How A Suit Should Fit — Carmi Moore |- Personal Style & Fashion Consultant

I am rereleasing this blog for 2 reasons. 1. Hyzer is a big part of why #carmimoore exists. He helped me for months! He helped me work out business kinks and helped me build my confidence and clientele. He also gets married in a week to one of my beautiful friends! 2. This post, in my opinion, is very helpful for this time of year!

I’m going to take you through a series of before and after pictures to give you a clear description of what was done and how a suit should fit properly. What’s the point in spending the money if you are going to look “half done?” Alexis Reed (My personal seamstress) did all of the suit tailoring! She never ceases to amaze me! (See my services page for more info on ALEXIS REED.)

Let’s begin with the fit of the jacket and work our way down. As you can see the shoulders fit really well. They show the structure of the shoulder. They angle down. As you get to the rib cage area you can see that it is loose. A suit SHOULD fit snug… there is a reason you do not play sports in a suit! It should fit very close to the body and show the silhouette of the person wearing it.

You can see the lapels lay perfectly across Hyzer’s chest. They should actually lay… if you can fit your fist inside of your jacket-it is too big!

Let’s talk about the buttons for a moment. The first button should fit slightly above the navel. Above, Hyzer is pointing out where his navel is. The rule for buttoning a suit on a 2 piece suit is Always and Never. Always button the top button until you sit down, and always keep the bottom button undone. (If it is a three piece suit the rule is always, sometimes, and never.)

As we look closer we see that the jacket is too long in the sleeves too wide in the rib cage/ stomach area.

The sleeve length is too long. The proper way for a sleeve to fit is to measure 1/4- 1/2 of inch away from the base of the thumb. Below is the correct way a sleeve cuff should fit.

“I took up the cuff 3/4 inch. I kept the lining loose with the hemming to be tucked in under the fold.” -ALEXIS REED

Now to the back of the jacket. The collar fits really well in this suit jacket. It should be snug. A two finger fit is perfect! Nothing had to be done in this case.

“I took in the inseam in the back of the jacket to have the jacket more fitted in the mid section. I tapered the inseam and met it to the original seam.” -ALEXIS REED

You can also see the the bottom of the jacket hits right at the seat of the pants. No one wants to see a guy’s bottom. It should be covered but not too long. Luckily that was perfect to begin with!

Below is the jacket tailored to a perfect fit!

Now onto the pants. These pants were an “ok” fit to begin with. The crotch area sagged a bit and the pants were slightly loose. Its not the end of the world but if we can do it better then we will EVERY time! #MOM

With the help of Hyzer we decided how everything should fit. What is comfortable and what would look best. Then Alexis did her thing!

I didn’t need to hem the bottom of the pants because I took in 1 3/4 of an inch in the inseam. When doing this it caused the pants to come up a half of an inch to meet directly at the ankles. – ALEXIS REED

Suit Pants can fit however one wants in the leg. I prefer them to be fitted, in other words, not saggy in the upper inseam region. They should have one break, or dimple, then fall on the top of the shoe. This way, when you are seated, just a small portion of the sock is showing. If you go too short on the pants it will look like high waters when you are walking- it takes the “gentlemen class” right out of the suit!

THE FINAL PRODUCT!

Before I just leave you hanging, this suit pictured needs to be pressed and dry cleaned. This is very very important! You can see it doesn’t lay crisp, it flares out a bit. I would recommend having your suit dry-cleaned every 4-6 wears- depending on the person.