The Role of Tailoring in Achieving 'Effective' Fit
At one point this thread https://discord.com/channels/1116793467654381685/1228819227658424372 in questions and advice strayed a little off-topic and @toasterhacker9001 said (references to specific points from original thread omitted for length):
I think this is probably a better space to have this larger discussion aa there are rwo major questions - 1) how necessary is tailoring to achieve a fit or clothing acceptable for the workplace, especially if you're not the 'traditional' build (for purposes of this argument, average height and proportion) and 2) are there appropriate fits that don't require tailoring, or which are different from the "traditional" silhouette expressed above?
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Also brands
Every piece fits differently, and I simply don't have the time and money to explore them all, although I have tried
If there's anyone who knows of hidden gems, please share
hold on, there was a good inspo thread on the sub about this (due to similar arguments), lemme see if i can dig it up
Its doomed rip
anyway depends on your workplace
if you wear a blazer or sportcoat
ya thats gonna need to be tailored
same with a suit
oh heck no i aint that fancy
but agree
if you wear a dress shirt or OCBD and like a sweater or something you really don't need tailoring
What's OCBD
Oxford Collar Cloth Button Down
like th shirts gonna be tucked anyway and i think waist size really doesn't matter
and i have a big drop
... what is a drop
difference between your chest size and waist size (normally in suits, eg a drop 8 might be a size 42 in jackets and size 34 in pants)
my drop is like 10-12 depending on vanity
Ah ok yeah
Whenever I wear shirts tucked in I get tons of billowing and bagginess around the belly so I think I also have a big drop
looks fine
Hey man if you don’t know the term “drop” maybe you shouldn’t broadcast any sort of opinions on tailored clothing whatsoever
eg: this is a vintage, completely untailored, brooks OCBD
high waisted, wider fit pant would help here
only tailoring those pants got was a hem too
makes the dorito shape of the upper body more pronounced and balances out the legs proportion
ya a high waist pant with pleats will solve all these issues
thats what im wearing there
ive fucked with ivy i got examples of minimally tailored "dressyish" clothing
same pants, only tailor done here was shortening the jacket sleeves and hemming the pants
(and tied my tie too long)
Those pants are great ngl
pants similarly got a hem
this polo is knitted and can't be tailored, but i just flip the waistband cause im short and its fine:
rugby is untailored:
only thing here that is tailored is the pants were hemmed and the shirt sleeves were shortened, and you could easily switch the pants to something less extreme if you don't like that
only tailoring here was hemming the pants:
None of these are extremely fashion forward
and yes some of the designs are loud, thats what i like, but im just showing the example you really don't need to tailor that much even if you are muscular
and in terms of professionalism i work for a government contractor and the few times i've gone in-office i've never had an issue or received judgment for wearing wide pleated pants
Pleats are good, actually
like ive said, now is legitimately the best time in fashion to be muscular and into fashion lol
also! as someone with big quads and narrower shoulders a higher rise and pleats help balance things out visually
im also pretty sure @metcarfre doesn't tailor his clothes that much and his waywt has lots of his work outfits that are pretty solidly bizcaz
and he powerlifts at a pretty high level
all this to say there's a larger spread of 'acceptable' fits that support a professional workplace and most of what i posted easily scales up to larger builds (imo more easily as the 'structure' is better defined, like with @smiles or @rej - "little man" )
basically most of the tailoring will be sleeve length or hemming pants, which is normal for everyone (not just muscular people), and can be skipped sometimes
jackets like what @zeometer wears will be more challenging
that is true
but you can also use less formal jackets for similar effects, see @artvandelayimporting for great examples of how almost any jacket will work over a shirt and tie
This is all really helpful tysm
and honestly if you're in a "smart casual" office, depending on your industry stuff like this might be fine outright
cardi is a great hack
cardigans and sweaters are easy to wear over a shirt and look good and formal with minimal effort
The biggest thing for me with pants is the waist, though. @smiles , you've got those green pants that look like they fit you really well. What's your approach to searching for pants that fit? I'm about 28 in the waist and waist sizes 31-33 fit on the thighs, so there must be more to it than just walking into a department store
well, belt is always a good hack
right one is fire and would absolutely be acceptable
right one is a pair of levis 501s
The green fatigues in question may have side adjusters which also help
i forgot i did size those pants wrong slightly and had to bring the waist in, but thats cause i proxied them from japan and couldn't return them, i bought cargos from the same brand later a size down and they fit fine so its a skill issue. They do have size adjusters
Its basically just look for straight/wide cuts. Levi's 550s, J. Crew Giant fit, the pants are just OG-107 fatigue replicas (Vietnam era US Army Fatigues), the wool pants are Todd Snyder "Officer Chinos"
PRL Andrew pants fit well too, bought these vintage ones off ebay and didn't touch em:
like i don't buy pants without thigh measurements
but the thing about muscular is wider pants will often look like less wide pants on you
if you're willing to go secondhand, the pants for 2-5 were all secondhand polo ralph lauren andrews or hammonds pants which are common on ebay; i went one size up to exaggerate the pleats but true to (waist) size would look fine and achieve a similar result
eg: these are 90s Levi's 550s, fits kinda bad but hey its old
re. jeans i shoved myself into levis 511s for the longest time before realizing other cuts looked better lol. this is the same shirt but with 501s vs 550s
these pants fit me fine with only a hem and they are from ALD who pretty much only does straight cut pants
honestly it just depends on how tight it is, i lucked out and that polo has a tight waistband
it doesn't always work, supposedly theres a way to tie a shoelace around you and use that to blouse the shirt/sweater but i have found it too finicky
some you might be able to tuck in and blouse over the pants a bit
if its knit its a pain/impossible to tailor, if it isn't knit then yes a tailor could make it tighter (but you mind as well just hem it instead)
to be fair a lot of my length issues are excerbated by lifting, as i wear size L-XL and I'm 5'8", so most are cut for taller men than me. But i generally can make it work
if its sized Neck-Sleeve length thats easier
I think that the default for healthily interacting with fashion is "I am beautiful these clothes are fun to wear." It's when your internal monologue is "I am not beautiful unless..." That it starts to become a problem.
There's a sort of magical thinking. "If I just have ABC perfectly tailored items of clothes I will be beautiful." That I fall into. I... I really want to be beautiful. I really want to be admired.
To an extent I think that there is a bit of the placebo effect in fashion. When you wear clothes that the old ladies at the bus stop say look good, you feel good and carry yourself differently. When you believe you look good you carry yourself differently. Fashion is a form of self expression. And often that is important, because it is a hallmark of the kind of people we are: a stamp of what we are likely to be which people respond to. But hallmarks only work because they are a mark of people: it is people who are looked at, and make impressions over time.
Now I'm not going to say this is a bad thing. Some of my favourite shirts are shirts I wear because someone thought I would look good in them myself. It helped build my confidence. This is a forum for fashion enthusiasts. And as such people are very into finding their own style. But... Fashion is also about fitting in, being liked, being responded to well. So I think there is value in tailoring, simply because of the confidence it can give you.
oxford cloth button down
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