A made up style rule? do these dress shirts fit improperly?

[Brandons]

I've always had the hardest time getting dress shirts that "fit". I recently realized that I seem to have a rule that if a dress shirt drapes over the belt or waistline at all in any spot that the shirt has too much excess fabric and the shirt is unwearably sloppy. But all the sudden I realized that I hadn't ever really heard that rule verbalized, so I'm thinking I may have made it up in my head. In order to avoid this "issue" I always need to have darts added to the back and usually need the waist taken in, but it recently occurred to me that maybe a slight bit of fabric folding over the waistline in one small spot isn't sloppy but rather just relaxed. Thoughts?

 

[Brandons]

Are they sloppy or relaxed? Do they need to be darted, taken in, both or neither.

 

[paxonus]

Classic dress shirts are designed to be worn under a jacket and are tailored accordingly--they are larger across the chest and waist for ease of movement. No darts allowed.They are also meant to be tucked so as to look flat and clean across the front.

There are two types of tucks. The military style takes excess material on each side so you have a pleat on both sides.

The other type is to take all the extra fabric and make one pleat in the back.

 

[Brandons]

So you are saying these would be fine under a jacket, but wearing them on their own would look improper? or you are saying that they would look fine on their own when properly tucked.

 

[paxonus]

So you are saying these would be fine under a jacket, but wearing them on their own would look improper? or you are saying that they would look fine on their own when properly tucked.

They look better without the jacket when properly tucked. The nice thing about tucking a shirt like this is it still leaves you plenty of roominess in the upper body while making it look neat and trim around the waist.

 

[TimothyF]

Try to wear a vest or sweater when you don't have a jacket on. The exposed waistline just doesn't look very good, but yes, a military tuck can mitigate

 

[Father Style]

To answer your question… the “rule” you stated is indeed made up. It’s not an actual rule. Your shirts look fine and the fabric will naturally move around as you move during the day. Just re-tuck when you visit the men’s room. No need to overthink it.

FatherStyle.com