• Hi, I am the owner and main administrator of Styleforum. If you find the forum useful and fun, please help support it by buying through the posted links on the forum. Our main, very popular sales thread, where the latest and best sales are listed, are posted HERE

    Purchases made through some of our links earns a commission for the forum and allows us to do the work of maintaining and improving it. Finally, thanks for being a part of this community. We realize that there are many choices today on the internet, and we have all of you to thank for making Styleforum the foremost destination for discussions of menswear.
  • This site contains affiliate links for which Styleforum may be compensated.
  • We would like to welcome House of Huntington as an official Affiliate Vendor. Shop past season Drake's, Nigel Cabourn, Private White V.C. and other menswear luxury brands at exceptional prices below retail. Please visit the Houise of Huntington thread and welcome them to the forum.

  • STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.

    Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.

    Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!

    Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

can I wear a larger size slim fit? I am not slim

Bunnerrabbit

New Member
Joined
May 1, 2010
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
I am 5' 10" 170lbs I do have a belly. I wear a 16 1/2 shirt but it is snug around the neck sometimes. When I jump to a 17 it seems that the shirt is just to big. Thinking a 17 slim fit might work If not other opinions welcome as I am new to this.
 

Peak and Pine

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2010
Messages
358
Reaction score
314
There's just so much you can do on the internet, and you've reached it. Trot into a store and try one on. Try on a few. Different brands give different cuts. You'll find somerthing. Good luck.
 

J. Cogburn

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2009
Messages
654
Reaction score
15
Let me suggest you bag this entire slim-fit business. You are not slim. Put on a tightly fitted shirt and chances are you're going to look stupid.

In fact, this whole slim-fit thing is getting out-of-hand. You want a shirt without a lot of excess cloth. But there's no reason to put on a shirt that looks spray-painted on you. Unless you're a cartoon character, you're going to look bottom-heavy unless you're wearing the same style of pants.

I predict that in about 5-8 years, the slim-fit look is going to look ridiculously dated. Of course, maybe you don't plan on keeping your shirts that long anyway so don't care. Me, I don't like a photo album full of shots of me looking like a cartoonish sartorial time capsule.
 

J. Cogburn

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2009
Messages
654
Reaction score
15
I predict that in 5-8 years, many of the things in most of our closets will look ridiculous AND dated ...

Depends on what you're buying I guess. The suits that Cary Grant wore in the 1950s could be worn today and wouldn't look dated in the slightest. They might not be seen as cutting-edge (trends being towards extremes these days), but they wouldn't cause anyone to turn and point.

In fact, I'll go further and say that classical style - defined as a well-proportioned suits and shirts that fit and most suits (flatters) your body type and dimensions - looks better on you than anything that the fashionistas will put on you ... unless what happens to be in fashion at the moment just happens to be - by wild chance - exactly what looks best on you anyway.
 

alliswell

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2007
Messages
3,954
Reaction score
18
For me - and for many of us, I think - the point of slim fit is to remind myself that I can be heavy again in two or three months, but then my clothes won't fit. Which in a round about way is to tell the OP that he should figure out what weight he wants to be and then figure out what clothes he wants to cover himself with.
 

Peak and Pine

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2010
Messages
358
Reaction score
314
Originally Posted by J. Cogburn
Put on a tightly fitted shirt and chances are you're going to look stupid.... there's no reason to put on a shirt that looks spray-painted on you. Unless you're a cartoon character, you're going to look bottom-heavy unless you're wearing the same style of pants.

Where's all that coming from? The OP wants a slim fitting shirt. Good for you, OP. And good luck in your quest.

I predict that in about 5-8 years, the slim-fit look is going to look ridiculously dated.
Nope. Never ever. Never has. Never will.
 

J. Cogburn

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2009
Messages
654
Reaction score
15
Where's all that coming from? The OP wants a slim fitting shirt. Good for you, OP. And good luck in your quest.
I have never seen an overweight guy with a gut look good in a slim-fit shirt. Now, maybe I don't get around enough. For those who have seen such a thing, post a pic and correct me.

Nope. Never ever. Never has. Never will.
Never has a slim-fit shirt been unfashionable? Never? How old are you?
 

amplifiedheat

Distinguished Member
Joined
May 16, 2009
Messages
1,419
Reaction score
11
Originally Posted by Peak and Pine
Nope. Never ever. Never has. Never will.
Good fit:
the-duke-and-duchess-of-windsor-on-their-wedding-day.jpg
Dated, pulling-everywhere "slim-fit":
ASOS+Slim+Fit+Tonic+Suit+Grey.jpg
I will add that while current fashions claim to draw on the late 50s, they owe more to the 70s.
 

Peak and Pine

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2010
Messages
358
Reaction score
314
Originally Posted by J. Cogburn

Never has a slim-fit shirt been unfashionable? Never? How old are you?


