Men's suit, pants question -- cuffs or no cuffs?

Oh, dude, none of them are going to be in Esquire any time soon or anything. I think they just pay closer attention to stores like The Gap and J. Crew while I was a Kohl's guy buying old man clothes and not realizing it.

I married the most beautiful woman in the world, but she knows nothing about men's style, so I didn't have any help from there, either.

I mean, I was really befuddled. It was like, "How could I not know pleats are hideous?" It seemed like such common knowledge.

 

You lie! Ragu and caped friend

 

Except for their very top line, Hugo Boss suits are fused -- glued. You are paying a heck of a lot for the label. At that price you could get a half-canvas -- glued at the bottom, sewn to canvas at the top where it matters most -- at full retail from Samuelsohn or Southwick. Or you could get a full-canvas like a Hickey-Freeman on discount like Sak's Off Fifth. It's fine if you like the Hugo, but I'd dispute it will last a long time. The fusing (glue) buckles after repeated dry cleanings and looks like skid row.

 

Vince Lombardi wore cuffs. That's good enough for me.

 

Oh, I hear that, Frank. Don't doubt it one bit. But I've always liked how the Boss fits me. Needs very little altering -- hem the pants, and that's about it. And I don't wear my suits enough to wear them out. By lasting a long time, I meant that I don't think they'll look unstylish anytime soon.

I'm also pretty wary on dry cleaning. Unless it's pretty funked up, I give it an air-out and a nice hang. (Apparently, I treat my suits like my penis.) I used to work in a dry cleaners. We could take the most beautiful garment and turn it into a shit sandwich.

All that being said, I've had one of my Boss suits about five years now, and it still looks like I just got it. Wearing it every week for work or something like that -- then definitely, I think it would have toasted up by now. But for occasional wear -- and for their cut -- I like the Boss.

 

Bingo, there's the true value of a suit. Its not so much the cut (style); its about its construction.

I started out with Italian suits (Mani, etc.) then realized that the $1000 I spent was still glued on.

The past 7 years, I've been stocking up solely on Hickey-Freeman suits that are hand-stitched and altered correctly. Well worth the $$$, especially when can be found on sale. Timeless construction and timeless style. Just make sure your shirts/ties are never more valuable/better looking than your suit but keep pace. Remember the rule of 3, of the suit/shirt/tie, make sure only one gets noticed.

 

This is the reason why I havent thrown away any of the seven double breasted suits that I have in my closet. They're all 100-percent wool, still fit, and still look good. Meanwhile, in about six months, everyone who bought the three-button, straight-legged, "Gat damn, I look like a fuckin pencil" suits and gonna all be saying "WTF was I thinking?"

The key is not to keep the suits contemporary. you'll go broke with that shit. "Fuck, windowpanes are in this year, must buy windowpanes. God damn, now they're out. Must get pinstripes." The key is to keep the shirts and ties up to date every year. You can go buy the hottest suit in GQ tomorrow, and if you're wearing it with a white tab-collar dress shirt and a brightly colors Arsenio Hall Show tie, you're gonna look like an idiot.

On a side note, I sold suits for a year while in college and it absolutely baffles me how many fucking men 30 and younger had no Goddam idea where their waistline is. Guys, do me a favor, take your index finger and put it in your belly button. THAT'S YOUR WAIST LINE! Not where your gunt ends three inches below that. And for you skinny guys, not where your hips stop the pants.

 

There's no way my body could fit comfortably in something like that. I've got 10-inch drop (48-chest, 38-waist) and that type of design would make me look like a clown.

And that last bolded line makes me cringe. Pants that expose skin is perhaps the most egregious fashion sin I think is imaginable. If your pants show skin or too much sock, it says that you can buy pants that fit.

 

That's why the day I no longer wear a 40 long jacket and a 34 waist is the day that I go on a hunger strike - that's about the only way to make the three-button deal look good (and I happen to like it). And freelance, you're right - no sock should show. I like the bottoms of my pants to just graze the tops of the shoes, not hover above them like that line suggests.

Rule with all suits, no matter how many buttons: button all but the bottom one (though (I'll never wear anything with more than three, except for when my jackass brother in law decided he wanted everyone to look like a pimp for his wedding and I had to wear a tuxedo with EIGHT %!$)@$!@#& buttons - dickhead...).

 

We need pictures of that.

 

Just sayin.