Fit

* How did you go about figuring out what kind of fits work for you?

Fit takes a while to get a handle on. It can be time consuming and expensive to work it out especially if your weight isn't reasonably static. As other posters have mentioned your personal style of clothing has a lot to do with it - generally classic preppy stuff looks good when fitted slim, workwear often looks better loose.

I wear a lot of classic preppy stuff and like to wear it fairly slim fitted. Getting the balance right was a hit an miss affair. When I was younger I tended to wear clothes too loose. I also went through a phase of wearing my clothes too tight.

For preppy clothing my advice would be to figure out how tight you can wear stuff whilst still having enough freedom of movement to be comfortable. Then pull it back a bit – you need to have spare material to allow for weight gain, fabric shrinkage and poor judgement. This will unfortunately cost a bit of money in overcooked tailoring and clothing that ends up being too small to be wearable. Doing it on a tight budget isn’t easy.


* What specific aspects of a piece can emphasize torso taper, create illusion of narrower hips, elongate legs, etc.?

Firstly you need to get to know your body type and figure out the parts of it that are less than ideal. It helps to wear clothes that avoid drawing attention to these areas.

For instance I’ve got an ectomorphic body type. I’m 6ft 1”, 76 kilos. I’ve got wide hips relative to my narrow shoulders and a long neck.

To de-emphasise my long neck I generally wear a collar. In button ups I go for a two inch collar if available. Most of my tees are polo shirts. If I do wear a regular tee I wear a high crew neck (mostly with a blouson type jacket over it). I don’t wear tank tops or low cut tee shirts ever.

For wide hips and narrow shoulders – I prefer jeans and trousers to be well fitted at the hips and slim through the thighs and leg. I avoid hip flare at all costs. I try to stear clear of back pocket flaps and back pocket stitching. I don’t go skinny though.
In shirts I avoid darts. Front darts are totally out. Minimal back darting is passable. BoO is about the limit. For slim guys I think taking in the side seams looks more masculine. Shirts need to be tailored at the waist but not overly so. Too much torso taper on slim guys with wide hips tends to look effeminate especially from the rear.

Originally Posted by PinkPantser

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- when I played baseball my teammates called me high ass.[/indent]
I heard they also called you tight end yet you were never on the football team.

Originally Posted by Black Cherry

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^ Hey there, sexy pants.

It's been a lot of trial and error for me as well. And still is. Here's a handy before and after comparison:

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/373...reafternww.jpg

Before is my first WAYW pic from August 07 and rather cringeworthy, after is from earlier this month. I've come a long way, but I've got a long way still to go!

Cringeworthy? Nah. Before really looks better than After, like those hair replacement ads.

Originally Posted by JoelF

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Before really looks better than After
Actually agree, and originally posted this, but chickened out. I may just be biased against those boots, though

Originally Posted by Master-Classter

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I'm personally curious to hear more answers on this one. I've often wondered the same thing. I look at guys like yfyf, PinkPanster, Lel, Vashin, Chrono, Getsmart, Easton, etc and wonder if their stuf goes beyond "fitted" and is actually just too tight. I definately think in some cases it's pushing the bounds. Getsmarts stuff just looks like it's going to be uncomfortable to wear, as with several other posters.

I've started sizing down and tailoring almost all my clothes over the past year and a lot of my friends and family have said everything looks too tight. I still think it's actually just slim/fitted, but I'm constantly putting on older clothes that I thought were slim and finding them loose and baggy. Maybe it's all in the head?

anyone else find even the 28's and xs's at mainstream retailors have started to feel too big and baggy since joining S.F. and sizing down_and/or shrinking stuff?

It's all part of a process. Once you get used wearing to something that's x amount tight, anything less than that feels too loose- and from there it's smooth sailing into the land of tight shiet.

* How did you go about figuring out what kind of fits work for you? - Look in a mirror, observe your silhouette. If your clothes don't make your body look better, then why are you wearing them? Might as well just put on a moo-moo or a snuggle and fuse with your couch.
* What specific aspects of a piece can emphasize torso taper, create illusion of narrower hips, elongate legs, etc.? - Slightly structured shoulders on a button-up shirt, get it tailored tighter around the stomach but have a little more space around the chest.
* Can fit be as simple as wearing clothes that are slim, but not tight? - Unless you want to wear clothes that are tight. Pants don't need to be tight, but I think shirts are so horribly blousey these days that even "slim" isn't slim enough if you tuck them in (and you almost always should IMO)
* What exactly marks the difference between a purposely oversized piece and something that is simply too large? - That's designer BS territory, I won't even pretend to answer that truthfully.
* Why is it that wearing skinny jeans and a more relaxed OCBD looks weird, while Patrik Ervell's whole chunky sweater-with-narrow trousers look works? - Easy answer: An OCBD is totally not like a chunky knit.
* How does fabric/material affect fit in terms or drape? - See above for an example. Good, thick fabrics will make the difference between too tight, and just right.

I think it has a lot to do with understanding why you look a certain way in clothes and being as picky as you possibly can. I'll take myself for example: I know I have a bit of a belly despite being quite skinny, it's obvious when I wear skin-tight clothing and tailor my own clothes. My top half is a tad smaller than my bottom half so I find that wearing shirts tucked into my natural waist looks odd, so I let my pants/jeans sit ever so slightly lower than my waist.

