Expensive Suits

[falafel]

Speaking of bad suits, man Eric Davis looks like a clown on First Take today. His sleeves and lapel are a solid hunter green color and the rest of his jacket is patterned. He has a mandarin collar vest that nearly covers his shirt and tie which are salmon.

I can't even fathom how much he spent to look so bad.

I'm always amazed that ESPN doesn't exercise more control over the "talent's" wardrobe. If I were a network exec, I'd insist on some level of veto power. [Ex]football players are the worst.

[Donuthole]

Been looking around at suits again. And came across The Wizard of Ahhs.

http://stores.ebay.com/The-Wizard-of-Aahs

He's gotten some rave reviews from some places like styleforum and askandy including a glowing review from Andy. The prices are awesome. Their cheapest suit are canvassed and not fused and supposedly come out of the same factories that other unnamed suit makers do.

My issue is that I am about a 46L depending on the suit maker. I'd feel more comfortable if I had a quality tailor I could trust. As such, I am just not sure I can pull the trigger with an online suit. That said, they seem to have a great return policy in case fitting is an issue and they do include all the measurements for their suits online.

Anyone have any experience with them?

I like this statement from his website:

If colors seem too dark, to [sic]light or not as decribed [sic] please adjust your monitor's brightness and/or contrast settings

Typographical and grammatical errors notwithstanding, it's reassuring to know that I can adjust my monitor until the image color matches the description. This way I can be sure I'm purchasing the right color.

[falafel]

I feel like I can't take this guy seriously when he chooses a tie like this to "complement" the suit.



He's got great reviews though. I always find it funny when products are sold for a very low price, but retail is claimed to be 3 or 4 times that amount. There's a watch brand that is always sold for 1/4th its "retail value."

[Art Vandelay]

you know how they have all those professional skills clinics for students at law school? Why don't they offer one on "how to buy and wear a suit that fits"? I mean for goodness sake, guys, buy a belt and get a longer tie. Also, I know it's hard to believe, but your pant cuffs are not supposed to drag the sidewalk. Really.

How about just polishing your shoes once in awhile? I try to wear nice quality shoes and keep them looking sharp. What fully converted me was several years ago I was at the Nordstrom downtown in Seattle and picking out a few shirts that I had the nice young lady hold for me while I looked around. As I always do when there, I got my shoes shined (they have 3 generations that have worked at that store for 25+ years. Super nice guys). When I went back to pick up my shirts, she commented on how good my shoes looked. I was shocked she noticed, I thought my wife was the only one who paid attention to stuff like that. In my opinion a professional shine is the biggest bargain in fashion $3-5 for something that last a month, is well worth the cost of Whopper and it only takes 10 minutes.

[Babs]

I feel like I can't take this guy seriously when he chooses a tie like this to "complement" the suit.

you forgot to adjust your monitor, didn't you?

[Donuthole]

I feel like I can't take this guy seriously when he chooses a tie like this to "complement" the suit.

Not to mention the quality of the knot. Really, that was the best knot you could tie for a display photo?

[falafel]

Not to mention the quality of the knot. Really, that was the best knot you could tie for a display photo?

I was going to comment on the knot. Horrible. That tie will be sliding down in a matter of minutes.

[wally]

I chose a career based in part on almost never having to wear a suit.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

I feel like I can't take this guy seriously when he chooses a tie like this to "complement" the suit.



He's got great reviews though. I always find it funny when products are sold for a very low price, but retail is claimed to be 3 or 4 times that amount. There's a watch brand that is always sold for 1/4th its "retail value."

Good hell, this tie looks like a ton of other ties that at least 3/4 of the missionaries had when I was in the MTC. The designer must have been a Mr. Mac staple.

