Question:
Hey all, I hope you can help shed some light on an unintended situation that arose when I recently ordered some custom shirts. Maybe I should ask a few questions about custom shirts, while I'm at it.
First, a bit of background: I'm a big fella with a weird body. I wear a 46 regular (US size) jacket. Thanks to years of swimming, I have an 18.5-inch neck, and broad shoulders. While I could stand to lose a few pounds, I don't carry around a huge pot belly or anything. I also have an unusually long torso.
With this body, any off-the-rack shirts I find that fit my large neck (which is hard to do, since most department stores cut off at 18) look like muumuus around my waist. When I tuck them in, material blooms out prodigiously from my beltline, and I look rather ridiculous, like a giant human knickerbocker. They also tend to be a little bit short.
As a result, I wear almost exclusively custom-made shirts. I travel to Hong Kong on business quite a bit, so I have been able to indulge this need rather on the cheap. The shirts are clearly not up to the standards of a Savile Row tailor, but the quality is, overall, quite solid. Obviously, this body-generated need has side benefits - I get to pick out my collars, my cuffs, other little options, how I like the collars to sit... not to mention the selection of materials, which is an absolute blast.
The problem with my cheap method of doing this is that I'm dealing with Indian or Chinese tailors who aren't necessarily trained in all the details of classic design. And putting a blank slate in my untrained hands isn't always the best idea either.
Which is where we encounter difficulty.
On my last round of shirts, which I ordered by fax since they already had my measurements, I requested a few shirts be made with "squared-off" bottoms and a trimmer fit so that I could wear them, untucked, with jeans and a sportcoat. I wanted a very slim waist so the material wouldn't have a tendency to bunch in the front and ruin my elegant line... or at least, as elegant a line as I'm capable of.
Unfortunately, since I was ordering by mail and without much interactive guidance, I asked for these slim-fit shirts without specifying *how* to achieve that slim fit. I think it's possible to taper a shirt down by taking in material along the side seams, making sort of an invisible taper. Alternatively, one can put darts in a shirt to pull the waist in a bit. This is what my tailor decided to do - I have darts in all these shirts.
The problem is that I had also requested side pleats in all my shirts, as is my usual custom. I like the extra freedom of movement afforded by pleats - my job requires some "management by walking around" and occasionally needs me to roll up my sleeves.
What I hadn't considered, and what I now have, are three shirts with both side pleats *and* darts, which seems a bit confused to me. I have more room and less room in the same shirt. I personally think it looks a little jumbled, although I wouldn't necessarily say it's glaringly awful. So ultimately, my question is this: Is this acceptable, or are there specific prohibitions against having darts and pleats in the same shirt?
I'm also curious to know if my assumptions about tapering are correct; that is, can a tapered look be equally well-achieved by taking in material along the side seams as by darts?
And also, does anyone else have any suggestions on how to "finish" the bottom of a sport shirt that's meant to be worn untucked? I think the totally-squared-off look is a little abrupt-looking to me, but I don't know what the general stylistic guidelines are for this kind of thing.
Lastly, does anyone else have any specific tips about custom shirt ordering that may be of use the next time I order?
I know there's a lot of good opinion, experience, and knowledge in this forum, so thanks so much for any and all advice.
Answer:
Jon.
Answer:
dbl
Answer:
Thanks Jon... I actually looked through that (HUGE) thread a little before posting my question, and didn't quite find my questions specifically answered. Or maybe I'm not looking properly.
What does DBL mean?
Answer:
Due to a system error, it came out as a double post. My URL got posted twice.
Jon.
