New year, new suit

Flickr: Matt512

First off, a Happy New Year to all readers and I hope you had a great Christmas. Everyone is now back to work of course, so it may be time to think about a new work suit (and no, the picture isn't of my dog although she's the same breed).

The question is what to look for. In terms of business suits, a bit of tradition never did anyone any harm. All but the slimmest people do well to go for darker colours, and ideally these should be in blocks rather than loud patterns. I'm currently quite drawn to suits that look as though they're a solid colour but when you get close there's a subtle Prince of Wales check like my blue number, or a thin, subtle pinstripe like the one I'm picking up on Thursday.

Two buttons is classic and will suit most builds; if, again, you're very slim you might get away with three buttons but if like me you're a little 'broader' (euphemism alert) I'd suggest sticking with two. Skinny collars and skinny ties will work only if you're skinny yourself, otherwise they end up working as a contrast and showing your own well-upholstered proportions in a poor light.

If you want a bit of fun in spite of being businessy, have a think about a lively colour for the lining. People do see it when you take the jacket off or when you move around, so you might as well go for something less than dull; if you're looking for a tailored suit you'll be able to choose something individual. The weight of the cloth is important; you might find something warm a bit comforting right now but you're likely to regret this as the weather gets milder. I have a blue 'winter' suit which seemed a great idea at the time but I barely use it as most of the year it's too hot.

Contrasting stitching is a good way of picking detail out that makes your suit individual without being ostentatious. When I'm having things tailored (and it doesn't cost as much as you might think) I normally opt to have the cuff buttonhole stitched to match the lining. I once went for this on the lapel buttonhole as well, which was a bit of a mistake as it limits the ties I can wear and look reasonable.

Watch out for other 'fun' bits as well. Ages ago on this blog I went for a morning designing suits with A Suit That Fits. It was fun and I liked the John Steed/Avengers look of the velvet collar I'd put in. So, being an incredibly sensible and wise person, I ordered the suit later - and have hardly worn it. I just don't get invited to the 'showy' occasions on which an ostentatious feature like that is going to work, and would have been better off opting for a standard collar that doesn't stand out.

It's all about what works for you and above all the context in which you're going to wear the thing. You can always liven it up with a fun tie from someone like Victoria Richards, a firm favourite, or Duchamp, of which I'm also rather fond (although if you see something reduced on the Duchamp site at the moment, do check it against prices of the same product from John Lewis in the sale - I'm finding the discounts are deeper there in the January sales).

Right, it's New Year and I'm off to the gym for the first time in about ten months. And I'm happy to note the shorts still fit, which is not a bad start to 2013.  

Bespoke suit, bespoke lining..?

Sometimes there's an idea that sounds fun on paper but when you see it, you just wonder why you would. That was my feeling when I saw the bespoke linings launched by my first tailor, A Suit That Fits (sponsored link, anyone buying a suit through it will be rewarding me indirectly).

The principle is simple. You get measured for a suit in the usual way of course BUT you upload a picture to the website and they put it onto the lining, much as in the illustration on the right. Click on it for a bigger view if you like. You need to click on disclaimers confirming that you own the rights to reproduce the pictures - no doubt sneaky unlicensed Lady Ga Ga or 007 logo pictures (we've all been sloshed at the computer, come on) will be intercepted. Endearingly, the spokeswoman at the launch said "we're trying to avoid comparisons with Boots" or words to that effect - putting us all in mind of Boots, immediately, of course. This is the Boots where you take your picture in and they put it on mugs, tee-shirts, whatever.

But a suit lining? I find my other tailor, King and Allen, a bit restricted in that way if I'm honest; you get a plain lining and that's that. The paisley and jacquard offered by ASTF can be very appealing, but for me this is a little OTT. The spokeswoman said they found it worked well for wedding suits, and if that's who's buying it, fair enough. It's probably not for me, but if people are responding, good luck to them!

Shopping for duty free tailoring

Flickr: Hakan Dahlstrom

OK, here's an idea. I've done some business travelling recently and as such been in a few airports. One thing that occurred to me whilst doing all this was that it would have been good to know where the best Duty Free shops are so I could plan a bit before leaving. So, here's a brief summary of my recent notes - anyone wanting to add their own destinations and comments would be more than welcome. I'm excluding spirits and tobacco because that's not what this blog is about - of course all the usual duty free stuff is available.

