Personal Stylist (Male)

Floss

You may find it a challenge to find any suit that fits correctly without some tailoring - nobody is exactly the same as the pattern model.

helensbiggestfan

Grumpy_chap said:

helensbiggestfan said:

Not sure where you live......but have a look at Slaters Suits. They have 26 stores, so you should find one relatively near you.  They do a full fitting and alterations service and sell shirts, ties etc.  

You can check them out online first.  

I like that idea of proper measure and fit and alterations.

I was disillusioned at last shopping trip with a suit off-the-peg at silly money and the sales assistant entirely indifferent.

It strikes me a lower cost suit that fits well will be look streets ahead of a higher cost suit with brand but ill-fitting.

I have just spent a few minutes browsing their website.  I am sure you will get on with them.  Their prices seem very fair. In fact their tuxedos are no dearer now than they were when I took my then 18 year old son for his first tux for the 6th form ball.  That was 18 years ago.......

Let us know how you get on.  

August  isn't too far away so you need to get a wiggle on.......especially if you need to allow time for alterations.   And maybe allow extra time for Covid compliance.  

MovingForwards

@Grumpy_chap
https://www.charlestyrwhitt.com/uk/home

Is where my OH goes for nice suits / office wear. I can't fault CT and was rather envious of the service he received each time. I've never seen such attentive assistants, happy to pick up various items to try for size, style, colour etc and that wasn't even the personal service, just regular shopping.

The clothes do last.

With JL and M&S you're unlucky due to the size of the shops, by the sounds of it. Smaller ones carry a tiny range and do seem to be for a certain age, large stores carry more varied stock.

Hope you find what you're looking for and enjoy the wedding.

Grumpy_chap

Well this weekend I have to get the wedding suit ahead of my Niece's wedding.

I saw one last outing to the shops, but the price I thought was excessive. That's my fall-back position if I don't see better.

I saw a nice suit on the Massimo Dutti website, but the local store said mail-order only.  The chance of getting a good fitting suit by mail order seem slim.

So, I will go to a suitable shopping centre and get the best.  My range of venue options:

 - Central London
 - Bluewater / Westfields Centre etc.
 - Local shopping centre
 - Outlet Bicester Village

Would I be correct in assuming that the outlet village will rate poorly for customer service and not give any advice / tailoring / adjustments?

Grumpy_chap

Thanks for the comments everyone - went out today and got the suit for the Niece's wedding. 

Did the central London thing, which I have not been shopping there for as long as I can remember as I always thought it was too busy.  Actually (and possibly because of COVID), it was less busy than the local regional shopping centre, the stores were all much larger with better range and the store assistants geared up (apart from Moss Bros) to actually deliver a premium service experience and keen for the custom.

I started the day at JL, where just the suits dept was larger than the entire menswear in the local store - they actually had two suits I really liked and a fantastic floor assistant who provided some great advice.  The only reason I did not buy there and then was the two suits I liked were two-piece and I was after three-piece.

Progressed along the principal shopping streets, visited every store I liked the look of and also progressed on to Charles Tyrwhitt in Jermyn Street, but not Slaters Suits as they are not near enough to be included in a central London shopping trip.  Generally all very much better than the local shopping centre and I liked how relaxed and un-rushed it all was, with so much space - plenty of tables when you stopped for a coffee, for example.  Much easier experience than the local shopping centre, which has got back to full-time busy (or more) since lock-down.

Anyway, saw loads, and there was a lot a liked, but nothing that I liked more than the too expensive suit which was the best I'd seen in the local shopping centre but displeasured by the absolute indifference on the part of the sales assistant there. 

So, late afternoon, decided to visit that brands flagship store and the service was fabulous.  An initial measure and advice on colour which steered me to a slightly different shade of blue than I'd originally selected to better compliment my as per skin tone, then fitting and pinned top & bottom to better profile my body shape.  All this effort was complimentary, and so is the tailoring / alterations.  Then matched me with a shirt, two choices of tie, shoes and belt so a full outfit sorted. I really could not get over how the "good" suit, when tightened in couple of points looked so much better still.

