Quote:
Originally Posted by
CodPiece 
Hi gang,
This is a great thread. I work as a creative in a software/business casual environment, and daily wear is somewhat frustrating. MC is too dressy and SW too, well, 'street' for our corporate bland environment.
My question is, I've lost about 30lbs, going from obese to merely overweight. I'm at a size 33 waist and my new shirts look like a drag-race parachute billowing out of the rear of my pants. When can one start wearing 'slim fit' shirts? Is it better to dart? Right now I tend to wear linen pants, wingtips/loafers/bucks and a button-down. The fabric and details elevate the outfits, but fit is still a bit of a problem as I continue to lose weight.
Getting there, thanks to many months of good advice from this forum, I am
CodPiece
There are 3 things about OTR shirts (when collar size is held constant) that prevent me from wearing them:
1. Very low armholes on almost all brands.
2. Sleeves and cuffs not exactly right.
3. The position of the shoulder seam.
Unlike a suit jacket, all 3 can be fixed if the shirt was baggy to begin with (as most OTR shirts are, which is another problem, but easier to fix so not as crucial). However, fixing them literally means re-cutting the shirt. It's not a reasonable investment of money or time. Now, why are those things important?
1. High armholes allow you to lift or extend your hands without pulling on the fabric at the waist, thus allowing the shirt to stay neatly tucked-in after hours and hours of wear.
2. Correct length of sleeves and width of cuffs allows you to
a. look neat
b. have the same amount of cuff showing in all your suit jackets, granted you wear any
3. The shoulder seam should be at the shoulder bone before the shoulder slope starts. This makes you seem thinner, leaner, with broader and less sloping shoulders.
4. The correct chest, waist and hip measurements once again make you appear slimmer and more muscular as well as help keep the shirt neatly tucked-in.
What's the point of my argument?! Go MTM or bespoke. You can choose your fabrics, collars that suit your face, options like MOP buttons, etc. Like they say: "once you go MTM, you can never go back."
P.S. If you're still losing weight, then just dart your existing shirts for now. Go custom when your weight has stabilized.