London City Airport: Tiny as you'd expect from a small airport but a good selection of Boss shirts (not to my taste), Mont Blanc pens and accessories for the rich and I bought a nice Dunhill tie for my meeting (at which nobody wore ties so it's unworn). This was £62 as I was travelling just outside the EU.

Gatwick North Terminal: Under modernisation, sports gear, Harrods, Kurt Geiger shoes, no doubt there will be more as works progress.

Gatwick South Terminal: Fat Face, Boss, Kurt Geiger, several others - remember to check the retail prices outside the airport as many people have a perpetual sale on.

Heathrow T5: Vast shopping experience if you have the time, dominated by Harrods which has most of the designer brands you'd want - Hilfiger, Polo, just about everything. Also several designer shops opposite.

Copenhagen: Actually bigger than Heathrow T5. We're talking Boss, Polo Ralph Lauren, Burberry and Hermes with their own shops and a couple of menswear shops with a selection including LaCoste and others.

Luxembourg: Small but perfectly formed - as long as you like Boss and Lacoste in the menswear department. I was thinking about Polo Ralph Lauren shorts, the shape of which seems to sit OK on my body - and there were none.

Istanbul: Less of the clothing, just one or two shops, but an extensive selection of scent (as most of them have) and a Mont Blanc shop to go and drool over (I do like Mont Blanc pens, why the hell I can't develop cheaper tastes I don't know).

Milan Lenate: Are you kidding, it's Milan! Superb shirt shop caught my eye, if only I'd needed some shirts. Sadly I didn't. Also good shoes and suits - does anyone really buy suits duty free, though? Not easy to return goods I'd have thought.

Newcastle: Believe it or not you can buy duty free in internal flights, look, don't stare, I didn't know. Mostly sports gear and the usual drinks and stuff, but some nice watches at a better price than average.

Zurich: Curiously little in the tailoring department unless I walked straight past it whilst looking for my wife's cosmetics, which is entirely possible.

Please note this is not intended as a definitive guide - I wasn't specifically looking to write this entry when visiting most of these over the last 12 months or so, and may well have overlooked items. I'll welcome corrections and of course additions as comments and will add to and update this entry - leaving a note and link to say it's updated as and when.

So, what have you found recently on any business or pleasure travels whilst in the duty free shop?

A (pocket) square world

Older readers will notice the Michael Bentine reference in that title. That's irrelevant - today I've been considering the pocket square. For a young relative's birthday recently I was dragged screaming - sorry, taken around Liberty's, and in the menswear department I noticed the patterned pocket square is making a comeback. There are some nice ones available from Richard James of Savile Row as well.

While I was growing up the pocket square - or "handkerchief" - was pretty much out of fashion, for the dandy only. I'm quite pleased to see them back. There are a number of ways of wearing them; folded flat and seen only as a line above the breast pocket in the so-called Presidential Fold works well in formal settings, as does the triangular folded-to-a-point and the three point (peak in the middle and two peaks either side). The latter two look a bit waiterish for my tastes - every respect to actual waiters but if I'm dining in a restaurant I'd rather not be asked for the wine list.

My own preference is illustrated in the picture, with thanks to A Suit That Fits for thje picture. Fold in half, bring the corners to the middle, fold the top down a bit, fold that bit down a little on either side, stick in pocket and squish. A Suit That Fits also has the good sense to offer matching squares with the linings of its suits, so you hardly notice you're spending money when you buy one. The other tailor I use, King and Allen, doesn't offer this but it designs its breast pockets so that they can be turned inside out and made to look like pocket squares; I tried this once with my pale grey suit on television and it looked exactly as if I'd turned my pocket inside out.

So - do readers wear these squares? And if so, how?

Declaration: The above links are completely without affiliation except for A Suit That Fits; if you buy a suit through this link you will get a £25 discount and I get £25 cash. This has not prejudiced their inclusion in this blog entry.

A Suit that Fits hits John Lewis

I've written in the past about a few tailors - I went and visited my current supplier, King and Allen, only yesterday. My introduction to having stuff made to measure, though, was with A Suit That Fits (order a suit through that link and I get a voucher - I mention this in the interests of full declaration). And they've done something interesting by getting a concession area in John Lewis in London's Oxford Street.

