The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: A Proper Guide to Suit Fit

[Guttersnipe]

I used to! more like a 29.5 now, though. Annoyingly size 35S is not too common, so I always need to wear 36S-R so things tend to be just a little bit big.

That's right, I'm just too small to go shopping in men's stores since clothes are almost always a bit too large. But the size must have been pretty common 70 years ago right? And if I find something in my size that fits, it REALLY fits and looks good. Not as many people are after the smaller items on ebay either, but I guess you are my competant!

My observation is that suits in the range of 38S to 40R (with drop 6 or drop 8 waists) are by far the most commonly seen sizes in vintage suits from the 30s.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Back On Topic . . .

Regarding shoulder fit, how do you gents judge the proper fit on vintage suits?

I find that with natural shouldered suits (modern, 20s, 60s, etc.), the rule of thumb that the pad should extend ~1/4" past your actual shoulder works nicely. But what about with built up shoulders from the mid 30s and 40s? Personally, I find it tough to decide if those "aircraft carrier" on bold look suits are too big or just right. Obviously, looking for dimpled shoulders, as illustrated below, is one method. Any other techniques?

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Presumably that dimple could be fixed by having more wadding in the sleevehead? More difficult/expensive fix on the collar, though.

The collar fit is the one thing a vintage suit will usually fall down on, and something one simply has to put up with or fix, depending on budget/access to tailor.

 

[Gin&Tonics]

Regarding shoulder fit, how do you gents judge the proper fit on vintage suits?
Any other techniques?

The technique I picked up, I think from one of the style guide books listed on our beloved Fedora Lounge, was to stand against the wall with arms naturally hanging at one's side. If the shoulder of the suit touches the wall before your arm is pressed against it, or when it is, the shoulder is too wide. This is I believe meant to be a starting point and perhaps there may be exceptions for certain styles.

 

[herringbonekid]

Regarding shoulder fit, how do you gents judge the proper fit on vintage suits?

by eye.

seriously though, i own jackets that have very well padded shoulders and some (early 20s style) that are unpadded and your shoulder fills out the sleeve head... so it's impossible to really have one rule for all. ultimately trying on various jackets, seeing which works with your body type, and developing an eye for what works on you is the way to learn.

...

all 'fit' but are completely different styles:

 

[Tomasso]

Oh, I like this one!

 

[Guttersnipe]

Presumably that dimple could be fixed by having more wadding in the sleevehead? More difficult/expensive fix on the collar, though.

The collar fit is the one thing a vintage suit will usually fall down on, and something one simply has to put up with or fix, depending on budget/access to tailor.

BK, I'm not really sure a the shoulder dimple can be fixed with more wadding. From reading David Despos' (Google him) posts/editorials on another forum, I understand that shoulder dimpling can be caused by a number of things, the chief culprit usually being shoulder that are too big.

I believe poor collar fit can be caused by a chest which is too small, which will also cause a bowing of the lapels and/or ill fitting shoulder blades.

HBK, What about big bold look shoulders?

 

[herringbonekid]

HBK, What about big bold look shoulders?

same as above; go with what works on you. they are trickier because we get into the area of "are they just big or are they too big" and it all gets subjective. the whole 'bold look' is kind of an over-size look to me, and that's part of what makes it what it is. if you're built like Robert Mitchum it works.

unfortunately i do think the bold look is partly responsible for the overly wide shoulders that are still served to (non-sartorially savvy) men today, especially in the U.S., under the guise of "this is how wide a normal shoulder should be". when Armani referenced the bold look with his oversized jackets of the 80s, some sort of common public perception of how wide a shoulder could go was formed and today many people still see a well tailored shoulder as being 'too small'.

i think things are changing though, and with the recent interest in tailoring (especially Italian) and the amount of blogs like the Sartorialist, the general public is slowly becoming better informed about the finer points of fit, and style generally. i actually think that - if you take the overall decline of menswear to have started after WW2 and reached a low point somewhere in the 70s - we're currently at the highest point it's been since.

 

[Qirrel]

To be honest, I don't think the 1970s was all that bad. A redeeming point is that the patternmakers in the clothing industry still knew what they were doing back then. There is a vintage clothes store here in Oslo which seems to be some sort of magnet to suits from the 1970s; I have tried some of them on just for fun, and even the cheapest, most fused ones actually fit quite nicely with properly done waist suppression, high armholes etc. Today it seems that the patternmakers have all gone completely mad.

 

[herringbonekid]

Q, i suppose i'm talking about men's style generally as being currently up on what was happening in the 70s. i'm sure there were still good patternmakers around then who were more 'old school' than what we have today, but things like high arm holes are frequently talked about as being essential on the various clothing blogs. all of this knowledge seems to percolate down from the bespoke world in a much quicker and more accessible way than it would have in the past because of the internet.