Suit shopping and negative body image.
 

wedding season for me.

i had to dump all my old suits. all of them.

buying suits for me is pretty foreign. almost intimidating for me. i know nothing..except i am partial to blue. one wedding is "no suit required"...bless them!! but the rest of the events, well you know.

modern suits are so different!! the pant is "skinny" or slim fit. the jacket as well. i had a great time this weekend buying a suit. had a great sales person help me. at first, i gave him my standard, "oh, i'm just looking" line..and he walked away. i was going thru size 46 suits. he said i was a 40..WTF? i let him help me.

he put me in some euro slim cut suit in size 40. my wife was blown away, and bought the thing. overwhelmed, i decided to buy the tie and shirts later..when i come back to try the suit on again, after tailoring. i cannot believe i fit a size 40 jacket. it feels good.
maybe i am on the first steps to seeing myself differently. i stopped by another department to buy something "NAPA casual" for that non-suit wedding. got some pants..very hipster and a shirt. sales lady, said.."oh no, that large shirt is too big..you are a medium".. she said the right things.and i bought the entire package.

i went home, lighter in the wallet but happy. i got home started putting on my jogging gear..i looked at my closet and went thru it. i emptied half of it into the donation pile. my wife is the ultimate anti hoarder and was thrilled to see me move out some stuff.

i am going to go clothes shopping and buy some basics. clothes i can build on..classics that dont go out of style. it is kinda nutty. i look in the mirror and i still see myself kinda fat.

oh, modern suit needs new shoes. :)

I hesitate to post a pic. But here is an old dress shirt. It is huge on me now. Excuse my soccer shorts:)

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09...2e0168ba00.jpg


Sent via Jedi mind trick.

Looking great, now lets see the skinny metrosexual suiting.

Next you'll be manscaping, Cliff. Oh, wait... :D

BTW, congrats on downsizing, Cliff.

consider keeping your socks..
the rest of your wardrobe doesn't fit now & hopefully never will again..
toss it..
then read on up on how they measure & what is correct..
remember.. if your going to spend $$ & wear stuff in public..
do it right & look even better..

Rika

I loathe weddings. All the pomp and then it is over at 7pm. WTF? The bachelor party is all I need to go to.

Glad you are down a size or two Vash.

Not directly related, but I find that my clothing size is also shrinking. I now wear L t-shirts and always had xl in the past. Are the T-shirt sizes changing?

G

G I think they are changing the sizes


I too have lost a bit of weight. I find myself between sizes. I could reliably just buy a large off the rack and be fine. Large is usually 42-44. I can often wear a medium which is usually 38-40. Need something in between. I now shop for slim or athletic fit dress shirts. I need to get some new stuff or have what I've got taken in. It's a nice feeling.

Why not a sport coat and dress pants? This way you can go dressy casual for other events.

Very cool, congrats. Last year, I did the same thing. I'd lost about 30-35# which is probably not that big a deal on my since I'm a bit over 6' 1", but it did change things.

What I noticed more than anything else was the difference in buying shirts that really fit. In the past, whether buying button up shirts that were sized S, M, L, etc... or dress shirts with a neck and sleeve measurement, I either ended up with sleeves that were too short or shirts that fit like a tent with good sleeves. Buying nicer cloths that fit the body and the sleeves is nice, much more comfortable, and much, much better looking.

Last year, I gave away or donated literally every shirt that I had except for a few T-shirts, probably 30 dress and casual shirts if not more. It wasn't cheap, but now I'm set for a bit.

It's really nice not to have to pleat the sides of my shirts by 2-6" each side.

This is not me, but you get the idea
http://fooyoh.com/files/attach/image...37/008/fit.jpg

I want to be less flippant and make a point of praising vash for his transformation. You did great, boy! From muffin to stud.

Actually, that "Good fit" shirt is a little snug, although better than the "Bad Fit" shirt, but the "Good" pants fit like ****. Most people wear stuff that's too tigh when the go down the "European cut" path.

JR

Problem is that the semi-fat boys go for the "European cut". They end up looking very German. Like a nice piece of liverwurst ....

http://www.meinmetzger.de/media/cata...ten_gro__3.png

Congratulations on improving your physique!
And yes, once you go the fitted-shirt route, you'll hate every other shirt you have. Forever.

^^^ Agree, I feel like I'm enveloped in a parachute in those shirts made for the typical large American. Only "athletic cut" or European ones work for me now.

Around 2009 I lost 30lbs and had to replace nearly my entire wardrobe. Some of the dress clothes could be re-taiilored and obviously socks and some t-shirts were OK. I still can barely believe how much better I look and how much healthier I feel, and hopefully am.

Good for you Cliff. I still like wearing a suit and "chicks" dig them ;)

Congrats on the weight loss and slimming down vash.
Spending a little cash on tailoring regardless of ones size is always a good idea, if you want to look sharp.

I go to FirePlugs for Men if I need a suit.

Nordstrom's custom cut. Just takes about 10weeks. Well worth it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1443207596.jpg

I'm still sporting a muffin top... and clinging to my cargo shorts!

The thing I learned is to buy clothes that fit well. They could be $10 t-shirts or or $50, if they don't fit well, they just look sloppy.

On suits, if you can afford a tailored suit, go for it. Otherwise, buy off the rack close enough to your size and find a good tailor who can alter.

fly to hong kong to get fitted for bespoke or custom-fitted dress shirts.

Tickets to HK are easily $1000 round trip, even more further East you are. Another $500 for overnight hotel and other stuff, and maybe $500 for the suit. Plus you're tired and cranky. So unless I was traveling on business there anyway, I would go local.

Though I seem to recall a San Francisco-based venture that measures you on site and sends your info to HK for tailoring. The name escapes me, and I don't know if they are still in business.

I've only needed to wear a suit once in the last 2 years. So I'm not the best person to comment about suiting.