If I'm honest, this is a slightly odd one in my opinion. If I go into a shop to buy something I tend to want to walk out with my purchase. This clearly isn't the way the operation works. Also if I'm in most retail premises I tend not to want to need to make an appointment. The model from A Suit That Fits, however, remains appointment only - mostly because they expect to take an hour measuring you up and going through the various fabric and style options with you. I can see how you wouldn't want passing trade with a business like that.

This is why I find it's an odd fit within a busy department store, particularly when the business has a permanent office just down the road off Regent Street. Nevertheless the branding's a bit of a coup for the company and will no doubt confound several of the competition. The publicity says you'll get a bespoke suit for prices from £299; technically this is true but the limitations on style and fabric will be pretty severe at that price, I'd expect to pay around £500 for something better, and wait around 6-8 weeks before it's wearable unless you're an awkward shape in which case you may need more than one fitting.

There's no reason not to wish them well - but I'd welcome readers' comments on whether you'd be comfortable making an hour-long appointment in a busy department store in London.

Your shirts, collared

The guys at A Suit That Fits (sponsored link) have come up with a new wheeze. Well, a very old one I suppose - the age of the detachable collar and cuff is back, it seems. In the olden days people used to freshen up their shirts by attaching fresh collars and cuffs, and didn't have to wash the whole shirt for a few days.

There are times when our ancestors' habits really start to make me pleased I wasn't around at the time. Men in particular - and this is within living memory, I'm only talking about the 1970s - would regard deodorant as something a bit girly or alien, it would go nowhere near them; a generation earlier, we're now reminded, they would change part of a shirt rather than the whole thing. Of course the climate has changed so during the summer in particular it's much hotter now than it would have been in the detachable days, This is the reason why I'm hoping the idea won't catch on as a means of saving on washing time and soap suds; we're a different generation, we're more aware of hygiene, oh sod it, we're cleaner, OK?


Where it's likely to score is in the multi-use stakes. I bought a shirt from these guys a little while ago with one of their three button high collars, just for a change. My wife informs me it's ghastly. If the detachable collar had been around at the time that would have been fine, I could simply have whipped it off and put something more classic on in its place. Likewise I have shirts of which I am very fond but which need cufflinks every time and the occasion's not always right (cufflinks and jeans is a very particular look to carry off, and whatever it takes I haven't got it). The ability to whip double cuffs off a clean shirt and put a single on with buttons instead could save my having to buy another shirt.

Prices are £80 for a shirt with detachable collar and cuffs, three shirts with five detachable collars and cuffs or five shirts with five collars for £285. If I didn't have more than enough shirts already I could be quite tempted by the middle option because of the choice you'd get. I do wonder, though, whether the market's going to welcome a move back to this sort of dressing.

Is expensive tailoring doomed?

I saw in the Times over the weekend - which had published the men's style page in its Magazine, we often get chopped - that yet another low-budget tailor had opened up. I say "low budget"; if you fit a Marks and Sparks suit for £120 you're going to think these others are very costly.

But they're proliferating. The handful I know of include:

A Suit that Fits
King and Allen
Cad and the Dandy
Dress2Kill

(Usual routine, the first of those links is my usual people and I get loyalty points if anyone clicks through - I mention this purely in the interests of full disclosure).

You can now add October House, the newest and perhaps understandably the one with the least informative website as yet. No doubt these guys will all debate the merits and demerits of their ranges and methods, but what you get is a well fitted suit (which may take more than one go to get right), in the material and cut of your own choosing, made by hand in most cases. You'll usually get change from (or can opt to get change from) £500 - if you go for something with polyester in it you can get it for less than £300 from some of them, although why you'd go out of your way to have tailored polyester is beyond me.

Or you can go to Savile Row and spend thousands.

I had to ask: why would anyone do so when the alternative is to spend...er...loads less? So I mailed four Savile Row tailors yesterday and asked why it was worth spending all that cash.

I should stress that they've only had a day to respond. So the fact that only one of them has done so is no reflection on the others. Nonetheless I'm grateful to Tom Mahon of English Cut: Bespoke Savile Row who is no longer based on the Row full time but he's experienced there, for taking the time to reply.

He's not down on the cheaper stuff. He's quick to state that if you spend around £800 with some of the budget people you'll get a pretty decent suit. "True bespoke is at least twice that and although our prices are pretty reasonable you'll have very little change out of £3000," he adds. He suggests that many of the lower cost items use basically the same factory production methods as High Street ready to wear clothes (in my experience they're more likely to offshore the cutting and making, which is what brings the cost down). The extra range of fabrics can make it worth doing, he's keen to stress, but the experience is different.

