Sports Jacket / Blazer Fit Questions

Hi, I'm new to this site!

I'm a junior at my college and I don't get to dress up that often. I am teaching a workshop in two weeks and I wanted to dress more formally than I usually do but not full suit if that makes sense. I was thinking of wearing something like I pictured below, I was looking into buying shoes but not sure what to wear with this, all I have that are formal are brown lace-up and black slip-on dress shoes, I'm assuming the brown would work?

I just bought the navy sports coat (slim) and grey blazer (regular) online and wasn't sure if they fit right either. Sorry for the picture quality, first is the navy. I was told the navy only fits when it is unbuttoned.





Next is the grey, I just think it looks too big but that may just be because I tried the slim on first.



Should I return these or do either of them fit?

Anyways any help / suggestions would be appreciated as I am completely lost when it comes to this, no one in my family dresses up except for funerals and weddings.

The navy and gray suit both look too long. The bottom of the suit hem should hit between your first and second knuckle of your thumb when your arms are relaxed (don't stretch them out down and be tense when doing this measurement). The length of a suit can also be the midpoint of when the total length from the collar down to the floor. I myself find that both methods for determining suit length works best for me since I believe I have rather normal length arms (not long or short for my body height).

The shoulder looks a bit too wide too especially for the gray.

Based on the angle of your camera it could be making you look shorter than you are but I think having a shorter suit will help you look taller and nicer.

The 2 suits are too "boxy". There is no V shape and you should find a smaller size for your waist. You can make your "hourglass" shape more pronounced by tailoring the side seams or if if really needed the back seam.

The sleeve is also too long on both. You need to have the sleeve end in a spot so that you can still see slightly the dress shirt underneath. You can search around for proper suit sleeve length and suit length. Sleeves that cover your dress shirt is a no go.


Find a good tailor in your area if you can't sell return these or you want to keep them. Tailoring costs money and a lot of alterations isn't cheap so factor that in suit cost. When I had to shorten my suit length, shorten sleeve, add sleeve buttons, and take in side seams and back seam I paid around $200. There's a point where you wont do this on a cheaper suit but for a suit over a thousand you should get a tailor.

Don't go to a dry cleaner for large alterations. I still have nightmares of butchering.

Taking in the side vents and back seam will be a more expensive tailoring job.

Reducing the length of the suit is also undesirable since it can screw up the proportions of the pockets and buttons. 1" is probably max but depends on suit. This will cost a bit to tailor as well since it's decent work.

Sleeve length can be tailored from the bottom easily if your suit has no sleeve buttons sewed yet or if your buttons do not have holes or fake holes or if you have enough length to shorten it. If altering the sleeve at the bottom will interfere with the buttons proportion (you ideally want 1.25" or so) then you will need to take it in from the top (shoulder) which is going to be expensive. Shortening a sleeve from the bottom is cheapest. If your suit has patterns taking it up from the sleeve will screw up with the pattern. High quality suits have the arms match the patterns on the chest and back. Taking up a sleeve from the shoulder screws up this smooth alignment. This won't matter for flat colored suits. Taking the sleeve too much from the shoulder will also have problems so I wouldn't do more than an inch.

Avoid tailoring the chest and shoulders. That's major surgery.

If these suits are cheap then I would return them since the tailoring job will be expensive.