Sartorial Musings for the Wellsuited

Suits for Boots

183:848117135 (Todd Smith) — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 22:21:25 GMT

Suits for US Military Transitioning to Civilian Life

This is a bit premature on my part, but I don't care any more. I'm done waiting on funding from sponsors to materialize. From this point forward, all US Military Personnel that have been or are soon to be honorably discharged, their first custom outfit will be 50% off. Hopefully, some day soon, this suits for boots program will be completely free to them, but for now 50% will have to do.

I know there are charities out there that give free suits to our vets to help prepare them for their search for civilian jobs, but these suits are most often used/worn hand-me-downs. I don't know about you, but racks of old, worn, ill-fitting, and out of style suits would not give me much confidence in a job interview.

Personally, I think they deserve better than hand-me-downs. I am going to flip that dynamic on it's head, and give a full custom tailored suit experience to our transitioning service personnel so they can go out and continue to kick ass.

If you know anyone that would be a good fit for this program, please have them get in touch with me so we can get the ball rolling for them.

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

Series - Building a Wardrobe That Works - The Shirt Foundation

183:848117135 (Todd Smith) — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 22:35:23 GMT

Building a foundation of shirts for your wardrobe

C ontinuing with the theme of laying the foundation for a Wardrobe That Works, today we'll take a look at how to do that with your shirt selections. If you missed the foundational suits, you can find that here .

It's somewhat surprising to me that the concept laid out below is new information to every single new client that I meet with. Throughout my 20+ year career in custom made clothing, I have shared this formula with countless clients, taught it en mass when giving corporate seminars on the science behind "dressing for success" and how to do it effectively, and have even trained other custom clothiers how valuable this concept will be to their clients. With all of that, I have yet to run into anyone that has ever heard of doing this type of thing. That just seems crazy to me.

At its most basic, the formula for choosing shirts that make up the foundation or your wardrobe boils down to taking the number of days per week that you dress for work and multiply that number by 3. Half of these shirts will be white, and the rest will be a mix of blue, patterned, and "high colors". If you are so inclined, you can stop right here. You now have enough knowledge right now to make your life easier when shopping for shirts.

For those that didn't stop reading, welcome to the more advanced portion.

Having a minimum of three weeks of shirts will allow you to keep your shirts in a rotation which evens out their wear, extends the usable life of each shirt, and equips you to more easily coordinate shirts and ties to your daily outfit. The three weeks minimum of shirts in the rotation also makes your life easier by giving you one week's worth waiting to be picked up at the cleaners, one week's worth ready to be worn hanging in your closet, and one week's worth waiting to be taken to the cleaners. That last bunch will usually be found in a heap in the corner, and probably much to your wife's obvious disapproval.

Let's take a look now at how to best portion out your foundational shirts as it relates to colors, patterns etc. In the example below, I'm using a five day workweek as our baseline. You can simply adjust as is relevant to your situation.

3 weeks of shirts x 5 days per week, yields 15 shirts (I'm rounding up to 16 to keep the math easy). Of the 16 shirts, the breakout looks like this:

8 solid white shirts
4 solid blue
2 patterned (checks, stipes, plaids etc.)
2 "high colors" (pinks, lavenders, yellows etc.)

*The photo above is a representation of what the foundation of core basic shirts might look like.

Remember, this is just the baseline and your actual mileage will vary. Your company dress code and likely work from home schedule may look different than our example above, but this formula is the best way to lay the foundation regardless of your work situation. (For more than one business casual day per week, just substitute one patterned and one "high color" for two whites.)

As you add more shirts to your wardrobe, just keep the basic formula in mind and you should never be at a loss for a shirt to perfectly match the outfit for the day. Unless of course, you forget to stop by the dry cleaners.

*Pro-tip: if you travel for work, ask the cleaners to fold (some places call it boxing) at least one white shirt, so you have one that is ready to easily pack for the next overnight business trip.

I'll take a look at best practices for caring for your shirts in a later post, but please let me know in the comment section below if you feel there's anything I missed here.

Series - Building a Wardrobe That Works - The Foundation

183:848117135 (Todd Smith) — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 22:47:38 GMT

Every building requires a solid foundation...

