Tailor – Above The Ankles

Tips

Suit Size – Struggling To Find The Best Fit?

Posted on November 22, 2015November 22, 2015by Hamed

It’s important to know that suits that are readily available in retail stores, like the ones I post on here or the ones you find on the high-street, they are made in their thousands and the suit size is based on the “normal” size human. What’s considered normal? I don’t have a clue but I know I haven’t been “normal” or been able to wear a suit straight off the rack since I was nineteen years old. I play football and cycle a lot so below my waist is much larger than “normal” meaning none of the trousers off the rack will fit me. Suit jackets off the rack fit me fine.

Tailor Made

Let’s get down to it, if you cant find a suit that fits you, what do you? If you can afford to have a tailor design a suit for you from nothing, usually costing around £600 for the entire suit – then you need not worry, the suit will fit you perfectly. Most of us, myself included cannot afford to be buying tailor-made suits.

A good friend of mine messaged me this morning this same question. He’s super slim and 6″5 in height, you can imagine his struggles.

Retail & Tailor Combined – The Perfect Suit Size

The Perfect Suit Size

The best thing to do is to combine between buying from the retailers for cheap and then spending another £15-£50 at your local tailors to get them to readjust the suit to fit you. I advise you to always buy the suit in a larger size and then you’re tailor will have an easy job removing the excess fabric.

If you are in doubt, go into the tailors without a suit, get them to measure you and tell them your intentions of buying an off the rack suit and getting it cut. They’ll tell you what jacket and trouser size to go for and you can work from there.

My Preferences

My budget for a suit is usually around the £150 mark. For me anything above that is pushing it and anything below that is a bit too cheap and tacky. My favourite store at the moment for suits is Mark’s & Spencer’s, their suits are usually made really well and they have a MASSIVE range of sizes so it becomes easy for me to find a suit that fits perfectly in the jacket. Then my tailor charges me £25 to get the trousers tapered in and turned up above my ankles.

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Get The Look

Get The Look #8 – MusikaFrere

Posted on November 17, 2015April 12, 2016by Hamed

There aren’t many people on Instagram better dressed than Davidson Petit-Frère. Combined with his partner, David runs his company; MusikaFrere. You only have to be on their site for three seconds to realize they have unique talents and following them on Instagram is a must. A lot of my style is influenced heavily by men I see online that have amazing fashion sense and David is one of them.

Get The Look #8 - MusikaFrere 2

I had a choice of many different outfits from David but ultimately the majority of his outfits are unique and will cost you quite a bit of cash to look that good. Plus you’d pretty much have to go to David in NYC to get them. Therefore I decided to opt for an outfit that is easily copyable but still looks amazing. The look I’ve picked is both smart and casual, while being perfect for both winter and spring. Should you buy this outfit, it’s pretty much an all time classic that you can wear all year round.

The Outfit

The outfit is extremely basic, starting with a black slim-fitted turtle neck, a wide lapeled burgundy blazer, slim fitted black trouser and a pair of plain black trainers. Simple right? Simplicity is always the best, especially if you can make it look natural – almost as if you got dressed in five minutes.

Where Would You Wear It?

Sometimes we find ourselves with an outfit that we are unable to wear often. Either it is too casual or it is too loud – which is annoying. Doubt you’ll have a problem with this one.

Wearing it on a night out is the obvious choice, whatever you choose to do with your night, the turtle-neck shows people you are willing to chill a little, while the blazer let’s people know you’re classy guy. Dinners are perfect for this kind of outfit, especially if you’re going out to eat at a decent place where you know others will be dressed smartly.

Any sort of event, ranging from a work-do or a sporting event to a family baby shower, this look will surely have the colleagues and family admiring you. Whether they say anything to you or not will depend on how often they see you well dressed. If you find that the event is too casual hang your blazer on a chair and show off the fitted turtle-neck.

Blazer

The blazer is an elegant burgundy colour, a nice dark dull colour. Not often do you compliment a dull colour, but with winter coming round, you don’t want to be wearing those bright colours. Dark colours are great for many reasons, whether it’s to create a serious/professional persona or to blend in and not stand out like a lollipop lady.

