Suit Recommedations?

[trd937]

I have to attend a wedding in Sept and wanted to know if you anyone had any thoughts or opinions on Men' suits. Did I mention its my Wedding?

I live in SF and have not yet began my search. I can admit that I'm a novice suit shopper since I've worked in a casual dress setting most of my working life.

Just wanted to get some feedback on what designers some of you like or dislike. I'm willing to travel(within the US) to get my suit so NY,LA etc folks can chime in. Thanks!

trd937

[steph]

Get a bespoke suit from Thomas Mahon (http://www.englishcut.com) if money's no object, he's in the US in June... http://www.englishcut.com/archives/000073.html

[skecr8r]

This is very dependant on what you like.

If you are more after a casual silhouette with style you should go for Hugo Boss. A lot of people hate on the regular brands and BossRed but the suits are simply amazingly high quality.

Gucci make fantastic suits. They are expensive, even more than the Boss's, but they simply just look smashingly good. I have one and it is simply the finest piece of clothing I could imagine wearing, its fantastic.

Try looking for tailor made. People should be able to hook you up with a decent one so you can get exactly what you want.

Denim Fanatismé.

The Arc - Hitting the selvage from August 1st 2005.

frogeyes: "dontcare, who cares."

[themdouble]

Go Gucci... Period

-Dub

[My Pal the Crook]

I'm a big fan of Paul Smith when it comes to suits

[Geowu]

Jesse Rajawongse, if you can go to Thailand

Kiton, Brioni if money's no issue

In any case a tailored suit is better than ready-to-wear

[knewnan]

The best place to find a suite in our city is Wilkes Bashford: 375 Sutter Street, 415-986-4380

They carry Brioni, Kiton, Canaili and everything else.

If you can't find anything in your price range Wilkes Bashford try Courtoue on Geary (between Mason and Taylor).

My local favorite is Al's Attire in North Beach. He will make you a custom suite that is as nice as anything you can find on a rack, if you have enough time he can order the fabric from anywhere.

[Yakboy Equals Nurturer]

The first thing you need to figure out is if you want bespoke, made to measure or ready to wear. Bespoke (entirely custom made to your specification by a tailor) is what suit nerds salivate over in the same way that denim nerds salivate over genuine deadstock 1950s 501xx and double ring spun 30 dip veggie dyed selvage. Going bespoke is very expensive outside of Asia; you would end up paying $3,500 at the very minimum. Probably closer to $5,000 for something by an established tailor. $10,000+ if you wanted the very best. Since you'd be wearing something handmade by a tailor rather than designed by a designer, the only people who would know you were wearing a very expensive suit are suit nerds. On the other hand, you’d have the kind of suit that you can leave to someone in your will.

Made to measure (customization of a half-finished suit) is a nice midpoint between bespoke and ready to wear. It can be as expensive as bespoke, especially if you go for a made to measure version of a high-end brand name like Gucci, Brioni, Kiton, Canali, Oxxford, RL Purple Label. These easily run $3,500+, depending on the label. You won’t find too much made to measure under $2,000. Bergdorf (NY) is the place to go for a good range of MTM.

Ready to wear is where you'll find the most choice and the best prices. If you have an average build and you go to a place where the sales staff know what they’re doing you’ll easily find a perfect suit. Just spend plenty of time selecting what you want and make sure to bring it to a good tailor to be fully adjusted. Places like Barneys and Bergdorf will sort this out in-house.

Since it's in August, you'll probably want a fairly lightweight suit. Since it's your wedding, you probably want something that's more stylish than business like. If money were no object I’d go for made to measure Gucci. But since making a downpayment on a place to live makes more sense, I'd go for something like a Paul Smith ready to wear. English cut suits look more stylish, but not so much that you'll be looking at the photos in 20 years going "what the fuck was I wearing."

Edited by Yakboy Equals Nurturer on May 13, 2005 at 03:16 PM

[Guest]

^^

I want to thank everyone for their input and educating me on the Ready to Wear,MTM and Bespoke. I'm really excited now to begin my search.

I wish $ were no object because a Bespoke or MTM would be so great! Regardless, I'll still explore the option...doesn't hurt to inquire! Thanks again and if anyone else has thoughts...type away!

[Guest]

^^

I want to thank everyone for their input and educating me on the Ready to Wear,MTM and Bespoke. I'm really excited now to begin my search.

I wish $ were no object because a Bespoke or MTM would be so great! Regardless, I'll still explore the option...doesn't hurt to inquire! Thanks again and if anyone else has thoughts...type away!

[trd937]

^^

I want to thank everyone for their recommedations and for educating me on Bespoke, MTM and ready to wear. I'm really excited to start my suit search now. I feel wearing an MTM or bespoke suit for the big day would be amazing! I wish $ was no object but regardless, I'm going to explore the options since it doesn't hurt to inquire.

Thanks so much and if anyone else has thoughts just type away....

[ChadR]

For more information that you can ever want, styleforum.net is an amazing reference for suiting information.

[gentleman]

i have a few suits for work but my favorite is this all black suit from agnes b that i got a year ago. fits like a glove and is cut well. slim-fitting. only cost about $600.

my next suit will most likely be mtm or bespoke from seize sur vingt here in nyc. i remember hearing of a tailor that makes custom made suits for $750-800 for wes anderson, jason schwartman, et al. anyone know who im talking about?

[Geowu]

Doesn't surprise me, Jesse Rajawongse makes custom suits for George Bush for only $250

[35mm]

"i remember hearing of a tailor that makes custom made suits for $750-800 for wes anderson, jason schwartman, et al. anyone know who im talking about?"

--- Original message by gentleman on May 14, 2005 05:21 PM

mr. ned

Edited by 35mm on May 16, 2005 at 06:05 AM

[Murakami]

If you find yourself in the UK I would recommend http://www.greshamblake.com/index.html

the tailoring is awesome . Other than that I have a Valentino suit and the cut is fantastic

[mouko]

I don't know if the shops in San Francisco have in house tailors. You should stop by union square and check out gucci and especially Ysev Saint Laurent, which is on Maiden Lane. You would want to use their in house tailors because of their familiarality (sp?) with the design and cut.

Personally I find YSL to have a very nice cut. My other favorite designer suits are Helmut Lang and Dior homme, but both do not have actual stores in the san fran bay area. I do not know how the newer gucci's fit, but both my YSL and Gucci suits are from the Tom Ford era.

As another poster commented, you might be better off (fit and price point) to get one custom made. But my suggestion is if you have the proper build, go slim. No matter what, slim in my opinion always looks best unless you are a huge body builder.

Good luck!

[wild_whiskey]

My favorite suits are (in order of preference) from:

Jil Sander, Helmut Lang, Martin Margiela, Dior Homme, YSL, Dolce & Gabbana

Take that for what it's worth (if that's anything at all