HOW TO MAKE A PERFECT STYLE AND FIT FOR MEN

Adjustments: Making an Okay Fit into a Good Fit

If you apply a standard of perfect fit to everything you try on, very few items of clothing will make the grade.

The reality is that, unless you have a body with the exact same measurements that got programmed
into the factory machines, all off-the-rack clothes are going to have an imperfect fit somewhere.
And that's fine. The trick is knowing which imperfect fits can be easily (and cheaply) turned into
perfect ones by a skilled tailor.

Minor adjustments are cheap and quick. They're the secret weapon of all the stylish men you know. If
a guy looks consistently sharp, you can bet he gets his clothes adjusted.

The following list describes the cheapest and easiest clothing adjustments. These are the places you
can accept a little bit of a bad fit in the changing room, since you know you'll be having them adjusted
anyway:

• trouser length (easy to shorten)
• shirt waist looseness (easy to take in)
• cuff length (a little tougher than trousers, but still simple)
• jacket waist looseness (a little pricier than shirts, but not too bad)

In all cases, it's easier to take something that's too loose or too long and make it smaller. Tailors are
limited by the amount of cloth in the garment. They can't make a sleeve longer than whatever spare
cloth is lurking under the hem.

More difficult adjustments include the width of a collar, the length of a jacket, and the shoulders of a
shirt or jacket. Those are going to be challenging and expensive to have altered, so don't by clothes
that don't already fit well in those areas.

Remember, this is the base of the style pyramid and the first thing you should check any clothing you
buy for. If it won't fit with minimal adjustments, don't buy it.

That applies equally to everything from suits on down to your underwear. A bad fit is unsightly and
uncomfortable. Skip it.

Fabric

Here we use "fabric" as a shorthand for the material and construction of the garment overall.
The idea here is a pretty simple one: you want to buy clothes that will make you look good and that
will last for years.

That sometimes requires adjusting what you think of as a "reasonable" price for clothing. The best
brands are never going to compete with stores like Target or Walmart for price, but by paying a little
more up front you often get a better long-term investment.

Think of it this way: if you can buy one pair of $100 jeans that lasts the better part of a decade, you're
spending less than you would buying $30 jeans that need replacing every two years.

Raw Material Quality Check

In the world of high-end custom tailoring, most bespoke suits have their prices listed based on the
bolt of cloth used.

That's because the raw material is one of the most important factors influencing how a garment looks
and how it holds up over time.

Unlike bespoke tailors, however, most ready-to-wear clothing brands don't list the specific weight or
origin of their materials. Department stores certainly aren't going to! A man needs to acquaint himself
with the look and feel of quality materials before he shops, so that he can tell the good stuff from the
bad.

You don't have to know the technical data to get a sense for the quality of clothing. Run a hand over it
and, whenever possible, try it on. Look for signs of good raw materials:

• a nice "drape" -- the cloth should hang straight, without wrinkles or billowing
• a smooth, even handfeel
• no bumps or rough patches (unless part of a regular, repeating weave)
• sturdiness -- the cloth shouldn't feel thin and transparent

Don't be shy about visiting some high-end menswear stores to run your hands over the good stuff. Go
ahead and try on some suits and shirts that you can't afford, if you have to. It's worth having a sense
for what really nice clothes are supposed to feel like.

Construction Quality Check

While you're looking at the fabric, you should also make sure that the garment was put together
competently.

Flip it inside out and take a look at the seams. They should be neat and even, without stray threads or
irregular loops all over the place. Pull gently on them to see if the stitches loosen or stretch -- that's a
sign of cheap construction, and any garment that shows it won't last very long.

Make sure basic things like zippers and buttons are sturdy and firmly attached. If they're crooked,
hanging by a thread, or flimsy, it's a sure sign that the item was cheaply made with little or no quality
control.

Skip items that don't meet a high standard of physical quality. This is the second step on your style
pyramid, and it's just as key as the first one. Buying something that will wear out quickly is a waste of your money -- and cheap garments tend not to look as good even before they start fraying and failing.

Fashion

The third and final step of the style pyramid is the most personal one: your individual style or fashion
sense.

Once you're confident that an item fits well and is well-constructed, you have to ask yourself whether
it will work in any of your "looks."

That's a subjective measure. There are no hard and fast rules here. But you should think about the
other items in your wardrobe, and about the sort of "self" you try to project when you dress.
Some men think in terms of archetypes: urban cowboy, power businessman, earth child, rocker, and
so on.

Other men focus on their color and complexion, or look for styles that have a cultural or national
association.

There's no one right way to do it. But there is a need to stop and think honestly about whether or not a
specific purchase is going to add to your wardrobe.

We'll talk more in the next chapter about ideas of interchangeability and how to make your wardrobe
all work together. For now, just be aware of fashion as the final step in your style pyramid: you
should be buying things that you like the look of.

There are a few classic pieces every man should own (we'll list those in detail in a later chapter as
well). Beyond that, define your own style, and pick clothes that fit into it. You're the one that has to
wear them, after all.

How to Use The Style Pyramid

So how does all that work in the real world?

It's very simple. Whenever you can, shop in person -- there's no substitute for actually holding,
touching, and trying on a garment. Online shopping is fine for brands you know and trust (especially if

they have free shipping and exchanges), but when you're looking for something new, do it in person.
Run through the same procedure for anything that catches your eye:

• Check the sizing and hold it up to get a sense for whether or not it has a hope of fitting you. If it doesn't, put it back.
• Next, check the seams and the detailing. If there are obvious failures of quality control, again, put the whole thing back and walk away.
• If it looks like it might fit and the quality is good, think about whether or not it fits into your style and your wardrobe. Are you going to wear it much? If it's going to sit in the closet unused most of the time, put it back.

Only bother with actually trying on clothes that can pass all of those tests.

It will make you a pickier shopper. You'll end up skipping a lot of potential purchases. And that's just
fine.

The goal here is to only spend money on things that are worth it. In the modern shopping environment,

that's surprisingly hard! Stick to the style pyramid, and enjoy owning clothes that actually work for
you.






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