Finding what works isn

As with most things in life, practice makes perfect in the realm of knowing how to dress. Even if you don’t need to wear business clothes in the foreseeable future, get a head start now. Start shopping for the clothes you will need. Start dressing up. This way you’ll get comfortable wearing business clothes and you’ll have a better understanding of how things go together.

For most of my life I didn’t need to dress up. I was accustomed to wearing loose fitting and flowy clothes like Hawaiian shirts and Thai fisherman pants. Yes I did have a lot of preppy clothes but they’re preppy, not business. The only times I really dressed up were for graduations, weddings, and funerals. And looking back on those photos I looked awful because I was clueless. Luckily most other people in the world are also clueless. Which means you’ll really standout when you get it right.

When I first started sporting dress shirts and ties on a regular basis, I felt like a fish out of water. I remember having trouble tying my tie. I bought shirts and trousers that didn’t fit well. I wore the wrong fabrics in the wrong seasons. My neck wasn’t used to having my shirts buttoned up all the way. Overall the outfits didn’t feel like they were my personal style.

By the time I got into the clinic I had most of the kinks ironed out: I had the dress clothes I wanted, I no longer felt awkward in what I wore, and I knew how to put together kickass outfits from head to toe.

There are a lot of nuances you simply won’t appreciate until you start getting it all together. You’ll overdo it and under do it until you find your balance. So get to it! Your future starts now.

The Importance of a good tailor in the age of ready to wear clothing

The Importance of a Tailor in the Age of Ready to Wear Clothing

Our bodies come in a wide variety of shapes and measurements. The mass produced clothes that most of us wear (also known as Ready To Wear or RTW clothing) attempt to simplify these broad ranges into a limited set of standardized sizes. While we can usually go into a store and walk out wearing something we just bought off the rack, ready to wear clothing is not designed to fit all of us perfectly.

For casual and street clothes, a perfect fit may not be that important. A half-inch off here, an inch off there is good enough. You can cover it with a sweater/jacket or adjust with a belt. But if you want to look professional, small details do matter. An outfit that fits perfectly brings congruence. It doesn’t just look good, but it also feels great.

An experienced and skilled tailor can help turn your ordinary outfit into something that looks and feels extraordinary.

Common areas of clothing to get altered
Refer to my previous tip (part 1 and part 2) on wearing clothes that fit to learn about how things should fit on you. Here are some common things to get altered by a tailor:

• Hem your pants. You should not be sweeping floors with your pants for free.
• Take in the waist. Your pants/trousers should stay up without the assistance of a belt.
• Take in a shirt or the body of a jacket. If you are a thinner build like me, you don’t always want to look like you can shoplift watermelons.
• Shorten the sleeves. The sleeves should cover your wrists and just reach the beginning of your thumbs. You shouldn’t be able to shoplift watermelons in your sleeves either.

Buying Ready to Wear Clothes
If you are buying ready to wear clothes that you want to bring to a tailor, keep in mind that a tailor cannot create additional fabric out of thin air. Don’t buy anything that’s too tight or too short unless you know there is enough fabric to let out. You want to buy stuff that fit as close to your measurements as possible.

Getting Clothes Tailor Made
If you are paying retail prices for dress clothes at midlevel retailers such as Banana Republic, J Crew, or Nordstroms, chances are that you can afford tailor made clothing. Yes, clothes made specifically to your measurements and what you want. Modern Tailor is one place that comes recommended. If you are in Asia, Hong Kong is an especially good place to go for high quality tailor made clothes at prices midlevel retailers can’t touch even during a good sale.

Finding a good tailor
A good tailor isn’t just someone who can do a good job tailoring your clothes. A good tailor is knowledgeable about fabrics, fits, trends and, most importantly, what looks good on you. A good tailor is not easy to find and they most likely do not work out of your local dry cleaners. Yes they may be more expensive than having something done at the dry cleaners but you get so much more value when you develop a good relationship with them.

If you are on the west side of Los Angeles, I highly recommend Anna’s Custom Tailoring on Washington and Redwood. She’s a sweet Italian lady who is highly skilled and very knowledgeable. I also suggest checking on Yelp.com for good tailors near you.

Next tip: Personal Hygiene

Wear a jacket that fits!

Blazers and Suit Jackets
When trying on suit jackets and blazers, be sure to wear a dress shirt or bring one with you shopping. This way you know exactly how the jacket will look and fit. The more fashion-forward designers are making jackets tighter and shorter nowadays. I don’t recommend them. Trends change every 12-18 months. Focus on getting timeless classic fitting jackets to get the most mileage out of your wardrobe.

Fashion-forward suits are shorter and tighter fitting. Great for a night out but not so appropriate for business.

How should your jacket fit? 
• Check your fit with the jacket buttoned. Convention is button the top button and leave the bottom unbuttoned. Don’t button all the buttons on your jacket!
• Shoulders should fit snug. And say no to shoulder pads!
• Length should be long enough to cover your butt but not any longer.
• The jacket cuffs should end a half-inch to three-quarter inch before reaching your hand. It should never rest against the back of your hand, and it should never touch the base of your palm.
• The shirt cuffs are meant to be seen just a little bit. The amount visible ranges from a quarter to half-inch of shirt cuff.
• The jacket and shirt collars should next to each other in the back. There shouldn’t get a gap.
• The jacket’s collar should leave about a half- inch of your dress shirt’s collar visible.
• Fit should be trim yet comfortable but not roomy. No areas of puckering or creasing of fabric. If you can fit a bulletproof vest inside your jacket, it’s too big. If you have trouble buttoning your jacket or raising your hand up to flag a taxi, it is too small.
• At the end of the day, chances are you will need to take it to a tailor to get it altered so it fits you like a glove.

How to find your size? Jackets sizes are based on your chest measurement and your height. For example, 36R (“thirty six regular”) means it is for a 36” chest and regular length. Regular length is for people 5’8” to 6’. If you are 5’7” or shorter, try a short, or S. If you are 6’ to 6’3”, you will need a long, or L. As always, try stuff on to make sure you have the right size.

Next up: Tip#2 – Use a tailor!

Author’s note: I would like to acknowledge Alejandro Morales Jr for his contributions to this series of articles. Thanks Alejandro!