Turtle Neck

A good fitted turtle-neck can get you far in this world and is essential for a man with a thing for fashion. They can be worn in a range of different ways. The most common is as a casual/smart look, usually by the older gent. This is combined usually with chinos, a jacket and driving shoes – this is my favourite way of wearing them. Combining it with a suit jacket is the most stylish way, as seen in this look.

Trousers

David here has kept it simple, a slim fitted black pair of trousers. Whether the trousers are a chino or a dark pair of jeans it doesn’t matter much. For the smart/formal nights, I’d always opt for the chino. Zara do some amazing fantastic quality chinos for £40. On the more casual night out, I’d definitely go for jeans, especially if you’re likely to be jumping around or spilling things. If that’s the type of night you’re intending to have, I’d probably leave the blazer behind.

Trainers

I was surprised to see David wearing trainers, it’s not a common sight on his Instagram page. Both trainers and shoes work well with this look. Which one to wear, depends on the day/night you intend on having. As with the chinos/jeans, follow accordingly (jeans with trainers and chinos with shoes.)

Don’t forget to follow David on Instagram;

Davidson_Frere

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Tips

Two Fashion Mistakes Some People ACTUALLY Make

Posted on October 1, 2015November 14, 2015by Hamed

business men in shorts - fashion mistakes

You cannot make a mistake when it comes to style, style is who you are and what you choose to do with your clothes, so feel free to express yourself in anyway you see fit. However, when it comes to fashion there are MANY mistakes and I mean MANY. Some of the well known “fashion mistakes” I disagree with and this is evident in my own style. There are on the other hand some mistakes you can’t afford to make.

Two of which I have seen today and want to try and hopefully prevent you from doing them.

1. Badly Fitted Clothes

Badly fitted suits are horrible, whether they’re too baggy or too tight. Clothes should make you feel comfortable and look good. If you’re uncomfortable, your clothes are probably too tight. If you feel like you’re in bed, your clothes are way to big.

I saw some incredibly baggy clothes today. They looked like they were handed down through the generations. I remember when I went to my first interview, I wore my dad’s suit and oh my God, I looked horrible and everyone could tell.

If you find it difficult finding clothes that fit you properly, then either branch out of your comfort zone and try out new stores or build a great relationship with your nearest tailor. You’ll be surprised what tailor’s can do.

2. Short Sleeves With A Tie

Fast food restaurants want their managers to look the part so they ask them to wear ties. Obviously they can’t wear a tie without a shirt so they get them to wear a shirt. The problem arises when you have someone wearing a shirt, getting sauce and oil all over their sleeves. Which obviously leads to this short sleeve/tie combo we see today.

Now unless you’re a manager in a fast food restaurant, why would you ever wear a short sleeve shirt with a tie? Please don’t. The short sleeve/tie combo is associated with low paying jobs and unless that’s the look you’re going for, avoid it.

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Tips

Shirts Ripping At The Elbow

Posted on June 20, 2015November 13, 2015by Hamed

Why Do My Shirts Rip At The Elbow?

I’m a proud owner of some beautiful TM Lewin shirts. So proud I’ve ordered some for others and told ample amounts of people to get them. Then out of nowhere – my shirt ripped right above my elbow, the fabric just decided to split and tear. I was so shocked I thought maybe I put on one of my old cheap shirts by mistake. I always thought only cheap shirts rip and quality/luxury shirts last a lifetime. In all my previous jobs I was always out & about and now working 9-5 on a desk, I’m a victim.

If this has not happened to you, then I’m guessing you probably don’t have an office/desk job.

Why?

You may be asking – Why Do My Shirts Rip At The Elbow? Does This Mean My Shirts Are Low Quality?

Why they rip is pretty easy to answer, the area under your elbow will be the most worn out part of any shirt. Every time you bend your elbow, you stretch all the fabric and the shirt will get more worn out as the day goes on. On top of this constant flexing, everyone that sits at a desk puts their elbows on the desk. Using a mouse or typing on your keyboard requires some movement which will slowly ruin the elbow area of your shirt.