A nd building a wardrobe that works is no different. But yours will also need stripes and even something of a change of pace to mix it up a little bit, like a subtle grey/blue plaid. Before we get into creating the blueprint (or shopping list) for the core basics that make up a wardrobe's foundation, please check out last week's post on proper fit here if you haven't already seen it.

If you've ever looked at something in your closet that you rarely (if ever) wear and wondered why you ever bought it, today's post is for you and should help you avoid that mistake in the future.

Adding new a new suit or two to the wardrobe can sometimes be a daunting proposition, and if you are just starting out, you've probably been let down by never having had someone actually lay out what makes a gentlemen's wardrobe. That's what we'll be looking at today.

For some, the problem may actually be color blindness. Did you know that 1 in 12 men (and 1 in 200 women) are colorblind? A quick glance around your office will probably show you who that is. If you happen to land in this camp, the information below will still be useful, but you may want to ask someone that isn't color blind for an assist.

**A quick disclaimer: As of the date of this post, the foundation I'm laying out applies to the typical pre-Covid era in-office 5 day work week. With the current hybrid scenario of sometimes being in the office and other times working from home, you'll need to adjust to suit your situation.

How many suits does it take to make up a "foundation"? The general rule of thumb is to have one more suit in the rotation than there are days in the week that you wear one. For the most common scenario where suits are being worn to the office Monday to Thursday with Business Casual on Friday, five suits will make up the foundation.

The core basics of a wardrobe that works (for suits) are as follows:

Solid Navy suit. The solid navy suit has been a workhorse pretty much forever, and can also be used for semi-formal event as well as serving you well when worn as separates.
Solid Grey suit. Kissing cousin to the solid navy suit, the solid grey (or gray if you prefer) is another all around winner.
Navy striped suit. Here's where I may lose some of you, but please just humor me for a minute. The width and boldness of the stripe is up to you, but it should be chosen according to the position held, and the boldness of the individual wearing it.
Grey striped suit. Same goes for the grey striped as it does for the navy.
Change of Pace suit. Usually something in a lighter blue or grey with a subtle plaid or check in the weave.

With only these five suits in rotation, you'll wear each one fewer than 40 times per year on average. We'll look at why that is important in a post down the road.

In the coming weeks I'll continue with foundation building covering shirts, and Business Casual wear. Later we'll take a look at more advanced topics like formal wear, outer wear etc.

Did you take anything useful away from this? Is there something I missed, and I should have addressed? Hit me up in the comment section below!

Series - Building a Wardrobe That Works

183:848117135 (Todd Smith) — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 23:36:54 GMT

Building a foundation that fits.

C ontrary to the advertising schemes of stretchy sweat pants makers, there is no such thing as "one size fits all". And this series will be no different. My intent is not to give you a set of rules to obey, but instead to give you a set of blueprints to follow. The goal is to provide you the tools to make your clothing selections with a plan and a purpose, ultimately choosing pieces in the "context" of who you and how you live your life.

Like any construction project, if the foundation isn't solid, everything will be in need of constant maintenance or replacement. A wardrobe is no different, so let's get building.

The single most important thing in building a wardrobe that works... is fit . It would seem to be a no-brainer that you'd want to concentrate on fit first (I mean even Johnnie Cochran knew how important the concept of proper fit was, and he knew how to leverage it to his client's benefit). But a quick look around the office, coffee shop, subway etc. will show how frequently fit seems to be given only a passing glance (if any thought at all), and in its place is a panoply of brightly colored plaid jackets and the ubiquitous stretch pant. Ugh.

So what is "proper" fit? That unfortunately can't be easily defined here, because wildly differing body types (as well as personal fit preferences, mixed with current fashion trends) will all require different approaches to getting it right. I don't feel like turning this into a novel by attempting to detail every subtle nuance of fit (and I doubt you would want to read it), so I'll attempt to boil suit fit down the core elements.

Jacket fit:

Starting at the top (and I do mean your head), is the overall silhouette and color of the coat pleasing to your eye? If the answer is yes, then you're off to a great start. If not, look for something else.
The fabric across the back of the shoulders and under the collar should be smooth, and free of folds, creases, and bunching up.
Through the chest, stomach, waist, and seat the fabric should lay cleanly, again without folds, bunching, or gaps.
The lapel should fall in a clean and straight line to the first button without any obvious sagging or pulling when the jacket button is fastened.
Clean lines should continue to the bottom of the jacket without too much overlap, or worse, pulling toward the sides of the body, opening the front of the coat up in a most unattractive manner.

