Tuesday's Top Ten

Top 10 Tips for the Appropriate Wear of a Suit

I’m grateful for the helpful men in my life who have taught me a thing or two about how to best wear a suit. Even though I don’t wear one very often, I wanted to share what I feel are the top 10 tips for looking your best when wearing a suit…not a sports jacket and pants…but a suit.

1) When building your wardrobe, get classic colors first and get the nicest quality you can afford. A well made suit just fits better than one that is poorly made.  Get black and navy first. After that you can add a gray one. Simple patterns are much better than bold patterns if you prefer a pattern. Avoid trendy…they’ll be out of style in a year. The MUST HAVES for the well dressed man are…a black suit; a navy blue suit; and a navy blue sports jacket. Get those first…then add more as needed. Better to have two really great suits than several cheaply made ones. A well-made suit will last a long time…assuming your body weight doesn’t fluctuate too much.

2) For lack of a better term, husky/chubby/stocky men should generally stay away from double-breasted suits. My personal preference is the classic, three-button suit, but the two-button is nice as well. I used to wear double breasted, and when I go back and look at pictures…yeah…bad idea….for me, anyway.

3) When you hem the pants, shorter guys should avoid cuffs. I break this rule, because I really like cuffs, but generally, short guys should have them hemmed straight. Also, when hemming the pants, there should be a small break right at the top of the shoes. You don’t want your suit pants hemmed too short. Better too long than too short…obviously, just right is best. Oh, and make sure you take the shoes you’ll be wearing with the suit when you try the pants on. Shoes are all made differently, and if you try the suit on with one pair of shoes and then try to wear it with a different pair, don’t be surprised when the pants don’t fall properly to the top of the shoes.

4) Button your jacket. When you sit down, unbutton it. When you stand back up…automatic…button it. It just looks better. And for heaven’s sake, take it off when you get in your car. If you don’t it will be a wrinkled mess by the time you get where you’re going.

5) There is never any good reason to wear a button down collar shirt with a suit. Button downs are far too informal for a suit. This is probably the most common mistake men make when they wear a suit. Get a classic, straight-collar shirt…solid colors are best. And get the best quality shirts you can afford for wear with your suits. They’re a bit expensive, but I’m a huge fan of Brooks Brothers dress shirts. They’re classic, so they’ll stay in style forever; you can wash them at home; and coming out of the dryer, they look almost pressed, so ironing is kept to a minimum. Again, classic shirt colors…white, ecru, and blue to start…and probably I’d purchase them in that order. Personally, I like to have multiple white shirts and then just one of each of the other colors. White goes with anything…most of the time.

6) Your socks should match your pants. And wear solid color socks with a suit.

7) Black shoes should be worn with any suit in the blue/black/gray family. Save your brown shoes for sports jackets and brown toned suits. And wear lace up shoes with a suit. Save the loafers for your sports jacket. And at least keep them a little polished and not all scuffed up.

8) NEVER wear your navy blue suit coat as a sports jacket. And NEVER wear a navy blue suit jacket with any pair of navy blue pants other than the ones that came with the suit. They will not match. The same rule holds for black. You’ll be amazed how many different shades of black there are out there.

9) Your belt should match your shoes. Black belt with black shoes…brown belt with brown shoes…and preferably the same shade of brown. Yes, you must wear a belt with a suit.  I'd also consider having buttons sown in for a set of braces...you might know these better as suspenders, but braces is the more technically correct term.  Suspenders snap on.  Braces button on.  I just like them.  I think they look good and they serve the practical purpose of helping keep the pants in place.  Also, you might consider a set of shirt garters.  These are devices that hook to the bottom of your shirt and then run down and connect to your socks.  They keep your socks up and keep your shirt tucked in and looking sharp for when you remove your jacket.

10) When hemming your jacket sleeves, take your dress shirt with you. The shirt sleeves should just extend beyond the hem of the jacket when the arms are held straight at your sides. If you don’t need to hem your jacket, then make sure you buy a shirt with sleeves long enough to extend according to the above rule. Under no circumstances should you wear a short sleeved shirt with a suit. Short sleeves are too informal for wear with a suit.

So there's my pastoral top ten tips for how to wear a suit properly.  I'll be back next week with another top ten list.  Next week - Top Ten Lessons Dad Should Teach His Son!