Things are still good, but not as good as they once were. Back in the day, to the best of my knowledge, business was done almost exclusively in suits and golf attire, not business casual or even worse this new 9-5 dress bullshit (I will be posting a rant on this subject in the future). Being that I am generally a fan of tradition and things of old I am a fan ‘business professional’ attire (ie. suits). Plus, chicks like guys in suits. Anyway, I foresee myself being in increasingly frequent situations that require wearing a suit and decided it would be prudent of me to acquire a new suit or two.
My first order of business, as should be anyone’s when they are shopping for suits, was to determine what I wanted in my suits. I wanted a suit that fit well, was of good quality and was within my budget. Simple enough? No, not quite. For the jacket I wanted a double vented jacket with notched lapels. The lapels were to be of ample width, none of those bullshit skinny lapels touted by many deisgners and shops like J. Crew and Theory (J. Crew and Theory’s suits are shit and your money should not be wasted on them, btw). I also wanted a jacket that was at least half canvassed, fully canvassed was preferable and a fused jacket was objectionable but would not completely rule a suit out, it all depended on price. I also wanted a jacket with less structure and form to it in both the shoulders and chest. However, The most important aspect of the jacket was to be the fit. I would rather have a decent quality suit that fit well than a high quality suit that did not fit well. I shall repeat myself: when shopping for suits, fit is the most important concern. When belted, I prefer my trousers to be flat front and plain bottomed (uncuffed), however, I would settle for pleated and subsequently cuffed trousers if necessary. Although, I prefer trousers with a tapered leg I would settle for a straight leg, as pants can always be tapered and shaped by an accomplished tailor. I wanted a suit with a more conservative pattern such as pinstipes or solids. Any added details like liner designs, pick stitching and ticket pockets were of minor concern and importance to me. I knew that if I could get a suit that rouhgly conformed to my body shape my tailor could handle the rest.
My budget was $500 per suit, not including tailoring, which I knew could add another $200 per suit. So all in, my budget was $700 per suit. However, ideally I wanted to keep it around $500 per suit in total. To some this may seem like a lot. However, a suit should be an investment. Suits should not be purchased to last a year or two years, but for five or ten years, if not more. If one makes a wise purchase the per year cost of a more expensive higher quality suit should be less than a less expensive lower quality suit, thus your return on investment will be higher.
To be continued…
