Short and fat...need tips on how to dress better

I've been lurking for a while & have already come across the "short" threads.

Problem is, not many guys' measurements are similar to mine:

Height: 5'3"
Weight: 170lbs

So I'm really short, and overweight. I do tough workouts so I've got some muscle, but I'm still a fatass.

I don't know my measurements, but I usually wear an XL untucked t-shirt & 36 or 38" jeans (inseam irrelevant - I use rubber bands) on weekends; and for the job (business casual), a tucked L polo and 36"x29" khakis, which are still too long by a couple inches. When it's dress-up time, I have my single dress-up outfit: a 17"/33" dress shirt (top button is a killer) and 34"x29" dress pants.

I would like suggestions on the certain aspects I need to take into account in determining whether or not the clothes I wear "fit" or are still considered baggy, keeping in mind I've got a belly and a butt, a thick neck, huge thighs, and a wide chest/back. I don't shop at those high end stores; just your around-the-corner Target, K-Mart, Sears, etc...because I can't afford to spend that type of money on clothes. All of my clothes are "off the rack".

Any starter opinions welcome...

PS: Commencing my first job out of college is the reason I'm trying to transition from "sloppy" to "well-dressed". I thought I was doing good when I switched to polos & khakis but it's being unveiled unto me that I'm just as poorly dressed in that wear.

You might be a good candidate for fitted Double breasted jackets, slim fitting shirts and Napoli style low cut trousers

Originally Posted by Michael Ay329

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You might be a good candidate for fitted Double breasted jackets, slim fitting shirts and Napoli style low cut trousers

I've always wondered this - with low/short-rise pants, doesn't it give you less "butt"? Would a fat guy be able to wear low/short-rise and still be comfortable? I grew up on baggy jeans, which to me, is the epitome of comfortable pants - your butt has all the room it needs and you don't have fabric squeezing your legs and other things.

This sounds gay, but what the heck - any pics of guys who might match my dimensions but who you would consider are well-dressed? I need a reference.

If this is for real, you will need to start with your diet. This is absolutely critical to your health. Never fool yourself that clothes make the problem go away. Clothes only mask the problem. I don't mean to lecture, but this topic is personal for me too. I also struggle with my weight. Every day is a battle to keep it under control; every single day. The healthiest foods in a supermarket are found near the walls (fresh fruits and vegetables). Diet & Excersize first. Clothes later. -no junk food ever again in your life. -Avoid all processed foods, and sodas. -no pasta, bread or rice (brown rice is ok) -no double dinners ever again, and no desserts. -don't eat more than the size of your fist at any meal. -never go to sleep after eating (wait a minimum of 2 hours) -stick to salads & fresh fruits. Learn to make your own dressings with olive oil (google recipes) -eat more fish. (avoid pork and red meat if possible) I'm sure you already know this, but you can't possibly be doing it, not with those measurements. Some people suffer terribly with weight, but what they really suffer from is weakness. Make a new agreement with yourself to never again agree to haul unnecessary weight. If you can, swim 4 times per week. No muscles pulled, and everything gets a workout. Don't starve, just control the eating. Within 40 days you'll be a new man. My intentions with this post is out of the utmost respect to your situation and I wish you every success in losing the undesired weight. You can do it

Find a good local tailor. Take a pair of pants and a shirt that you like to him, and see what he can do. Often times, your current clothing can be tailored (within reason) to fit much, much better than before. Fit is most important, and many (myself included) don't always get it right. It doesn't matter if your clothing is high end or not - just make sure it fits. Start browsing the WAYWT (What Are You Wearing Today) thread that is pinned at the top of this forum and look for looks that you like. There are many members there who are under 5'5". Ktowngreg, Mafoofan, voxsartoria, etc. Others may chime in with other usernames to look out for. I think Holdfast is as well. whnay is 4'10" I believe, so if he can dress OK so can you.

