The Crucial Role of the Suit Fitting - A Dialogue in Front of the Mirror

When you slip into a bespoke suit tailored precisely for you, standing in front of the mirror isn't just a part of the fitting process—it's a pivotal moment that defines the essence of custom tailoring.

This experience goes beyond mere aesthetics, serving as a critical step in ensuring the suit not only looks impeccable but feels extraordinarily comfortable and is functionally sound for daily wear.

What Happens During This Process?

The fitting process for a bespoke suit is meticulous and thoughtful. It begins the moment the tailor's measurements turn into a suit that you can try on. Here’s what typically happens during a fitting session:

- Initial Assessment: As you first put on the suit, the tailor looks for obvious signs of misfit, such as wrinkles, pulls, or loose areas. This is your first glimpse of how the suit shapes up against your body’s contours.

- Detailed Review: You and your tailor will examine how the suit hangs on your shoulders, the drape of the fabric down your chest, and the closure at your midsection. Movements such as walking, sitting, and stretching are encouraged to see how the suit responds dynamically to your actions.

- Pinpoint Adjustments: The tailor will use pins and markers to suggest alterations. They may adjust the seam at the back for a tighter or more relaxed fit, shorten or lengthen sleeves, and ensure the trousers fall correctly over your shoes.

- Discussion and Feedback: This is a two-way conversation. As the tailor suggests changes, you provide feedback based on what you see in the mirror and how you feel in the suit. Do the trousers feel too tight? Does the jacket restrict your movement? This dialogue helps refine the fit to your exact preferences.

Why is This Step So Important?

The importance of this fitting step cannot be understated:

- Visual Perfection: In front of the mirror, you see firsthand how the suit complements your body. The tailor ensures that the lines are clean and the fit enhances your best features, achieving a look that off-the-rack suits rarely provide.

- Personal Comfort: Comfort is paramount in bespoke suiting. During the fitting, adjustments are made to avoid any discomfort, ensuring that each part of the suit feels as good as it looks. This is crucial because discomfort can distract and detract from your confidence and performance, whether in a boardroom or at a social event.

- Functional Tailoring: A suit needs to be as functional as it is stylish. This means ensuring easy access to pockets, comfortable placement of buttons, and overall ease of movement. The fitting process addresses these practical considerations, tailoring the suit not just to your body, but to your lifestyle and needs.

- Emotional Connection: Finally, standing in front of the mirror in a suit crafted just for you fosters a deep emotional connection to the garment. This suit is not just fabric and thread—it's a reflection of your personal style and aspirations, tailor-made to boost your confidence and presence.

In summary, the fitting process is where technical expertise meets personal style, ensuring that every bespoke suit is not only a piece of clothing but a personal armor tailored for elegance, comfort, and individual expression.

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Made-to-measure suits: Patterns are a big difference between bespoke and made-to-measure suits/clothing

When you have your bespoke suit made to measure, your measurements are taken and then translated onto a paper pattern.

Patterns are the difference between bespoke suits and made-to-measure suits

For bespoke suits, this pattern is made per customer based on individual sizes and wearing preferences. Think about space to move around, so you can create the ideal and desired fit. Made-to-measure works with a standard pattern that is adjusted. You will then not have the ideal fit because you have to work with fixed margins and you will lose the balance between the sizes.

A made-to-measure pattern has also already been created to create a certain pre-selected model. With a bespoke pattern you can create any model, so this also makes a big difference and opens the door to many more models and styles.

Bespoke suits offer total freedom

You can compare bespoke tailoring with having a house designed and made under 100% architecture. Total freedom. Made-to-Measure suits can be seen as housing with options to place the door on the left or right. Restrictions and adjustments unfortunately. It can be a good suit, but it will never have the fit of a bespoke suit. Nor be in the style that would flatter you best.

Bespoke suits are handmade

Especially because a bespoke suit is made by hand and a made-to-measure suit is made industrially. Just go to such a production location and you will see little of the marketing with well-groomed gray gentlemen who leisurely make your clothes with time and attention. You actually see rows of workers making your suit in an assembly line process. That ensures a different quality and hence a lower price.

We often work with customers who started with MTM suits but still have more wishes or are simply curious about what else you can achieve if you have your suits/jackets/pants made bespoke. It often starts with further adjusting an MTM suit and this is how one discovers the added value of a bespoke tailor.

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Bespoke Tailoring and Made-to-Measure the differences

In the current world of fake news we even see that the art and craft of bespoke tailors sometimes is being scrutinized by marketeers and sales driven clothing brands. This creates a devaluation of dress styles with the modern gentleman.

So it is quite important to be able to recognize and understand the differences between a suit that has been really tailored (Bespoke) or marketed to the unknowing as tailor made (Made-to-Measure) that has little to nothing to do with craft, quality and style.

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