The best thing was the price being competitive to the local High Street - I saw this suit last week at £750 on a "just take it service" yet the central London flagship store service for the same product with the accessories and the alterations I've walked out with a bill of only £950.  So, yes, I spent more than I intended when I first set out to buy an outfit, but the result is knock-out, and the full package is excellent value compared to the local High Street indifferent "pick your own" offering.

(The in-store sales assistant did also offer up a 'last season' suit, which started out at around half price - it was as good quality, but I just did not quite "like" it as much as it had a heavier material and not what I wanted for an August wedding, which was a shame, but at least they were not just flogging the expensive stuff for the sake of it.) 

Very happy that I'm all set for my Niece's wedding and I'd certainly recommend the central London thing to any discerning buyer, even just the relaxed experience and the space and lack of people makes it easier - except, being selfish, I'd like to keep this London place a bit of a secret as if everyone starts going there, it will get busy and crowded and may detract slightly.

JL on Oxford Street is also offering the personal shopping service and I will make use of that to support some general wardrobe updating when we get back to the new normal office routine.  I will also be visiting Charles Tyrwhitt for some shirts and accessories, as they had some nice stuff that seemed good quality but I did not have the time to pop back at the end of the day.

Thanks again everyone for your inputs and suggestions and I will feed back once I have done the personal shopping visit to JL.

helensbiggestfan

  Glad you got everything sorted.  Great stuff.  

Grumpy_chap

One thing that did surprise me on my trip out was that I have, in the past, bought really nice shirts from T M Lewin (they had a store next door to where my wife worked so if I ever met her after work I seemed to get drawn in), but they did not seem to have a store anywhere, not even Jermyn Street.

They are still online, but nice clothes, well, you want the touch & the feel as part of the purchase.

Emmia

Grumpy_chap said:

One thing that did surprise me on my trip out was that I have, in the past, bought really nice shirts from T M Lewin (they had a store next door to where my wife worked so if I ever met her after work I seemed to get drawn in), but they did not seem to have a store anywhere, not even Jermyn Street.

They are still online, but nice clothes, well, you want the touch & the feel as part of the purchase.

TM Lewin went bust a year or so ago, and now like Debenhams, and many other places is online only having been bought out of administration. 

Grumpy_chap

Thanks for all the advice - gosh it was a whole year ago!
Anyway, I thought I'd revisit this thread to update and seek some further suggestions.

COVID and the introduction of WFH gave me more time to spend on myself so I was able to get my self into trim shape physically and the new style kind of goes along with that.

So, I've got some great outfits for more formal events and for wearing to work meetings.  Since COVID, all attendance to work has been proper meetings where a proper suit and tie is appropriate, so that was quite easy.  For non-work but smarter events, I have some smart polos that sit well with a suit but don't require a tie.  That is all a look I am pleased with.

I've also got some good outfits for social and WFH wear, which I am really happy with.  The approach is a nice piece as the statement item in the outfit around which I've mixed something different and flexible.  I also found ways to mix-up some of the older stuff I had - so, for example, two items that get a compliment on virtually every wear are a blazer from BHS (that I bought in the closing down sale) and a £20 jacket from Tesco.

I even found a new barber (after trying a few that I was less happy with) and a couple of people commented on how good my hair looks.  For a follically-challenged male, there is only so much that could have been done anyway.

So, there are two areas where I am behind the remainder:

Exercise wear, but maybe that is less important - apart from good trainers - who really cares what anyone looks like when they are just getting sweaty anyway?

The increasing need to attend the workplace, but not for formal meetings that require a suit yet above the social / WFH standard.  Everything I've got here is cheap, looks cheap, not overly well fitting (because the COVID exercise actually yielded results).  At best, you could say it is the look of a 1980's maths teacher.

So, fellow forumites, what is the appropriate style for attending the workplace but below the requirement for a full suit and tie?

littlegreenparrot

I would go for nice trousers and a shirt, that's my standard work wear.

Would a pair of chinos or similar be acceptable?