To answer the second question, does this mean your shirt is low quality? – it’s a bit more complicated. I find TM Lewin to be among the best quality shirts on the high street and still my shirt ripped. The problem isn’t the quality, it is how thick the material of the shirt is. All fabrics rip after some time, unless it’s some indestructible military fabric. Thin fabrics will rip and tear faster than thicker fabrics – that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

How To Stop It?

It’s too late for my beautiful blue shirt but it doesn’t need to be too late for yours. Preventing your shirts from ripping at the elbow is not too difficult, you just need to be conscious of the fact this can and will happen to you if you sit at a desk or table often.

Blazer or Jacket – Easiest way to stop it is to keep your blazer on, your blazer will be able to handle a beating much better than your shirt will.

Elbows off – Keeping your elbows/forearms off of the table/desk is a sure fire way to stop them for tearing. All you have to do is adjust your chair and keyboard/mouse so they are on the edge of the surface and your forearms are in the air.

Roll your sleeves – I always roll my sleeves up, mainly because the people I work with live in the 1800’s and haven’t discovered air conditioning yet. Rolling up your sleeves will mean that your skin is free to rub against that table as much as you want it too. Just make sure you have your sleeves rolled up high enough.

How To Fix It?

Easy answer will be take it to the tailor and they’ll get it stitched over, it won’t look perfect but it’s better than having a hole in your shirt. You could also get your shirt converted into a short sleeve shirt but I don’t see why you would! Or you could be like me and attempt to stitch it yourself, however, I strongly advise you don’t unless you know what you’re doing. I did a horrible job stitching mine up and tomorrow I’m taking it to the tailor. (Lesson Learnt – I can’t stitch.)

I found a great article from this blogger, Eileen, on how to fix your shirt – properly! Click Here.

Twill Shirts

I’m a massive fan of TM Lewin as I’ve mentioned a million times and I’ve decided to order myself some more of their Twill shirts. My blue shirt that ripped was a Poplin shirt which like their Twill shirts it’s made from 100% cotton. The difference however is Poplin shirts are great for summer as they are thin and light. The Twill shirts are a lot thicker which is great for me as I know they’ll last a lot longer. Considering my blue Poplin shirt only lasted me five months, I’m hoping to get a good eighteen months out of my Twill shirts. Only time will tell.

Fitted Plain Blue Sky Fine Luxury Twill Shirt

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Tips

Stitching? – Should You Remove The Thread From Your Suit

Posted on May 28, 2015May 28, 2015by Hamed

Apologies Gentleman for not updating my blog recently. I’ve been working on the back-end of things and have not forgotten about all you stylish men. I’ve recently joined The Student Room and I’m really enjoying speaking to all these young students who have a million questions. I found one that really shocked me, it was from a young man who wanted to know if he should remove the stitching left by the manufacturing company in his clothing.

If you don’t know why this is done, it’s basically to prevent bits of the clothing from getting caught in any of the machinery or getting folded over and being creased in an awkward way for 6 months while in storage – thus potentially ruining the clothing.

Removing The Stitching

To answer the question; should you remove the tacking from your clothing? Yes.

The most common tacking done to suits would be on the lapel and on the vents. Sometimes you will find that the manufacturer has stitched down the lapel through the lapel pin hole on the left breast. The vents on the back, whether it be single or double vented, would also be stitched together in an “X” shape. It is absolutely essential that you remove both of these, no ifs no buts. Unlike most fashion rules, this one is agreed by everyone that it can not be broken. The moment you get that suit home, remove it.

Removing The Stitching – Optional

There are some common spots on your suit that are most likely to be stitched together as well. The back pocket of your suit trousers, the breast pocket of the blazer and the receipt pockets on the front of your blazer. These are optional and should only be removed if you intend on using those pockets.

I use my trouser and breast pockets every day so this is a must for me. The problem is if you open up the front receipt pockets of your blazer then you may be tempted to fill them. If you cram a coke can in them one night, you could potentially ruin the shape of your blazer permanently so be aware.

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