Lawyer's Body in Transition but Needs a Suit - Any Advice?

To the assembled brain trust:

I'm a corporate lawyer in the SF Bay Area (read: "I wear gabardines and dress shirts, and I'm dressier than most of my colleagues") and a newbie here on SF. The only suit I own is, frankly, embarrasing and old. Usually, the dressiest I go is a blazer or sportscoat. However, I'm about to start doing a fair amount of traveling in Asia and Europe, for which a suit will be necessary.

The complexity is this - I'm 6'3" and about 245 pounds, down from about 270. I've been competitively rowing for about 9 months (resulting in the weight loss to date), and my hope/plan/dream is to get down to about 200 (my trim college weight, when I wore a 44L/34 waist) by the end of the year. The reward that I've promised myself when I get there is a very expensive wardrobe upgrade (including a couple of nice suits, notwithstanding the general attire out here for lawyers).

That said, I need to buy a (conservative lawyer traveling internationally) suit now that will hopefully fit on me like a tent in 6 months. As a result, I'm looking for advice as to a conservative lawyer's suit that is reasonably priced, such that I won't care so much that I only wear it for 6 months (Would prefer $300-$400, if that's doable, but I'll take suggestions if I need to move up in price).

For reference, I wear a 48L jacket, have huge calves and thighs (family trait), but don't look grossly obese (notwithstanding 245lbs), just a "big guy."

Many thanks,
Greg

I would start at the Nordstrom Rack on 9th street. They will have a ton of Joseph Abboud and Hugo Boss suits in your price range that will work as a temporary. There are other Nordstrom Racks in Colma and San Leandro if you need to extend your search. The Neiman Marcus Last Call in Milpitas would also have some choices.

As a retired lawyer, oarsman, and 6'6" in height with also large legs, also having been in tranistion, the following thoughts come to mind.

Assuming, arguendo, that you reach the indended range of 200, fighting weight in college, then what you have now would not work on the reduction in size.

On the other hand, there is a chance that you make actually find the mature size is in the area of 210-220, hypothetically speaking.

This raises the question to me of whether an interim wardrobe would be needed. If the range is 45 more lbs, then perhaps. But if it is 25, then I might be inclined to wait a bit longer to get the tailored clothing for your frame, which is the ultimate goal anyway.

Having said that, the question is brand of suit. My opinion is that clothing should be utilitarian, though stylish, and capable in any case of withstanding hard wear and the wear of travel. Toward that end, perhaps you could consider a Jos A Bank suit or two, which I recently looked at and found a 48XL to be a very nice fit. In my younger days they worked well, some 25 years ago, while doing legal work during the day and Georgetown Law at night. The look was conservative and acceptable. I know there are those who might ask whether such things are fused, unfused, with working buttons or not, and might quarrel with that, but for a 2 for 1sale opportunity, it would get you over the hump. The thought of an interim custom job would not appeal to me.

The question remains, however, which is more interesting, as to what type of clothing should be made when you reach your goal. My personal feeling is that body type and physique can make anything look good on anyone when in shape.

For a working wardrobe, I would not want to spend over $1500-2000 on a suit made for me if I worked in them every day and gave them hard wear. On the other hand, having a dinner jacket made, or a night on the town suit for evening would be ok for bespoke, but two things would hold me back from doing that in the legal field. As you know, one has to blend in with style and color with other lawyers. I have also thought that one does not want to terribly upstage the client in dressing either. See Warren Christopher, for example, on a good way to dress well.

Granted, there are those who would say the best of all possible universes is to get an entire wardrobe of bespoke suits from Savile Row, which I dream of and aspire to in the event of lottery winnings or reincarnation as a mannekin for display in such a shop.

Best of luck.

CH

Others here may strongly disagree, but I am going to suggest you consider ordering Lands End separates. They are not expensive and look professional for a lawyer to wear (I also am a lawyer and wear their suits sometimes). They wear very well and are inexpensive. If it doesn't fit just ship it back to Lands End or return it to a local Sears Store for no hassle return. In six months, you will have lost more weight buy another one.

When I was rapidly losing weight (155lbs in 2 years), I spent some useless money on clothing. My recommendation is get a gently worn Oxxford off eBay for 200 bucks.

Originally Posted by kshah

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When I was rapidly losing weight (155lbs in 2 years), I spent some useless money on clothing. My recommendation is get a gently worn Oxxford off eBay for 200 bucks.

+1

This was/is the strategy I've been using. No reason to spend a ton of money on what will be a temporary suit. Also, if you get a nice suit cheap, you don't feel so bad about the money you spend when you take it back to the tailors 2 or 3 times as "adjustment" are needed.

Originally Posted by greg99

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To the assembled brain trust:

I'm a corporate lawyer in the SF Bay Area (read: "I wear gabardines and dress shirts, and I'm dressier than most of my colleagues") and a newbie here on SF. The only suit I own is, frankly, embarrasing and old. Usually, the dressiest I go is a blazer or sportscoat. However, I'm about to start doing a fair amount of traveling in Asia and Europe, for which a suit will be necessary.

The complexity is this - I'm 6'3" and about 245 pounds, down from about 270. I've been competitively rowing for about 9 months (resulting in the weight loss to date), and my hope/plan/dream is to get down to about 200 (my trim college weight, when I wore a 44L/34 waist) by the end of the year. The reward that I've promised myself when I get there is a very expensive wardrobe upgrade (including a couple of nice suits, notwithstanding the general attire out here for lawyers).

That said, I need to buy a (conservative lawyer traveling internationally) suit now that will hopefully fit on me like a tent in 6 months. As a result, I'm looking for advice as to a conservative lawyer's suit that is reasonably priced, such that I won't care so much that I only wear it for 6 months (Would prefer $300-$400, if that's doable, but I'll take suggestions if I need to move up in price).

For reference, I wear a 48L jacket, have huge calves and thighs (family trait), but don't look grossly obese (notwithstanding 245lbs), just a "big guy."

Many thanks,
Greg


when you get down to desired weight i would suggest going made to measure.
stock suits have a 6" drop 44 to 34 is 10".
not only that you say you have heave calves.

Thanks very much for the replies. I stumbled on this board a couple of months ago, and find it amazing.

CH makes an interesting comment about whether my college weight (15 years later) is a reasonable goal - my wife and I were talking about just that last night.

MTM is definitely under consideration for the suits I purchase "for effect" - the drop was a problem when I bought suits back in the day.

There's something of a philosophical debate within our office about what sort of attire is appropriate when dealing with tech clients (many of whom are in their very early 20's). Historically, we set the business casual trend around here, but in recent years, there's been a move to dress it up somewhat, figuring that everyone knows we're the lawyers, so we should dress the part a bit. Nobody (except the litigators) has gone back to ties in the ordinary course, but there are an increasing number of suits w/out ties being worn by the corporate guys, and I think we may start to see the ties even coming out for more important corporate occassions (Board meetings, etc.). Nothing too flash, though.

Thanks again, and further advice greatly appreciated.

Greg