Formal shirt fit driving me insane...
I really like to push the boat out in my work wear, wearing neutral chinos with neutral shirts every day basically, maybe chucking in a quaterzip here and there - very avantguarde I know, might be too crazy!
I am really struggling with shirt fit though: without exception all shirts I've tried are either far too tight around the chest or far too baggy around the waist. My (actual, not shirt) measurements are 15.5" neck , 42-43" chest, 31" waist - none of these are abnormal measurements but it seems that any shirt that fits my neck and chest is designed to fit a 37" waist with acres of flapping material, and anything that reasonably fits a 31" waist makes me look like I'm trying to do a superman impression.
I do prefer a more tailored fit (but not a very tight/skinny fit) in shirts; baggy shirts drive me nuts and I'll just sit there constantly pulling and tugging them to try and make them fit properly. Can anyone recommend any UK available options that might fit my build, or am I destined to just commit to custom tailored shirts? I would like to ditch the shirt and chinos altogether, but old habits die very very hard with me. Realistically I wouldn't want to be spending more than £125 per shirt, although sub £75 would be ideal. Cheers!
(will also happily receive the reasonably due criticism of the shirts and chino fit)
3 Replies
You're gonna need to get the waist of shirts taken in with a 11 to 12 inch difference between chest and waist. Most men's clothing is designed for a 6 to 8 inch difference.
My tailor charges £10 to take in the waist on a shirt fwiw.
Hawes and Curtis, Tyrwhitt and TM Lewin are well within your budget especially if you use their offers.
I feel a bit silly that I hadn't even thought about having off the rack shirts taken in by a tailor! Appreciate the advice
It's a pretty simple alteration, if you have access to a sewing machine and some old shirts or t-shirts you can probably teach yourself to do it in an afternoon with a bit of YouTube help.