greeted by an enthusiastic Ali. He has me try on the altered jeans. They were absolutely perfect. The fit was exactly what I requested. I highly underestimated the feel of a tailored fit. From then on I told myself that I’d never not use a tailor for my clothes.