[TripletDaddy]

you know how they have all those professional skills clinics for students at law school? Why don't they offer one on "how to buy and wear a suit that fits"? I mean for goodness sake, guys, buy a belt and get a longer tie. Also, I know it's hard to believe, but your pant cuffs are not supposed to drag the sidewalk. Really.

ps I do agree, though. ill-fitted suits are the domain of missionaries, Mormon clergy, and the college-aged unemployed

[Moliere]

you know how they have all those professional skills clinics for students at law school? Why don't they offer one on "how to buy and wear a suit that fits"? I mean for goodness sake, guys, buy a belt and get a longer tie. Also, I know it's hard to believe, but your pant cuffs are not supposed to drag the sidewalk. Really.

Do they recommend bolo ties and boots at the UT law school?

In grad school at the MSM we had a person from Nordstrom come in to discuss proper professional dress. It was a very good session and I did learn a lot. I always found it funny that the person led off with "You should never wear a mission suit to an interview!" Five years later I was back on campus doing interviews for my firm and I had many candidates that I knew were wearing mission suits. Not because they didn't fit properly but because they were faded in most places except for two long stripes that came over the shoulders and down under the arms.

[Babs]

exactly. QED.

[Donuthole]

So I took a stab at an Indochino suit. They were running a black friday special, so the suit was only $329 (normally 899, but we all know what that means). Anyway, this company has hammered the social media and podcast marketing, and the reviews are generally good. So I thought I'd give it a whirl. For those who don't know, Indochino lets you take your measurements and submit them, then they use your measurements to create a custom-fitted suit. Bespoke, as they say. Mrs. D took my measurements, and I picked a fabric and my customizations, etc. and ordered the suit.

My suit came yesterday. Yikes. While the material is nice, this thing fits worse than any off-the rack suit i've ever tried on. The pants are at least 2-inches too big, and are way too long (and super wide at the bottom--WTF!? It's not 2001, bro.). The suit seriously looks like I am wearing my dad's suit jacket (though the sleeves are too short--the bane of my long-armed existence). That's putting it mildly. I'm not sure this thing can be altered as much as it needs to be altered without ruining the windowpane design. TBD, I guess. I wouldn't be surprised if they have to make a completely new suit (or if they just offer a redund). I"ll try it on and take a couple pics to show just how poorly it fits. It's pretty funny, actually.

[Northwestcoug]

So I took a stab at an Indochino suit. They were running a black friday special, so the suit was only $329 (normally 899, but we all know what that means). Anyway, this company has hammered the social media and podcast marketing, and the reviews are generally good. So I thought I'd give it a whirl. For those who don't know, Indochino lets you take your measurements and submit them, then they use your measurements to create a custom-fitted suit. Bespoke, as they say. Mrs. D took my measurements, and I picked a fabric and my customizations, etc. and ordered the suit.

My suit came yesterday. Yikes. While the material is nice, this thing fits worse than any off-the rack suit i've ever tried on. The pants are at least 2-inches too big, and are way too long (and super wide at the bottom--WTF!? It's not 2001, bro.). The suit seriously looks like I am wearing my dad's suit jacket (though the sleeves are too short--the bane of my long-armed existence). That's putting it mildly. I'm not sure this thing can be altered as much as it needs to be altered without ruining the windowpane design. TBD, I guess. I wouldn't be surprised if they have to make a completely new suit (or if they just offer a redund). I"ll try it on and take a couple pics to show just how poorly it fits. It's pretty funny, actually.

Good to know. I haven't worn a suit in years, but their ads made me think I should get one for the rare occasion. I think I'll wait for the occasion to occur...

[Uncle Ted]

Unlike NWC I wear suits a lot when I am not working... I guess it is the people I associate with.

I get nice, off-the-rack suits all the time from International Suit Warehouse for $300-$500. There is a nice Russian tailor guy (maybe a friend of Drumpf's) there that makes them fit great. If you are in DFW some time go there (the Richardson store) and ask for Frank and tell him that Ted sent you. I don't think his name is really "Frank" but maybe Francesco. He speaks with a pretty strong Italian accent. Frank will call me up when they get something new that he thinks I might like or if they are having a special on some nice suits. I most likely have about 25 suits or sports jackets right now. I need to clean out my closet and buy some new stuff. Their tie selection sucks, however.