From the Mailbag: How should a suit jacket fit your butt?
To: joe@dappered.com
Subject: How your suit should fit… your butt.
I went to Macy’s and tried on the 42R Alfani Red blue pinstripe jacket
Now I’ve got two questions: Do you think “tightness across the butt” is an important element in fitting a suit jacket? I’ve never seen this element mentioned in any of the online guides I’ve been reading, but the women in the store thought it was important.
My problem is that I have fairly athletic upper body, but as Soulja Boy would say: I “got a donk.” So I don’t know what to do about this. I feel like anything that fits my upper body well will show my butt too much and there isn’t much I can do about that. My second question is: should I buy a regular fit suit and have my tailor bring it way in? Are there any disadvantages to this?
Thanks…
– Yakov
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To: Yakov
Subject: Re: How your suit should fit… your butt.
Yakov:
First of all: What kind of person walks up to a guy that they don’t know, and tells him: “Hey… I think your jacket is too tight across your ass.” (Update: Yakov says it was a 60-year-old woman) The fact that this random woman did this leads me to believe that her opinion on your suit jacket is wrong. Because she’s a whack job. And whack jobs rarely have a good handle on how a suit should fit.
But on the slim chance that she’s one of the few whack jobs out there with a decent sense of style, let’s get back to your original question. I honestly have never thought about how my butt looks when I put on a suit jacket.
Salespeople and the vast majority of the public think men should only wear classic American Sack Suits. I don’t know why this is the case, but, these are the suits that literally make you look like you’re wearing a burlap sack. They have NO shape to them, whatsoever. What you want is tapering at the waist no matter what angle you’re being seen from. Check out the lines of this guy’s silhouette, in the J. Crew Ludlow Worsted Wool Suit:
Do you think that woman would think this guy would need to put on a bigger size jacket? He looks terrific. How do you think she’d react to the fitting points of our guide to buying a suit? If you go with a non athletic-fit suit and have it brought in, keep an eye on the shoulder pads. They might fit lengthwise, but often times more traditional fit suits have really thick (meaning tall) pads. You could end up resembling a linebacker. So to answer your second question, there could be some disadvantages there.
If you do want to pick up a more classic fit suit and have it brought way in, try a more stylish, modern brand like DKNY or Alfani
Good luck, and the next time a random stranger offers up unsolicited style advice, feel free to give them a gentle kick in their “donk.”
– Joe
So allow me to throw this out there. Has anyone else ever heard of eyeing up the tighntess across the butt when measuring the fit of a suit ? Because I never have…
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*Jacket Shown in Top Graphic = J. Crew Ludlow Irish Linen Suit – $390.00
As nice of a response as this article was, it didn’t really answer the question that the reader was asking. I was quite interested to see what the answers were, because I too have a more athletic build, but a little more in the backside, which makes jackets pop out a little and some pants fit oddly. I think that a better answer would be more to what the wearer should look for specifically in the parts of the suit itself, such as a single or double vent. GQ actually had a decent article on suiting for different body styles, and specifically what to look for.
http://www.gq.com/how-to/fashion/200707/gq-primer-suit-your-shape
Hi Jason: I think it perhaps does answer the question. If I’ve never even thought about it, I think it’s fair to assume that to me (and this is just me) it’s not that important. But that’s why I also throw it out to everyone reading at the end. Shoulders and drop have always been what I check, but maybe I’m the odd one out. I don’t know if a single or double vent will make any kind of difference. I just hope the fellas out there with a bit more backside don’t surrender and start wearing sack suits. Keep em’ fitted, and embrace your donk!
I to have the donk issue and have received a wide variety of opinions by tailors. The top tan suit shows the issue fairly well, although I dare say I have a fair bit more donk. It is really an issue that off the rack suits don’t include enough fabric back there when the sides are brought in.
Joe is right that most people seem to think a suit needs to look like a sack, but I don’t think he quite gets the severity of the issue. I am afraid that the answer to original poster is he needs to look at more bespoke suits. Occasionally you will get lucky and find one that leaves your tailer with enough fabric to make the vent work, but as Joe noted often the shoulders will need to be modified.
That GQ article slide was pretty good, I fall somewhere between the speed-skater and Chuck and their points were spot on for issues I have found with suits. I just can’t imagine anyone paying the prices they list for those suits… I actually have on of those suits and I didn’t pay anywhere near that, I didn’t get it from a bargain shop either.