If I know SF, I suspect that this thread will evolve into 50% trolling/rudeness and 50% recommendation that you simply lose weight before you start buying clothing. But even if you get on a diet/exercise plan, you'll want to look halfway decent for the mean time. If anything, it boosts your confidence and helps you to stay on track. You mentioned that you can't afford expensive clothing, but I suspect that the majority of SF users wait to buy clothing at a bargain. For instance, Brooks Brothers recently had a sale for two dress shirts for $99 (when they usually cost $80 per), which isn't that bad. Moreover, the people on AAAC give Lands End a lot of props for the price. Their shirts are cheap to begin with, but they often have ridiculous sales. Fit seems to be the most important thing, but I haven't really figured out how exactly clothing is supposed to fit overweight men. I suppose the goal is to have shirts loose enough so that they don't accentuate your weight and tight enough so that you don't look sloppy and fatter than you really are. This may be a somewhat subjective matter, so I suggest you experiment with sizing until you find what looks best to you. Keep in mind that bigger isn't always better; over-sized clothing can make you look worse. One more piece of advice: if you have the beer belly, don't let it hang over your pants; pull your pants up a little bit more than usual to conceal it. I don't know what your current wardrobe is like, but here's what I - a total fashion noob, mind you - would recommend. First, make time and plan to lose weight. You might buy new and better clothing and look much better than you currently do, but it'll never compare to how you would look if you are fit. Plus, it's healthy. Second, try to avoid buying items that will become too big once you lose weight. (Alternatively, you could buy things slightly tight such that they fit better as you lose weight. This may not be a good idea if you don't lose weight at a steady rate; you don't want to look bad right now - that defeats the purpose.) Third, invest your money in items that will last. For instance, I've read that the first piece of a man's wardrobe people notice are his shoes. Why not purchase a few pairs of nice shoes? Not sure about your needs or price range, but Endless is having a great deal on the AE McClain in select sizes. If I were you, depending on your budget and dress needs, I'd start with a couple pair of shoes. Perhaps a loafer or wing tip for business casual, a pair of boat shoes for either business casual or summer lounging, and maybe a nice pair of sneakers (e.g. PF Flyers) for the weekends. These should last you as you lose weight. Next, I'd work on buying some nice button-down shirts, which seem to complement overweight men much better than polos. OCBD (i.e. oxford shirts) would be a nice option. You can wait for the Brooks Brothers sale coming up sometime this June, or keep a look out for the Lands End sales. Lands End supposedly makes a nice value OCBD. (You might want to avoid the non-iron shirts.) Finally, depending on your style needs, you might consider a blazer/sportscoat. Depending where you live, an option is to go thrifting. I've seen sports coats in bigger sizes for as low as $3. (Finding decent brands is more difficult, however.) Alternatively, check out Anderson-Little, which sells a USA-made blazer at an affordable price. Finally, I've heard that pleated khakis complement overweight men better than flat fronts. And you'll want to experiment with jeans until you find a pair that fits you best. For shirts, try to buy according to neck size/sleeve length so you don't end up with really long sleeves as a result of getting a bigger size. Oh, and learning how to match/contrast colors and fabrics and how to create illusions that make you look slender or tall is also a good idea. Hopefully this advice is sound.

A fat well-dressed man is still fat - just well-dressed!

You will not grow any taller - so better listen to what Man of Lint said.

For what its worth, those diet/exercise comments really are effective. I used to wear 16.5 shirts that looked like tents and 36 pants, til I decided to get my life in order. After 6 months of a proper diet (nothing drastic mind you, I just cut down on a lot of unnecessary calories) and regular exercise, I'm now slim-fit 15.5 and a 32-34 waist.

Originally Posted by Man Of Lint

Click to expand...

