Paging suit wearers

Those people who advertise in the papers offering to measure you up in
England and have some bloke in Hong Kong run you up a suit for 20p. Are they
any good?

I'm likely be getting a proper English tailor made suit done too, but it'd
be handy to have a spare. OTOH if the HK ones are particularly decent, I'm
not likely to wear a suit more than 14 days a year, so I might be able to
pocket the cash different.

And WTF sort of suit do I want? It'll be for work - meeting clients and the
like.

 

Double breasted, two rows of buttons, no vents.
Turn-ups on the trousers.
A plain gray with the gayest Paisley pattern lining.

HTH

 

Are you on crack mate?

 

OK, the gaily coloured lining is optional.

 

Jeez, I'm with Blaney on matters sartorial.

Whatever next, eh?

 

single breasted, single vented, 4 button cuffs[1]. In dark grey/
charcoal. Or very dark blue with white pin-stripe or mid-brown with
white pinstripe. Avoid prince-of-wales check unless you want everyone
to think you're some manner of ****.

[1] and for proper kudos, make sure the cuff buttons actually work[2]
[2] but never unbutton them.

 

Why do suits have buttons on the cuff when no-one ever undoes them? I
assume it's some kind of a hangover from when sleeves where slimmer and
you couldn't get your hands through, but surely they could be done away
with now.

But that sounds ghastly!

Quite true.

<fx:thinks>

Oh. I had a P-of-W check suit once...

 

you're right, and it's largely a style thing. I do have one suit with
opening buttons on the cuff (this is called a "doctor's cuff" for
fairly obvious reasons). I don't think any of my suit (or other
tailored) jackets have no buttons, but there is a variation between 3
and 4 buttons (less than this is gauche)

I have such a suit on right now. Perhaps "mid-brown" isn't quite
right, it's approximately the colour of plain chocolate, with a very
fine bias-stitched pin-stripe.This suit is actually double-vented,
British style, despite having Italian style tapering, but in general I
prefer a single vent. Unvented suit jackets are for pimps, and only a
clown would consider a triple-vented jacket.

****.

 

I wouldn't know the difference between British and Italian style anyway.

And I don't think I've ever chosen or rejected a suit based on the
number of vents.

Harsh - it was a long time ago.

 

Whilst you may not know which is actually which, you probably would
notice the difference.

It's worth noting that generally stuff sold in the UK as
"Italian" (and I'm looking sternly in the direction of M&S here) isn't
actually Italian styled at all.

me neither, I just prefer the way single-vented jackets hang, and are
less prone to creasing up at the back. But if I like everything else
about the suit, I won't dismiss it because it's double-vented.

 

indeed not. The only fella around here who wears one is Sir.D. the
chairman, and he's about 108, with a belly like a hippo, and he needs
double-breasted in order to be able to button it.

 

You're probably right. Just a guess, but I suspect that my build
wouldn't suit[1] Italian style, anyway.

Oh.

[1] Pun intended.

 

In communiqué

One of the great joys of semi-retirement is not ever having to wear a
suit again except for wedding, christenings and funerals (no chance of
an MBE or an invitation to a Royal garden party).

<scans contents of wardrobe>

I really should get round to sending all of them except one to Oxfam.

Single breasted, single vented, 3 or 4 button cuffs, dark grey or dark
blue with white pin stripe. With the exception of my court suit. The
same, but double breasted. Gives an air of gravitas when under cross
examination by some **** of a barrister. For best effect, set off with a
pair of half moon reading glasses, for staring over.



--

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| Pete Fisher at Home: |
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| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 |
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i think you could have stopped after "why do suits".

ridiculously impractical clothing.

 

unless you're wide across the shoulders and slim at the waist, you're
probably right.

 

I dunno, it might go nicely with a wing collar and some spats.

 

I actually like wearing a suit to work, but I wouldn't wear one
outside of work.

I've only ever been in court once - I don't make a habit of it.

 

Yes, I've fairly wide shoulders...

....awww...bugger.

 

for me the answer is "I work in a fairly conservative financial
services company where all of the business users I interact with wear
suits". Also, wearing a suit means there's a lot less of a choice to
have to be made in the morning regarding what to wear.

actually, unless you want to - for the sake of an example - ride a
motorcycle, suits are perfectly practical - a decent suit jacket has
lots of handy pockets to put your mobiles, keys, small change,
travelcard, wallet etc.

 

actually, I have on a black shirt and walnut gusset-sided chelsea
boots.