• 
  
  • How did you go about figuring out what kind of fits work for you?
• Looking at myself a lot in the mirror, being critical about myself and keeping an eye out for problem spots in the fit (compare to shirts that fit me better in these areas)
  
  • What specific aspects of a piece can emphasize torso taper, create illusion of narrower hips, elongate legs, etc.?
• Shirts with darts/panels and considerable drops in width from chest to belly will make your torso look tapered, because of my 'belly' I notice this a lot and aim for these types of fits. High rise/high waist and single colour throughout legs will always elongate them. My proportionately large hips look small under a purposely extra long baggy t-shirt.
  
  • Can fit be as simple as wearing clothes that are slim, but not tight?
• I don't think so, there are too many examples of excellent fitting clothes that don't fit slim at all, but do fit the person (see next question for exp.)
  
  • What exactly marks the difference between a purposely oversized piece and something that is simply too large?
• Clothes that are purposely oversized will usually be made of a material that looks flattering when draping, the clothes will also usually fit properly in one or more areas such as shoulders, length, sleeve length and collar (Ann Demeulemeester Spring 2009 is a good example of purposely oversized clothing).
  
  • Why is it that wearing skinny jeans and a more relaxed OCBD looks weird, while Patrik Ervell's whole chunky sweater-with-narrow trousers look works?
• I'm not sure about the first part of this question, a photo would help, though I would guess it'd have something to do with a relaxed OCBD being classical and skinny jeans being somewhat modern. Sweaters are commonly oversized because they don't crinkle and crease in unflattering ways, they also serve the purpose of keeping the wearer warm even moreso when oversized.
  
  • How does fabric/material affect fit in terms or drape?
• Massive difference, many dress shirt fabrics will crease in unflattering ways at any sign of a bad fit rather than draping. thick fabrics tend to hold their own and 'hover' rather than fall/drape along your body. As a general rule lighter fabrics drape better (knitwear is a big exception).

Originally Posted by whodini

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I heard they also called you tight end yet you were never on the football team.

You're right, I wasn't on the football team. Though, I was pretty well known as the wide receiver. Never did understand that one.

nvm

After thinking about it, I think it's all about what looks good to you in the mirror. There's too many factors to understand it in a systematic rather than intuitive way. I think the issue with trying to set up rules is that the rules may miss some details that make items work or not work, though the items may satisfy all the rules. I know that with color, I've certainly moved past the crude Carole Jackson rules, although they were useful to me in the beginning.

Originally Posted by tagutcow

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Yeah, but: breakfastheatre
breakfasteatre has some good fits too.

wait, I though it was spelled breakfasthatre?

Originally Posted by PinkPantser

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wait, I though it was spelled breakfasthatre?

Who the hell hates breakfast? You'd have to be crazy!

wmmk,

Trial and error, as most guys have said. In your specific case, I'd recommend working out your upper body to widen your shoulders, back, and chest a bit; this will make it MUCH easier to find clothes that you look good in. (You'll notice that fellow skinny posters who look great in all their fits, such as Lel, actually have a pretty athletic drop.) To reduce the appearance of your hips, I'd suggest wearing pants that fit tight in the top block but do not taper excessively through the leg, as many of your current pants do.

Originally Posted by wmmk

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or from one instance of analyzing their body types and figuring out tangible reasons that certain pieces did or did not work. Certainly not this. This sounds creepy So, I guess I have a lot of questions:

• How did you go about figuring out what kind of fits work for you? i dunno. think about it in my head. maybe try it on
• What specific aspects of a piece can emphasize torso taper, create illusion of narrower hips, elongate legs, etc.? i have no idea what this means
• Can fit be as simple as wearing clothes that are slim, but not tight? pretty much for when i dress in slim clothing
• What exactly marks the difference between a purposely oversized piece and something that is simply too large? certain items are cut well. also, mixing oversized stuff in makes you have to work proportions more than just slim all over which is really easy
• Why is it that wearing skinny jeans and a more relaxed OCBD looks weird, while Patrik Ervell's whole chunky sweater-with-narrow trousers look works?
• How does fabric/material affect fit in terms or drape? very very much

I look forward to hearing all of your opinions; sorry for my usual wordiness.
i read some of it at least. good lord, man. lighten up. Fit, proportion, color, texture, patterns. There is no perfect singular way to go about it and trying to figure it out like a math problem is just going to make you more frustrated. Why do you care about oversized and drapey stuff? It's not really going to work with the uber clean prep stuff you're into. Grungy stuff, washed out 80ish are fun as well in addition to the prep and then dark/gloomy looks. I love me some good drapey fits with looks other than just slim shirt/slim jacket/slim jeans/slim shoes. Doing that is so easy though which is why i go to it when i am feeling safe. Then again, i know getsmart and pinkpantser are fans of "pick something and stick with it." If i felt dressing like modern grandpa or skin/mod completely captured or satisfied me, i'd probably pick that and go with it for life like them. However, i don't just like one genre of music or movie, nor do i feel like dressing one way every day. You can ask gosurface, my attention span is all over the place. Also, eating a bag of baked lays sour cream n onion chips once a week helps keep my stylish physique. They're just so good

Originally Posted by ToruOkada

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are you a robot?
hahahahha

Wmmk, you've got some good questions that I've been wondering about myself.
In my opinion, I think you should keep your style the way it is for now. It's simple and you've got some good fits. The best thing you can do now is just increase you muscular mass. Join a sport. Something like swimming or water polo would be great. I do both myself. That on top of weightlifting at your local y, you'll begin to see a big difference in how shirts fit you.
Also, try some slim straight leg jeans. Until I bought gray journals I didn't know that I like the cut so much. They also tend to look good on taller guys.