If this is for real, you will need to start with your diet. This is absolutely critical to your health.
Never fool yourself that clothes make the problem go away. Clothes only mask the problem.
I don't mean to lecture, but this topic is personal for me too.
I also struggle with my weight. Every day is a battle to keep it under control; every single day.
The healthiest foods in a supermarket are found near the walls (fresh fruits and vegetables).
Diet & Excersize first. Clothes later.
-no junk food ever again in your life.
-Avoid all processed foods, and sodas.
-no pasta, bread or rice (brown rice is ok)
-no double dinners ever again, and no desserts.
-don't eat more than the size of your fist at any meal.
-never go to sleep after eating (wait a minimum of 2 hours)
-stick to salads & fresh fruits. Learn to make your own dressings with olive oil (google recipes)
-eat more fish. (avoid pork and red meat if possible)
I'm sure you already know this, but you can't possibly be doing it, not with those measurements.
Some people suffer terribly with weight, but what they really suffer from is weakness.
Make a new agreement with yourself to never again agree to haul unnecessary weight.
If you can, swim 4 times per week. No muscles pulled, and everything gets a workout.
Don't starve, just control the eating. Within 40 days you'll be a new man.
My intentions with this post is out of the utmost respect to your situation and I wish you every success in losing the undesired weight.
You can do it

Originally Posted by P-K-L

Click to expand...

A fat well-dressed man is still fat - just well-dressed!

You will not grow any taller - so better listen to what Man of Lint said.

You're both idiots. The one who writes more is the bigger idiot.

Originally Posted by sehnazjoshep

Click to expand...

Here are some tips for looking taller in height :
Wear dark colored clothes which add the illusion of height.
Avoid to wear short,flared pants and Capri pants.
Wear higher waisted pants and skirts.
Select a thinner belt for your waist.

This gent is quite right about his recommendantions (I assume he meant to type shirt and not "skirt")

I would also add the following:
- dont wear double breasted, stick to sing breasted jackets,
- flat fronted pants
- no cuffs at the buttom of the pants
- chalk stripe or pin stripe is good
- assuming you have no neck, try wearing your shirts open necked with maybe the first 2 buttons undone
- make sure the jacket fits properly and is snug but doesnt look too tight.
- If a casual situation wear a dark shirt with the suit also, it can look chic and definately gives a thinner sillouette.

Let me say that chinos and a polo top can rarely look good for a person your shape. Better to wear a nicely cut pair of jeans with a navy blue polo top. The secret with that is that the blue jeans and blue polo give a similar uniform dark colouring all over creating a one piece impression rather than being broken up by different colours and making you look even shorter.

Hope that helps.

I'm not sure if it's been said, but depending on how wide your buttocks are exactly, a center vent may look better as opposed to side vents - if the side vents are spaced too far from each other, it makes wide hips seem just that much wider.

boy, if this is for real this is your lucky day - pm me, I have some clothes to send to you. unfortunatly, I gave away about 6 suits recently - that I had made when i was 300 pounds, I am 5'5.

look, like people said, you need to work on loosing weight, the earlier you do it the better it will be for you.

that said, that isn't what you asked. as people mentioned, you need to get a small amount of reasonable clothes and have a local tailor work to make it fit you. dark, simply clothes. I wear/wore a lot of french blue shirts, charcal gray and midnight blue suits. keep things simple.

good luck

Originally Posted by DNW

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You're both idiots. The one who writes more is the bigger idiot.

And you are a well-dressed fat man!

I forgot to mention. Avoid horizontal stripes; they make you look wider. Grab some shirts with vertical stripes; they create the illusion of making you look taller/thinner.

I knew the "lose weight" topic would be brought up. Well, yes, I know I need to lose weight and I hope I didn't imply that I'm fat and was not even trying to be a healthier/fit person. I've been on the weight loss roller-coaster many times.

enarchay is right - even if I was losing weight, I'd still want to look halfway decent in the mean-time.

Is looking slimmer & taller synonymous with being a well-dressed short/overweight guy? I'm really not concerned about appearing slim or tall; my main thing is I don't want to look sloppy.

Budget-wise, I am prepared to take a dive on maybe 2 or 3 items that serve their purpose. I just can't do a full-fledge wardrobe conversion. Two dress shirts for $99 - I'm used to spending no more than $25 on a nice shirt and $30-$50 on jeans (I only make about $15k/year).

As far as (nice/casual) shoes go, that's been a rough area since my pants are always too long and dragging pants by your heel to me is a surefire way to destroy a set of pants. I'm used to "sporty" sneakers (e.g., Air Force Ones, Jordans, etc...).

I appreciate all the opinions & comments. They are very helpful.