"I can't put into words the difference of true bespoke," he says. There are a couple of things that suggest his clients, at least, are happy with it at the price. First he's about to blog that he's not taking on any new clients for a few months. "The reason is because of my existing clients re-ordering which is what is keeping us so busy.

"Bearing in mind these are successful, educated people I very much doubt that they'd be prepared to pay three times as much, wait three times as long for something that wasn't really in a class of its own. I'd love to say that it was down to my sparkling personality but in reality it's the artisans who make these that create something special."

Returning customers are a compelling argument and I'm grateful for the response but still no wiser as to what makes a Savile Row suit worth several times the price of the competition. Some of the answers are in my entry on floating canvases last month - but not all.

I'll update this entry with comments from the other tailors as and when they respond. And of course I'd be delighted to hear on the comments section from anyone who's used an upmarket service and can shed any light.

What to do with a swatch

Flickr: My Love For You

Getting your clothes tailored should be a pleasure but so often it gets confusing if you don't know exactly what you're doing. I made a mistake with my first suit I had tailored a couple of years ago, for example - and if I'd known a bit more about swatches of fabric I probably wouldn't have done the same thing.

I was looking through the various offerings and was very pleased to see there was a linen available, in the summer this seemed a very good idea. The colour seemed just about dark enough - they had a near white, a blue and a beige. I went for the beige.

Mistake. This was where I learned my first big lesson about swatches. The material always looks lighter en masse. The suit was perfectly fitted and exactly what I'd ordered - and it wasn't flattering. For the second one I ordered I opted for what I thought was a dark grey. It turned out to be mid grey for the same reason. It looks good on me but it was luck rather than judgment.

So what do you look for in a swatch? First, get a sample at home if you can. My usual tailors at A Suit That Fits (sponsored link, I get loyalty points for click-throughs and that's the only payment I get for this blog) will send up to three, no problem at all. Others, like King and Allen who I met recently (not a sponsored link) will prefer to sit you down and talk you through the fabrics. Remember they'll look lighter; compare them to your shirts, think about the lining and what's going to work and what isn't.

Feel it. If you think it's too rough, it's too rough - only buy something you like. Then screw it up. Go ahead - you're looking to see whether it creases. Then pour flour on it, or toothpaste - see how easily it brushes clean. Don't expect miracles, it's a suit after all, not a raincoat, but it should be relatively cleanable. After that you're ready to order - unless you can actually get to visit the tailor. If you can do that, ask them if they've got any suits made up in the fabric you're thinking of. You're spending the money, they'll fall over themselves to show you.

If you don't get the suit right after that, you're not trying...

P. S. A warm welcome to any new readers who saw the piece on the BBC's webwise site. I hope you'll find something of interest in here.

Smart casual and the eye of the beholder

Lunch today with fellow author Heather Townsend, whose book the FT Guide to Business Networking is coming out in a couple of months. My lightweight linen jacket is off to the cleaners so I was wearing a Marks and Sparks blazer, which we agreed was ridging terribly across my back so I'm more determined than ever to keep buying tailored stuff (you reach a certain shape it's just better, and not always as expensive as people think).

But we got to talking about the dreaded smart/casual conundrum so many blokes go through. What does it mean? She knew one guy who had loads of jeans for knocking about in and being really casual and some pretty decent suits, but he was a bit bewildered by what should come in the middle.

My instinct - non-denim jeans or chinos, blazer or some sort of smart-ish jacket but keeping to separates anyway, tends to keep me out of trouble. And I avoid cutaway shirts when I'm going for the open necked look - cutaways always look like they're missing a tie, as that's how they're designed.

I'm a little concerned, though, that the jeans-and-jacket combo makes me look like a fat Jeremy Clarkson. What's everyone else do?

Tailoring links:

A Suit that Fits (sponsored link)
King and Allen (not a sponsored link at all, I get nothing whether you click or not)

The dreaded tie-in-soup disaster

Flickr: BuyAlex

You're at a dinner, you're somewhere formal, and you lean forward to enjoy your soup. And everybody's staring at you - because your tie is now in the bowl with the spoon.
Most of us can avoid this sort of embarrassment, but how to stop a tie flapping about in the wind is no simple matter. I've always avoided tie clips like the one on the right, I like to leave my ties unfettered - but recently I've given up and worn one, first because it looks pretty good but second because it does hold the tie in place.

