Bronzemedallist
Member
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2010
- Messages
- 6
- Reaction score
- 0
Hi all
I've been shopping for my wedding in Sept and traipsed almost every shop in London looking for a suit. After a very pleasant morning on The Row I quickly discovered I couldn't really afford that kind of quality as nothing was going for much less than 800. I was looking for a suit in a dark charcoal, with a soft texture to the cloth possibly herringbone or something a little interesting, defo no pinstripe or birdseye, super clean lines and minimal, essentially a celebration suit rather than anything business like. I tried on two in Richard James who's suits I thought were really nice, they had some at the £675 mark going up to £1100 OTP and the shop was super quiet and serene. Kilgour had a funny vibe and at £2500 OTP was out of my league. Chester Barrie just in budget but quite trad in the cuts and nothing in my size. Boatang looked incredible and the shop is beautifully fitted out but the staff were very condescending and I didn't even bother to ask prices. I wandered into Spencer Hart on the advice of the chap in Richard James and loved the progressive style but all with £1000+ on the tags it wasn't do-able. Following this enjoyable intro to suit shopping I then beat the streets, taking in Jermyn St, New Bond St, Covent Garden then back to Selfridges via all the major dept. stores to no avail.
Then on monday I wandered past Liberties and discovered Spencer Hart has a concession in the basement, it was a little odd in presentation with the shop fitting seeming slightly add hock and temporary (turns out they relocated here last year a somepoint for a while during a refit at their Savile Row place). They did however have some stock and all reduced to £495, kind of hard to believe but I assumed it was just end of season sale stuff they were trying to get rid of. I found a suit almost exactly what i was after in a 38, my chest measures 37 " near enough but in Paul Smith for example the jacket cuts in 36 fit super well (or so I am led to believe by their slightly haphazard staff). This Spencer Hart though was enormous, hanging off me and I think beyond the realms of alteration. Curiously the trousers (universally a problem for me everywhere else due to cyclist thighs and only 4-5" drop between my chest to waist) were perfect. The shop assistant, said he'd get me another size and came back with what he said was one size down, in actual fact it turned out to be a 34" (something I hadn't seen anywhere so far). The Jacket seemed to fit me although pretty slim cut to my shape, my only hesitation was that the shoulders felt a little tight and the seam sat maybe 1cm from the very edge of the shoulder causing my arm to push a little on the sleeve. The assistant suggested a tailor could let this out and if it was a problem I could get a refund. Seeing as he was splitting a suit for me (against the rules so he said) letting me take larger trousers with the jacket, and that It was so nearly close to perfect (so I thought) and of a quality I did not think I would be able to afford, I bought it.
So now I have started reading forums about jacket fit and alterations and recommended tailors etc etc and trying and retrying on the jacket convincing myself that it is fine and then that it is not right and too small. So im posting this in the vague hope someone may have a take on my situation, and recommend what to do? I wondered if the thing to do would be to go to the store on Savile Row and ask their advice ? I will try and post a photo showing the jacket, later on today.
I've been shopping for my wedding in Sept and traipsed almost every shop in London looking for a suit. After a very pleasant morning on The Row I quickly discovered I couldn't really afford that kind of quality as nothing was going for much less than 800. I was looking for a suit in a dark charcoal, with a soft texture to the cloth possibly herringbone or something a little interesting, defo no pinstripe or birdseye, super clean lines and minimal, essentially a celebration suit rather than anything business like. I tried on two in Richard James who's suits I thought were really nice, they had some at the £675 mark going up to £1100 OTP and the shop was super quiet and serene. Kilgour had a funny vibe and at £2500 OTP was out of my league. Chester Barrie just in budget but quite trad in the cuts and nothing in my size. Boatang looked incredible and the shop is beautifully fitted out but the staff were very condescending and I didn't even bother to ask prices. I wandered into Spencer Hart on the advice of the chap in Richard James and loved the progressive style but all with £1000+ on the tags it wasn't do-able. Following this enjoyable intro to suit shopping I then beat the streets, taking in Jermyn St, New Bond St, Covent Garden then back to Selfridges via all the major dept. stores to no avail.
Then on monday I wandered past Liberties and discovered Spencer Hart has a concession in the basement, it was a little odd in presentation with the shop fitting seeming slightly add hock and temporary (turns out they relocated here last year a somepoint for a while during a refit at their Savile Row place). They did however have some stock and all reduced to £495, kind of hard to believe but I assumed it was just end of season sale stuff they were trying to get rid of. I found a suit almost exactly what i was after in a 38, my chest measures 37 " near enough but in Paul Smith for example the jacket cuts in 36 fit super well (or so I am led to believe by their slightly haphazard staff). This Spencer Hart though was enormous, hanging off me and I think beyond the realms of alteration. Curiously the trousers (universally a problem for me everywhere else due to cyclist thighs and only 4-5" drop between my chest to waist) were perfect. The shop assistant, said he'd get me another size and came back with what he said was one size down, in actual fact it turned out to be a 34" (something I hadn't seen anywhere so far). The Jacket seemed to fit me although pretty slim cut to my shape, my only hesitation was that the shoulders felt a little tight and the seam sat maybe 1cm from the very edge of the shoulder causing my arm to push a little on the sleeve. The assistant suggested a tailor could let this out and if it was a problem I could get a refund. Seeing as he was splitting a suit for me (against the rules so he said) letting me take larger trousers with the jacket, and that It was so nearly close to perfect (so I thought) and of a quality I did not think I would be able to afford, I bought it.
So now I have started reading forums about jacket fit and alterations and recommended tailors etc etc and trying and retrying on the jacket convincing myself that it is fine and then that it is not right and too small. So im posting this in the vague hope someone may have a take on my situation, and recommend what to do? I wondered if the thing to do would be to go to the store on Savile Row and ask their advice ? I will try and post a photo showing the jacket, later on today.
