How To Buy The Perfect Suit

Author:

BuzzFeed Multiplayer

Keywords:

suits,buzzfeed,men,clothes,tailor,fit,classy,video,BuzzFeedBlue,How to,good fit vs bad fit,tips,helpful,silhouettes,informational,professional attire,bird's eye pattern,fashion,style,versatility,self-confidence,empowerment,masculine,new suits,Guys Try

Subtitles:

- I want to look like the Dominican David Beckham. (laughs) I was serious. - Style is constantly changing and constantly evolving. The one thing that is always in style for guys is a well fitted suit. At any age, a well fitted suit is an essential style piece for any man's wardrobe. So today, we're going to learn how to buy a suit. The one thing about buying a suit is that it can be kind of intimidating. It's a big purchase for most guys. - I'm usually like, dress pants, shirt, tie. - I usually just go to the store, try them out, and just walk out with them. - To help us out, I brought in my friend, Kevin, from Combatant Gentlemen to give us some advice and teach us how to buy a suit. Thanks for coming. - Yeah, my pleasure, Josh. - So tell me a little bit about the company and what you guys do. - We started online, combatgent.com. We help guys look their when it counts. - Crucial. Well how do you guys simplify the process? - First, we have an algorithm that we use online to figure out your size. We give you a size recommendation. It's off of your height, your weight, your neck, and your waist. - An algorithm. - Algorithm. - To fit your suit. Science. - There's a couple things to keep in mind. First, it's got to fit you well right off the rack. You got to start with the right fitting suit. The second thing is think about the occasion you're shopping for so that you can get the suit that's right for that event in your life. Also think about what you might already have so you can kind of build a wardrobe. Let's look at a couple of different colors. Navy, and a charcoal, you know a darker gray. Those are great foundational suits that every guy needs in his closet. You're going to want to look at the fabric. You should look for 100 percent wool. Look for something that's got canvassing in it. Our suits have that. It's not the lining, and it's not the outside, it's the inside of the suit, and it's what holds everything together. - [Both] It's the foundation of the suit. - Okay. So now Kevin we're gonna show these guys three different body types and we're going to show them how to get a suit that fits well for each different body type. - We'll show you the ropes. - My torso's kind of long, so with the shirt and the jacket the sleeves always just feel like extra flowy. - I have a weird shape and I got a Dominican culo, you know what I mean? I'm a small guy and I got a big ol' butt so it's hard (Laughs) We got thick about us. - My main issue because I have broad shoulders and a bigger chest but small waist. Then I have big thighs but I don't really have a butt so for me finding anything that fits perfectly for my body never ever happens. Kevin now we have our suits, now what's the next step that we're gonna take? - Well the way to think about a suit is if you're buying something that's ready to wear, it's about 75 percent of the way there. So that's why we're bring in Ivan. He's our alterations expert. He's gonna give you a little nip and tuck in different spots and it'll be different for every guy. It'll make that suit fit perfectly for you. First thing you always check out on a suit, you got to start top-to-bottom. You're suit fits really really well right now because I'm seeing two things that are perfect. The shoulders, right now it's flat here and your arms are coming out naturally so it fits really well here. Smooth on the back, smooth on the lapels in the front. That's great because you can't really fix this. This isn't really an alteration that you can change. You need a different suit if this doesn't fit. Second, you want to check the length of the overall jacket and that's perfect. It's hitting right here in the middle of your palm. That means that the jacket length is perfect. So that means you got he right size, but that doesn't mean that we're done. There's a few things that I do want to change to this suit. This is what Ivan will jump in on. - Yeah so what I'm gonna go ahead and do is taper down the waist for you so it'll give you a better silhouette. - So you start broad chest, come in at the waist, and then back out and that's that slim fit look. Second thing, we're gonna shorten the sleeves and show you a little bit of shirt cuff. Rule of thumb for the length of a suit jacket is it's based on the shirt. The shirt should go right where your wrist crease will start and then you're going to want to show about a half an inch to three quarters of an inch of shirt cuff. He's gonna pin you up right now. What that's going to do is it's going to show you exactly what this is going to look like once the suit becomes altered. This is what you want to ask your tailor to do. If you say, "I want slim." Make him show you what slim means. When you're going to get fitted for a suit, make sure to bring in a pair of dress shoes. Shoes that you would wear with that suit. Most suit pants come unhemmed, and if you want to get the perfect hem-line, you want to be wearing those shoes when the tailor is pinning. There's three different lengths for pants. What we gave you is a half break. (upbeat rock music) Well let's check it out. Let's see how it looks. - Oh shit. - Oh, what? - You know I'm not an arrogant person, but I look good. - Yeah, this is great. This is exactly what I wanted. I feel like I just, like, won an award. - Everything is lined up. I feel -- I'm fitted right now, like straight up. - Look how the sleeves are perfect, right? You're showing just a quarter inch of cuff on both sides. We shortened them to make it just right for you. We also brought the sides in. Give you that David Beckham slim right here. You got the three piece right now which is money for a wedding. You pick the jacket off, hit the dance floor, and still look polished. - (Foreign language) - We shortened the sleeves just to make it right for your cuff to pop. Then, we gave you no break on the pants. That's where you can pull this off. - Yeah the no break is exactly what I wanted. - It's stylish, right? - Exactly what I wanted. - You can take a black suit, and you can kick it up a notch. And my favorite here. Give you a little splash of color on the pocket square. - Little pow. - Makes that profile too. I really like it with the hair. It's like a whole ensemble thing now. - It's a tailored fit. - Okay. - We've got a little bit wider lapels because that's the proportional thing, right? It's gonna be broad because your shoulders are broad. And that's great. It's all about proportions when you're talking about a suit. Second thing is this is a bird's eye pattern. So, it has a little bit of texture to it. Super versatile. In terms of styling today, we put you with patterned shirt. It's a really small, micro-check. And then we kept the the tie simple. So you don't want to have too much going on. Like, two really intense patterns. It's a detailed pattern and a simple pattern, and we top it off with a nice little pocket square. - This is awesome. - Yeah, man. - Thank you man, appreciate it. (upbeat jazz music) - [Kevin So once you got the suit, the question is how else can you wear it? How can you make it casual? With Tristen, we threw a casual t-shirt and some really bright sneakers. Still be fun, polished. Gidiel, he's layering this bad boy with a turtleneck. Not everyone can pull that off. Gidiel can. You want to look good, but bring it down just a notch. And then Josh, he's got jeans and a t-shirt. He puts on his blazer and that's just the jacket of his suit. It's kind of like a smart casual. The office, to the lot, anywhere the day takes him. - We've all had suits before, but I haven't had a suit that fits like this. - This is a first time a suit freakin' fits, to the T. - Feels sexy. - Perfectly. - It fits sexy, exactly. - Yeah. - We look good fellas, right? - Yeah, for real, you do look good. - No you look good. - No you look great. - None of us look as good as Gidiel. - You won't look like Dominican James Bond at all. Dominican David Beckham, what else? - Stop. - Yeah, Dominican James Bond, Dominican David Beckham, - Dominican Brad Pitt. - Brad Pitt. That's it, That's it. We're done. - Dominican Barack Obama. (laughs) - Dominican everybody. - Hell yeah. Good they left, now it's me. Good. Oh, Dominican slayer -- vampire slayer. That shit don't make no sense. (laughs)