The never has referred not to unfashionable, but to this:

I predict that in about 5-8 years, the slim-fit look is going to look ridiculously dated.
Though maybe I went overboard with never. So help me out. When does a slim fit shirt look dated? And no fair pulling up pics of wild-patterned, big-collared shirts of he 70s because it's that and not the slimness that dates them. And slim, as defined by me, is just that, slim, not painted on or whatever the guy above was trying to colorfully spit out.

Now to the pics of Edward, king-for-less-than-a-year VII and ne'er-do-well par excellence: whenever his picture is trotted out as an example of the finest of the finest, sorry folks, big yawn here. This man was such a zero and laughing stock while he was alive (think Prince Charles, but far worse) that his personality or lack thereof has always stood in the way of any appreciation of his duds. Sorry. Have probably offended half the sartorial world there. (My age, of which you inquire: I am known as a War Baby, the generation before the Baby Boom.)
 

J. Cogburn

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2009
Messages
654
Reaction score
15
A slim-fit shirt will look dated when blowsy shirts become all the rage. That will happen once everyone has slim-fit shirts.

Doubt that blowsy shirts were ever fashionable? Check out the world 'o 'trad. Not my cup of tea, mind you, but once upon a time, there were no such things as "slim fit shirts" unless you intentionally went out to buy a shirt too small for you.
 

Fourier

Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Messages
20
Reaction score
0
Originally Posted by J. Cogburn
Let me suggest to bag this entire slim-fit business. You are not slim. Put on a tightly fitted shirt and chances are you're going to look stupid.

In fact, this whole slim-fit things is getting out-of-hand. You want a shirt without a lot of excess cloth. But there's no reason to put on a shirt that looks spray-painted on you. Unless you're a cartoon character, you're going to look bottom-heavy unless you're wearing the same style of pants.

I predict that in about 5-8 years, the slim-fit look is going to look ridiculously dated. Of course, maybe you don't plan on keeping your shirts that long anyway so don't care. Me, I don't like a photo album full of shots of me looking like a cartoonish sartorial time capsule.


Slim fit does not necessarily mean tight fit. For the not-so-slim with larger neck sizes, many "slim-fit" shirts may offer a better fit. In the end though, the only way to know is to try some shirts on.
 

GoldenTribe

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2010
Messages
3,865
Reaction score
2,256
Originally Posted by J. Cogburn
once upon a time, there were no such things as "slim fit shirts" unless you intentionally went out to buy a shirt too small for you.
But now there are such things, and I have a very hard time believing society will consciously (or unconsciously) revert. Lots of people like to talk about "cycles" in fashion but the truth is we're on a one-way chronological path, there's nothing inherently or inevitably cyclical about it just because a couple of things have gone in and out of style a couple of times.
 

J. Cogburn

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2009
Messages
654
Reaction score
15
Slim fit does not necessarily mean tight fit. For the not-so-slim with larger neck sizes, many "slim-fit" shirts may offer a better fit. In the end though, the only way to know is to try some shirts on.
Agreed. Neither a blouse nor a painted-on shirt wearer be ....
But now there are such things, and I have a very hard time believing society will consciously (or unconsciously) revert. Lots of people like to talk about "cycles" in fashion but the truth is we're on a one-way chronological path, there's nothing inherently or inevitably cyclical about it just because a couple of things have gone in and out of style a couple of times.
The end of sartorial history, eh? Anything is possible, but I doubt it. A couple of things have not gone in-and-out of style; almost everything has gone in and out of style. I once thought that fashion was ever-changing because, if it didn't, the fashion houses and designers would go out of business. But that assumes that the clothing industry forces change on people and that consumers comply with sheep-like devotion. But I know longer buy that. The deeper truth - I think - is that society embraces fashion because its a signaling device that tells others that you pay attention to social trends around you and that you are hip. Many people value this kind of information in others, so fashion is embraced subconsciously as a useful institution. Deep, huh?
 

aizan

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2008
Messages
727
Reaction score
7
Originally Posted by TheNotoriousVR
Slim-fit may not be remotely suitable for you or the OP, but let's not jump the gun.

speaking of which, jump the gun uk has slim fit shirts that are cut for beefier physiques. i'm a walking stick and those shirts are too big for me in the chest, shoulders, and torso. i think they'd work well.
 

Peak and Pine

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2010
Messages
358
Reaction score
314
Originally Posted by J. Cogburn
Doubt that blowsy shirts were ever fashionable? Check out the world 'o 'trad.
I know full well of trad, having bothered to post 1500+ times on the other site where trad reigns (tho having recently crept here to taste of life in the big city) and too, the War Baby thing is a clue that I grew up trad, had to, knew little else, but now in the dust thank you Jesus and kept alive by a scant few reenactors, so lemme tell ya, a blousy shirt, no matter what a youngster thinks is trad, was not necessarily a part of the ivy lexicon.
 

Featured Sponsor

How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 55 35.3%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 61 39.1%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 17 10.9%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 27 17.3%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 28 17.9%

Forum statistics

Threads
505,206
Messages
10,579,285
Members
223,891
Latest member
tuga1
Top