Best Suit at Men's Wearhouse

AdamWill said:

crimsonstained: "What percentage of the population will think "That looks horrible," if I'm wearing a well-tailored but not great quality suit?"

Very few. Don't sweat it, really. As long as it's 100% wool (or, honestly...94% wool and 6% polyester would be fine, though I have no idea why they'd make one that way) and fits - and you get it pressed once in a while - you'll be doing fine. You can get 100% wool suits for under a hundred bucks at Ross, it's not a high bar to get over, so you will be able to find something perfectly passable at MW. This is a site for complete nerds, their judgement of what's 'barely acceptable' is not the same as that of the general population =)

On the tuxedo thing, and I appreciate you weren't really looking for comments, but to try and explain it briefly...well, a proper classic tuxedo works exactly because it's 'boring': two colours in a very finely balanced contrast. If you wear a tuxedo and then wear a black shirt you destroy the effect of the contrast between black jacket/pants and white shirt; you're now just a giant slab of black. It's not a hideous look, but it's pretty hard to argue that it's not worse than black/white. Coloured ties are difficult to do well for the same reason: you're messing with the simple monochromatic balance.

It's hard  to explain, but there's something about the black shirt / white tie combination - and it's not that 'different', C-list actors regularly show up to the Oscars in it and always look awful - that just looks really tacky. Someone else may have the words/expertise to explain it, but all I can say is...it doesn't look good. It just really doesn't.

The funny thing about saying "I'll wear a striped jacket / black shirt / colored tie / chicken feet / whatever and look different!" is that everyone does it. Probably the best way to stand out at a high school prom is to wear an absolutely classic tuxedo, because the chances are quite high it's the one thing no-one else will be wearing. =)

Someone else linked to the Black Tie Guide, and it's really worth reading; there's a lot of 'editorial' in there with some pretty good writing about why a proper tuxedo looks good and why it's so hard to twiddle with it and make it better. The editor has a very...strict...approach - if I was feeling mean I'd say he's a snob, but I'm not and he's awesome so I won't say that, but  you get the idea - but it's definitely worth reading and respecting what he has to say.

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jgold47 said:

The biggest issue is the fit. These guys like to stick you in the biggest baggiest suit possible. Whatever they say you are in size, go down one! Otherwise a cheap suit with good tailoring can be just as good looking as an expensive suit with poor tailoring.

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1. Learn as much as possible about how a suit should fit. You don't have to be rude and completely ignore the advice of the MW salesmen (I'm sure there are some who know how a suit should fit), but trust your instincts, and also pay attention to how they look in the suit they will likely be wearing. Finally, do not buy a bigger size because you will "grow into it." Perhaps you will out grow the suit in the next few years, but buy a suit that fits you now. This is actually a good reason for someone of your age to not invest too much money in a suit.
2. With your MW credit, get the best fitting 2 button, 100% wool, notch lapel, solid (no pattern) navy or charcoal suit they have. Depending on your build, "slim" or "tailored" fit suits might be the way to go, though watch out for lapels that are too skinny.
3. I thought MW provides free tailoring, but either way have it tailored if necessary.

AdamWill said:

Very few. Don't sweat it, really. As long as it's 100% wool (or, honestly...94% wool and 6% polyester would be fine, though I have no idea why they'd make one that way) and fits - and you get it pressed once in a while - you'll be doing fine. You can get 100% wool suits for under a hundred bucks at Ross, it's not a high bar to get over, so you will be able to find something perfectly passable at MW. This is a site for complete nerds, their judgement of what's 'barely acceptable' is not the same as that of the general population =)

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jgold47 said:

found this again and it reminded to say that if you keep an eye on Macys/.com they often have crazy clearance sales on suits. I'll order 2-3 different ones in different sizes if I am not sure how it will fit. take back the other ones to the store, and go visit my magician, err...tailor. I only wear a suit a couple of times a year, but I like to get a new one each year for my big trade show to keep it fresh. This year I got two Perry Ellis suits from macys with tailoring for like 400 bucks. And when you are shaped like me, half of that was probably the tailoring.... Got tons of compliments on both, not because there was anything special about them, but because my magician (err tailor) had done her thing. I'm top heavy so she slimmed the jacket waist, took in the legs, did all those little tricks that make a suit look like 100000 bucks!

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austyn57 said:

Regardless if its free. It is still a peice of fused garbage. Be smart save your money and get a nice CANVASSED suit on sale. Do not settle for less just bc it is free.

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austyn57 said:

Regardless if its free. It is still a peice of fused garbage. Be smart save your money and get a nice CANVASSED suit on sale. Do not settle for less just bc it is free.

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austyn57 said:

Regardless if its free. It is still a peice of fused garbage. Be smart save your money and get a nice CANVASSED suit on sale. Do not settle for less just bc it is free.

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MZhammer said:

Can we ban this guy? Necroing all these old threads

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