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Auction/Suit advice needed

bigbadbuff

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I have recently lost a significant amount of weight and come down from a 50R to a 46. Thusly, my 1 poor suit is no longer an option for me (and I hate it anyway). I am looking to get another suit to be my go-to (as in, only suit) for a good while. I rarely wear a suit- only to weddings and the rare nice dinner, all told an average of probably 5-8 times a year. So here's my questions:

1) Would http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA%3AIT&rd=1 work for this? I know it should probably be solid, but I am curious if others think it HAS to be.

2) How is Barbera's fit for their suits?

3) Opinions on whether this suit would go well with the AE Delray or Burton in brown?
 

rssmsvc

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LB is sometimes good and sometimes bad, usually cut a bit slimmer than others in the same size. I picked up 2 suits at a last call around 350 on a business trip that have been ok.

Just make sure it is the full line and not the "club line".

My weight goes up and down a bit and the only suit that I have found that can take that kind of heavy alteration up and down has been Oxxford and Belvest.
 

skalogre

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I have one Luciano Barbera (sartoriale I think), I believe made by St. Andrews. Very nice suit, although not that slim-fitting. Sort of a relaxed quasi-English cut, not that much padding in the shoulders. http://www.styleforum.net/showthread...uciano+barbera You can find quite a few threads on LB...
 

thinman

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To address your original question, I would wear the suit in the link to dinners and the like and I would also wear it to a funeral, if I had nothing more appropriate. The stripes look relatively subtle (in fact, in the pictures the stripes look so close together that the suit looks like a pseudo-solid). Would people think you have only one suit if they keep seeing you wearing it? Maybe, but perhaps no more so than a solid.

I would also wear this suit with brown shoes.
 

rssmsvc

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The rule of thumb I was taught was to make your first or few first suits solids because nobody remembers them, stripes for some reason allow people to remember the item.
 

skalogre

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Originally Posted by rssmsvc
The rule of thumb I was taught was to make your first or few first suits solids because nobody remembers them, stripes for some reason allow people to remember the item.

SOunds like good advice.
 

DocHolliday

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Originally Posted by lawyerdad
I'd say in terms of fabric and style, it's completely appropriate for any of the places you might be wearing it. I have a suit with a somewhat similar fabric, and I wear it in a wide variety of contexts with different looks (i.e., white shirt conservative tie, or checkered shirt and more colorful tie). I think it's versatile. I don't agree with the "solids first" rule; it strike me as the sort of "rule" that is made up in anticipation of certain people having no judgment whatsoever. In other words, a "solids only" rule keeps you from that green and red checkerboard suit or an overly aggressive chalk-stripe, etc. A classy suit with subtle stripes is at least as versatile as a solid suit.

I don't think the rule is about judgment so much as practicality. One can, if need be, get away with wearing a charcoal suit for three days straight. I wouldn't try that with a stripe. With a solid, there's the possibility that you have more than one; with a stripe, it becomes clear quickly that you don't.
 

Charley

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There really is not a doubt that a LB suit that fits you and for $600 is a good deal.

The real question - based upon you statement that it will be your ONE suit - is whether this is the RIGHT model to buy. Is it the right one to splurge (all relative) $600 to buy?

If you only have one suit - this is not the right one.
If there is to be only one suit, it must fit the MOST FORMAL or restricted situations. In those cases, a suit with a contrasting stripe is a little off.

For a funeral, a baptisim, or a wedding, it takes a somewhat plain suit - without a stripe. Get something in a dark charcoal with a slight pattern woven into the fabric - herringbone maybe.

Once you read enogh posts here, you will not feel right wearing a striped suit for those occasions. And the suit appropriate for those occasions will only make you slightly over dressed for any other situation requiring a suit.

The other problem in reading the posts here is that you will develop a requirement for a few more suits. When you do, you will still find the original one - dark charcoal with a herringbone stripe - useful and something to build your wardrobe upon.
 

bigbadbuff

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Originally Posted by Charley
Once you read enogh posts here


An '05er telling an '02er how it is
smile.gif
tounge.gif
 

Vintage Gent

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Call me crazy, but I'd think it would be a good idea, in an auction for a NWT suit, to actually show the tags. I wouldn't pull the trigger on this unless I had photographic proof.
 

nerdykarim

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Originally Posted by Vintage Gent
Call me crazy, but I'd think it would be a good idea, in an auction for a NWT suit, to actually show the tags. I wouldn't pull the trigger on this unless I had photographic proof.

Although that's usually the case, I think that a lot of us (myself included) have had good experiences with Kellyb33. If that seller offered something I knew I liked, I wouldn't require a picture.

That being said, she/he usually posts a picture later in the life of the auction. If you request photos, she/he should have no trouble providing them.
 

Charley

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Originally Posted by bigbadbuff
An '05er telling an '02er how it is
smile.gif
tounge.gif


If you only knew . . .
Maybe it is a '47er telling a '87er how to do it.

If you knew the answer, why ask the question?
 

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