I too have a “donk” and never thought about what it was doing to my suits until I was having a suit altered and my tailor made note of my unruly posterior. She is an old school Eastern European master tailor and she absolutely hates it when a vent is open because of someone’s backside. She was able to partially close the vent so that I could have the suit tapered in at the sides and still keep my rump roast in the oven. I tend to like the more European cut of a side vented jacket, but it just so happened that I was having a center vent jacket altered. I asked my tailor if the side vent would have been more lenient and she said that it might actually be more of a problem because there are two sides to worry about. Ultimately I think the answer to the question is that it matters about as much as it matters to you. Some sartorial rules should never be broken (e.g. unbuttoning the bottom button of a jacket) but true style is the confidence you exude when you wear your clothes, if you like the way you look you’ll project that and nobody will notice your ass, and heck if they do, maybe next time that “whack job” will be a 5’10” model with a thing for a man with some “donk”.
I’m tickled that I seem to have started a whole discourse on “donks” and suits.
The problem with making reference to pictures of models wearing suits, is that models are built like MODELS. You don’t get to be a model if you have a big butt.
Matt is right about bespoke. One day I hope to be able to buy bespoke clothing.
Thanks, everyone.
I also think the GQ article does a good job of giving suggestions for many different body types. I understand that this can be an issues for many guys but I personally think a double vent athletic fit suit is the best for this issue. Look at the Jcrew model in their newest Ludlow fit, he looks to be well built and the double vent looks good. Also in the GQ thing, they didnt specifically point out single/double so maybe its not as big of a deal. I dont even think the dude in the main pic looks bad with the khaki suit and single vent. Another GQ article I found about suit buying listed “beware of the salesmen” as the first thing to do when buying a suit. Dont listen to a 60 yr old women or the sales person and always go a size down not a size up if you can.
http://www.gq.com/how-to/fashion/200608/how-to-buy-a-suit
I can confirm that “beware the salesman” point GQ makes. It’s in our suit buying guide as well. That and the ol’ shoulder into the wall trick is advice I’ve heard in numerous locations and from various people over the years. But back to the salespeople… I fell victim to a saleswoman who said I looked great in a full size too large and too long Boxy Cut Ralph Lauren. When it came back from the in-house tailoring service, it still looked boxy. $450 out the window.
The Dappered suit buying guide is fantastic. I tried to remember all points from it when buying my last suit. My only other question would be, after buying a suit from a department store, where they do the initial basic alterations (pant length when they don’t have a pre-cut length, etc.), would you recommend still taking it in to a regular, full-time tailor? Are there such things as “advanced” alterations?
1) Listen to the saleslady that has the confidence to talk about your butt. Only 2 salesladies have ever advised me regarding my rear and both of them knew exactly what they were talking about, as was confirmed when female friends who were with me agreed with them. Many of my female friends have told me that the butt is one of the first things they notice in a man.
2) Some guys have flat butts, others have donks. I’m thin and athletic but I have a pronounced rear and I can’t wear single vented jackets whereas a slim fit with double-vents looks much better.
Today I brought my Alfani 42R into the tailor (Nelson Tailor in NYC). He said he’s going to take in the torso and behind-the-neck and let out the butt. Moral of the story may be: Get something that’s close and take it to a tailor!
Vizzle, just because someone speaks their mind doesn’t mean it is because they know what they are talking about. Yea, if the sales lady is a good looking, nicely dressed young female then sure.. i’ll probably listen to her. 🙂 If she is a middle or late aged lady with a perm (which is a prevalent look/age in these department stores) then that’s another story. Same thing with a tailor, don’t go in and say “make me look good,” have an idea of what you know looks good, and ask them to do that. Sure, you can listen to suggestions but the final decision—and the reactions it inspires later on—is yours alone to make.
First thing to consider is the fact that vents are tacked shut in the store, therefore the vents aren’t going to lay the way they will when they are cut.
Second, a double vent won’t show as much pull as a single vent if it is a bit tight.
Third, this is what tailors are for. If you do have a tapered torso, the tailor can taper the fit to your shape.
Fourth, you’re not looking for fit in the butt, you’re looking for fit in the shoulder, and for length of the jacket. The shoulder and neck are the hardest parts of the jacket to alter, and the length is adjustable but may look awkward if adjusted too much.
Finally, when in doubt, What Would Cary Grant Do? http://annehelenpetersen.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/cary_grant.jpg
What may actually look best on a man with a donk is no vents.