Trouser fit:

Trousers should fit comfortably around your waist. In over 20 years of bespoke suit making, I've found that your mileage will vary greatly at this point. What is comfortable for one, is much too tight for another.
On the backside, the fabric should fall cleanly from the waistband covering the seat and that clean line should extend to the cuff. Look out for fabric pulling across the seat (too tight), as well as an obvious indentation under the seat on the back of the legs. You'll want to eliminate fabric puckering under the seat and going into the crotch area. That just looks and feels bad all day long, and can be avoided.
On the front, you're again aiming for clean lines both vertically and horizontally. So no pockets and/or pleats popping out, nor bunching of fabric of fabric through the crotch.
The fabric should fall cleanly all the way to the cuff area, where your preference for full, medium, or no break comes in. Feel free to show as much sock (or ankle) as your heart desires, but you definitely don't want a puddle of fabric laying on the top of your shoes.

That seems like enough homework to do this week (if you're so inclined), but I'd like to hear your thoughts. Did I miss anything? Do you have a question, or maybe a different opinion about fit? Please let me know in the comment section below.

If you are more inclined to NOT do the homework yourself, lucky for you I make house calls and can help. Even luckier for you... since I'm in the bespoke suit business, each piece we make for you is designed, cut, and tailored specifically for you and your shape. I guarantee a fit that you will love!

Building a Wardrobe That Works

183:848117135 (Todd Smith) — Wed, 19 Oct 2022 18:19:57 GMT

Or... how to buy clothes that don't suck.

W e've all been there... you're getting ready for a big meeting, or an interview (or maybe a date?), and the suit that you really like is starting to get a little long in the tooth. No problem, just grab the next one in the rotation.

Ok... maybe there is a problem. The next one is a bit threadbare, too. The next suit up is not one of your "go-to's". Neither is the next one. Or the one after that. Crap.

Well, there is the suit you never wear. You know, the one pressed flat in the back of the closet. With dust on the shoulders. The army green four button that the sales girl said made you look "soooo sexy". Yeah... that one.

You think, "Nope, not going to wear that one either. Why did I even buy it?"

Looks like it's time to add clothes/outfits that don't suck, but how does one do that? Can they all be favorites and go-to's?

The answer is, they can. Over the coming weeks, we'll walk through how to build a wardrobe that you love. One that makes you feel great (even inspired or empowered maybe?) each time you open your closet. A line-up that generates non-stop compliments.

I hope you'll tag along for the ride, and I hope that you'll find SuitMojo along the way.

See you next week!

Ready... Steady... Gala!

183:848117135 (Todd Smith) — Fri, 14 Oct 2022 01:10:52 GMT

Galas and formal holiday events are around the corner... are you ready?

It may seem like the Holiday season and New Year's Eve celebrations are a long way off, but they are closer than you think when it comes to wardrobe prep. NOW is the time to get dialed in, so you don't end up renting a tuxedo that who knows how many other guys have worn before you.

Here is a quick checklist to help get you (and your tux) dialed in.

How does the fabric look? Did hanging for 2+ years without use give the moth horde all the time they needed to turn it to Swiss cheese? If so, you may be able to have it rewoven, but chances for that are probably pretty slim. If you need help, I know a guy.
How's the fit? Did you join the Peleton party to make firm what was saggy, but now the jacket and pants are just baggy? Or, did you dash to the door only add a few pandemic pounds? Either way, if it does not fit you well, have it altered or get your butt to the gym... TODAY ! GOOD tailoring and getting in shape both take time, and yours is running out to get either done in time.
How's the style? Does it make you feel like 007, or more like an Oh-sO 70's game show host? If you don't feel like Bond, it may be time to look for something new. Again, good tailoring takes time, so don't put it off.

All of the above also applies to dinner/smoking jackets and formal trousers. Now is the time to get started on this, so you're not having to rent last minute and share a tux with the (100? 200?) guys before you.