A tie pin can be as good, not as effective on patterned ties as plain ones because they tend to get a bit lost. My big preference - and I've only just discovered these - is the invisible version. It's a little bit of material that matches your shirt and has a buttonhole in each end. You put one end on a shirt button, thread the other through the tie bar (the loop of material at the back) and do the other button up and unless someone's looking really carefully they won't see you're wearing it, they'll just see a tie held mysteriously in place.

Tailors often do them with shirts - my regular supplier, A Suit That Fits (sponsored link which as always costs you nothing) issues them as standard with every shirt.

If only I'd realised what they were earlier I wouldn't have thrown so many of the blasted things away...

Win a tailored suit

Just a quickie today. A Suit That Fits is running a competition so you can win a tailored suit from them.

The link I've put up is a sponsored one (please click generously, I get loyalty points) - but if you scour the site and find the pic of the guy holding the Easter Egg, and then tell them the URL on this entry form (which also signs you up to their newsletter), they'll tailor you a suit free of charge.

They won't be expensive suits - I've had a few made and never paid over £400, which for a tailored fit I find unbelievable.

There it is. Free tailoring. Nothing to do with me, I'm just telling you.

Good luck.

Suits and tailoring: choosing the features

I tend to buy suits tailored these days. There are two reasons for this: first I'm a slightly awkward shape even if I lose some weight, a very square back makes off-the-peg jackets ruck up on me terribly and this in turn leads to the lapel area bowing out. Frankly, they don't fit.

The second reason is that it's nowhere near as expensive as you might think. The linen suit in the picture came in for under £300 and although I'd freeze half to death if I wore it right now, I'm presenting at Bafta this evening and will be wearing another tailored jobbie from the same place (anyone wanting more info is welcome to mail me - they have a loyalty scheme so I can refer people and get points against future purchases).

I was wearing one yesterday, though, and one of the women at the meeting said she was surprised anyone would choose such a non-fancy lining for a bespoke suit. She probably had a point; it was one of my first tailored suits and I probably went in too conservatively. On the other hand you don't want to look an idiot - so what to do? Here are some points to consider when you're going tailored for the first time (I'd have loved a list like this when I started, and I'd welcome additional thoughts).

1. The fit
Luckily I was advised that slim fit isn't just for slim people. Ultra-fitted would make me look fat (and yes I understand it's no use blaming the suit); slim, as in the picture, is just that bit better shaped than a standard fit.

2. Working cuffs
One of the things that distinguishes a well tailored suit from off the peg in many people's eyes - I've read it often enough. It's a mark of quality, some people say; in my tailor's case it's a mark of my throwing an extra £25 at the thing so I can undo one of the buttons and pose a bit. Whatever. Don't have these for your first made to measure suit, though; if you're not happy with the sleeve length the tailor won't have the same leeway for alterations as they would with non-working buttons.

3. Lining
Go on, treat yourself to a slightly fancy lining. Patterns, something with a sheen, have some fun - nobody's going to see it much until you take it off, but it definitely adds to the effect. Make sure the back of the waistcoat (if you're having one, which I wouldn't necessarily recommend as they can look a bit stuffy and also emphasise any protruberance of gut) matches the lining of the suit and you're automatically co-ordinated. Opt for a pocket square (or "hankie" as they're sometimes known) of the same stuff and you're really co-ordinated. Go for something too quiet and the suit's likely to look off the peg - which of course may not be a problem to you.

4. Stitching
A hand-stitched lapel used to add an air of authenticity, proving something had been hand made. Since Marks and Sparks now have handstitch lookalike jackets available off the peg I suggest the benefits are diminishing - I like the look so I have it, but it's purely a matter of taste.

5. Buttonhole stitching
Tailors will be pleased to stitch the lapel button and the cuff buttons to match the lining rather than the suit if you want. I wasn't sure at first but went for it on the suit that arrived yesterday and am very pleased with the effect; nobody's going to notice unless they look for it but it'll give me a bit more confidence this evening. My tailor, at least, doesn't charge extra.

Oh, and always examine any guarantee they offer in terms of the fit. Some will guarantee to alter a suit even if there's nothing wrong with it and you've changed shape through weight loss or gain.