Solo suit shopping tips in Dublin

UberPrinny_Baal

I recently lost a ton of weight and have been throwing out most of my wardrobe. Since my weight seems to have stabilised around where it currently is, I'd like to purchase a good suit to last me a long time.

Hopefully equally applicable to Weddings, Funerals, Job interviews etc

I did some research, and going for something 100% wool seems like the best bet both from breathability and quality.

My problem is that I'm sort of new to the concept of "fashion" and have realised that most of the clothes I had when I was overweight were ill-fitting even then, and I just didn't notice because it was less apparent then. I'm pretty confident in buying well fitting t-shirts, because those are simple and cheap, but going into more complicated stuff like trousers leaves me a bit more unsure (I have never been able to say, firsthand, if my ass looked good in anything).

Is there a place that I can buy a suit that would also give good advice on fitting and appearance, as opposed to just trying to sell me the most expensive thing they can?

Also any tips on getting a suit by myself if I can't drag anyone along to give a second opinion?

Ravelleman

I was going to say that the amount you want to spend will often dictate the level of service you receive but in the case of suits it's actually slightly different. In general, in all but the most popular high street shops, like River Island, for example, you should expect to be able to ask the staff for advice when you're trying different items on.

Regardless, depending on how much you want to spend, I would have a couple of suggestions:

Dawson St and Anne St have a number of different men's shops that sell suits at varying price points. Given that most of them are quite small in size you should expect to get some attention from the staff there. I believe that most of them don't stock designer suits so if you're not looking for Armani or something like that it might be a good bet to look there.

Exchequer St also Louis Copeland and a couple of other more expensive options.

Department stores can also be excellent places to shop for suits, especially when they have sales. Arnotts always have a great range, including some cheaper options, and I've found their staff helpful.

Normally I don't like House of Fraser but I'd actually say that could be your best bet of all, as long as you can find something that isn't hideous, which, I must admit, is a recurring problem there. The advantage is that they have so many staff and what appears to be so few customers at times that you should get a lot of advice if you need it. The staff are conditioned to be helpful so it might be a good first stop even if you don't find anything you like.

A final word of advice - don't mix patterns. Pinstriped suit, pink shirt and latticed yellow tie is a big no-no.

UberPrinny_Baal

Thanks for the tips

Ravelleman wrote: »

as long as you can find something that isn't hideous

This is one of my biggest problems, I don't think I would know a hideous suit if it punched me in the face.

eviltimeban

If you're getting a suit, the key thing is tailoring. I don't mean getting a bespoke suit, I mean when you buy a suit in a shop, unless they have a tailor there then take it to a tailor and get them to alter it. By alter it I mean shape it around your body, so its a closer cut, more fitted (I don't mean slim fit, I just mean it doesn't look like its hanging off you), and will look more stylish. You want to make sure its not too big on the shoulders, I'd recommend a more "Italian" cut, two button jacket, as it is the most stylish of the three most popular cuts (American and English are the other two).

You have to make sure of certain things when getting a suit altered:

- Waist of the jacket is taken in (you wanna show off your weight loss!)
- Sleeves are correct length (showing at least half an inch of cuff)
- Jacket itself is the correct length
- Trousers only have one 'break' at the bottom (meaning they aren't gathered around your shoes)
- Trousers aren't too tight on the ass (as they'll invariably rip)

If you do all that, and the suit is anyway half decent, it'll look good. Get either a plain navy or dark grey suit, can't go wrong there, and very easy to match things to.

+1 on the shops mentioned; I'd throw M&S into the mix as well, they have a good range of well made suits and the staff are mostly OK to ask questions of, though they won't be fawning over you. They don't do in house tailoring though so you'll have to bring it somewhere else to get tailored.

Another thing to think about is shirts and ties - again, go for a slimmer cut shirt, with either wide or semi cutaway collars. This means your tie will sit better, unlike narrower shirt collars. TM Lewin do a good range, as do Thomas Pink - though Pink have gotten very expensive. Once you get your size right (and it based on neck - 15, 16, 17 etc) the world is your oyster as you can go online and buy loads of shirts! :-)

Learn to do a "4 in the hand" tie knot, the one with the dimple, as this is quick and easy and adds nice symmetry to your ensemble.

Avoid Office and Schuh and so on for shoes, go to a proper shoe shop (Fitzpatricks for example) and spend a bit of money on decent brogues or slip ons - brown or black. Grenson, Church, Loake, Barker - all pricey but worth it.

A classic suit never bows to "fashion", classic menswear is timeless. So I wouldn't worry about not being "up" with fashion! ;-)

Sugar Free

^^^ Excellent post.

The only thing I'd say to the OP in addition to the above is with the Italian cut suits, be very careful of their jacket length.

They have a tendency to be cut short. It's no big deal if it's only slightly short (1 inch maybe) but some of them barely touch the crotch area on the front and arse on the back, when ideally it should reach down to cover them.

One other minor point is that sometimes they might also have lower rise pants which doesn't suit most people imo. However, this tends to be more the likes of Massimo Dutti, Next and other high street places that you'd be best avoiding.

Corkbah

I was going to throw out getting a tailor made suit (if you had the money) - I never considered getting a suit altered, I usually goto Thailand and have several suits made while I holiday or send over my measurements and collect when I arrive.

a tailor made suit in Ireland will cost €800-1000ish, same suit made in Thailand €200-300. (of course before you get one made in Thailand you need to know the difference with various cuts and styles, shapes etc of clothes available to choose from)