It’s time to suit up!
While the past year hasn’t given us many reasons to dress up and step out, this year-end seems to provide us with a grand welcome to the double-vaccinated club. Movie theatres are open and we cannot contain our excitement! Yes, there are loads of movies to choose from, but the one we at Man’s Life are most excited about, drum roll please—No Time To Die. We cannot wait to watch our suave 007 agent kick butt and save the world. While we are already on the topic, let’s just take a moment to appreciate the finesse of a Bond suit. It’s sleek, it’s definitely straight out of Savile Row and every time we watch him button his suit, our jaws are on the floor!
Want to look classy? Always choose a suit. While it might just look like a jacket paired with trousers and a shirt, there is so much more that goes into suiting up. Minute details and dos and don’ts of wearing a suit might seem too much at first, but what are we here for then? Here are 8 basic rules on how to dress up in a suit channelling Mr Bond….
Quiz any woman, and she will tell you how she prefers a man in a suit than in any other form of clothing. One of the easiest ways of getting a suit to perfectly fit you is to get it tailormade by an expert. Bespoke tailoring, we feel, was made for suits. The suits are stitched based on a pattern created specifically for the person wearing them. It’s the gold standard of suiting, don’t skip this step, if possible! If you are indeed looking for designers that offer you bespoke tailoring, Mumbai’s Sarah and Sandeep offers customised suits with dreamy fits.
There are certain things to keep in mind while wearing your suit jacket. Let’s start with the one most people miss. The last button of your jacket is always meant to be open. Why is it even there then, you ask? When you decide to sit down while wearing a suit, always remember to unbutton your jacket. Sitting down with a buttoned-up suit creases the jacket and ruins its shape while also making you look like a fluffed up potato!
To make you look your refined self in a suit, button up your shirt all the way to the top. Don’t choke yourself, and if that’s happening, please change your shirt!
It is pretty natural to have the cuff of your shirt peeking through your jacket sleeve. The question here is, how much of the shirt cuff should be visible? Shirt sleeves are an integral part of making you look sharp in a suit. Ideally, a quarter an inch of the cuff of your sleeve should appear from under the jacket sleeve. Don’t have your shirt cuffs covering your hand. If it does happen, then you have the wrong size of a shirt on.
When in a formal setting, going up a size on the suit jacket is a big NO! Having a suit that has a dropped shoulder line is a sign of an ill-fitting suit. A baggy suit jacket only looks great when you are out there making a fashion statement, and not when you want to look sharp.
When it comes to a well-fitted suit, length definitely matters. When it comes to the jacket, make sure that the suit is just about long enough to cover the zipper of your pants when buttoned up. Your trousers also have to be of appropriate length. Ideally while standing up, there shouldn’t be any break in your trousers (space created between the end of your trousers and the beginning of your shoes). Meaning, when you are upright, your socks shouldn’t be visible! Easy trick!
Socks are really important when it comes to suits. When it comes to dressing up in formals, coordination is key. It’s always preferred to match your socks with your garment. A brown or beige suit will have you wearing a brown belt with brown socks. The length of the socks matters too. When you sit down, no one wants to see your grizzly bear leg hair now, do they? If you are all about embracing body hair, more power to you! However, for those who haven’t reached that level of enlightenment: Choose longer socks that cover skin and also those that are designed to add that extra panache.
Suits, more often than not, are worn with ties. Here is something to remember while tying a tie next time. Make sure that the tip of the tie ends at the belt. Not too short or too long!
While this does look complicated and seems way too unnecessary at times, managing to follow these suit etiquettes will make you a winner—when it comes to suits and power dressing! Here’s to a sharp-dressed man in a suit!
Shraddha Shetty