Short Shrifted

Maybe you know how to buy the right clothes for your body type. And you’ve got a great tailor for alterations. Maybe you’ve even had some items custom-made.

But chances are, there are still occasions when you find yourself confronted with a major fit problem: a billowy, blousing shirt; new pants whose cuffs are dragging on the ground; a necktie you just can’t seem to tie short enough. I still wind up facing these sorts of problems every once in awhile. And it’s always last-minute — usually when I’m getting dressed for a wedding or a fancy dinner or event. All of a sudden it becomes horribly apparent that I misjudged the fit of something I recently bought or maybe I just hadn’t tried it on in ages.

In those situations you may feel like you’re totally out of luck (i.e. you’ve got either no time or money to buy something new, or, because of your height/build there are no suitable choices immediately available at local shops). However, there are still a few things you can try. Desperate, crazy things. But at that point, what have you got to lose?

DRESS SHIRTS THAT BLOUSE AROUND THE WAIST:

SHIRT SLEEVES THAT ARE TOO LONG:

JACKET SLEEVES:

TROUSERS:

NECKTIES:

SHOES TOO BIG:

ADDITIONAL TIPS:

SUPPLIES TO HAVE ON HAND:
These are some things that are relatively easy to carry with you that can be used to make quick repairs or emergency alterations on the fly, clean and care for your clothes, or are easy camouflage for common problems.

LINKS TO INFO ON SLEEVE GARTERS:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeve_garter
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=6632
http://www.jpressonline.com/accessories_arm_bands_detail.php?ix=0
http://www.cablecarclothiers.com/sleeve_garters.html
http://www.blueshire.com/ProductCart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=5819&idcategory=84
http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/forum/showthread.php?82044-Sleeve-garters
http://www.riverjunction.com/catalog/mensfurn/sleevegarter.html
http://www.etsy.com/listing/41274618/art-deco-sleeve-garters-black-and-silver
http://community.livejournal.com/steamfashion/827743.html
http://www.johnhelmer.com/prod.itml/icOid/108

So, those are my suggestions of desperate measures. Got any others? I’d love to hear your last-ditch fit solutions in the Comments. The more outlandish the better. But completely rational works too.

Jimmy Au’s checked in to let me know that they’ll be heading to NYC and Chicago next week. So if you’ve been wanting to check them out, but haven’t been able to make the trek to their brick-and-mortar store in LA, this is for you. From the press release:

JIMMY AU’S (FOR MEN 5’8” AND UNDER) TRUNK & ROAD SHOW

The show will feature our Spring 2011 Collection including suits, sportcoats, casual jackets, leather jackets, casual pants, denim jeans, dress slacks, dress shirts, sport shirts, polos and shorts.

The trunk and road show is private. Please call 310-888-8708 to make an appointment.

www.jimmyaus.com

For the past two years, ever since my daughter was born, I’ve had little time and even less money to spend on my wardrobe. Sometimes, it’s all I can do to get a post out. In fact, she’s the main reason this blog was dark for the past two months. I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Like I said, though, my style has taken a hit as a result of fatherhood. But you know what they say. Fatherhood is the mother of invention. As I was packing her diaper bag for our Easter outing today, I scooped up a carrot-shaped purse of hers. I was about to drop it in the bag when I decided on a different use for it.

I’m sure this won’t be the last time she influences my personal style.

I’m back. After a month-long breather, I’ll be blogging here again regularly.

Did I miss anything in the interim? Let’s see…

Looking forward, here’s what you can expect from Short Shrifted in the days and weeks ahead:

Every week or so, somebody emails and asks me where to find good-fitting jeans. I never know quite what to tell them.

I’ve posted on small-waisted jeans before and also on how to reattach the original hem. But that’s it. I’ve always resisted writing a comprehensive guide to denim. The main reason being this:

Jeans are an intensely individual style choice. Fit; wash; dye; distressing; denim type; straight, rolled, or cuffed; ripped, dirty, clean-cut, or patched; vintage or brand-new; rise; body type; workplace or weekend wear — there’s such a broad range of choices here. Jeans, more than so many other articles of clothes, define who we are. So who am I to tell you which pair to wear?

Besides, there are an infinite number of men’s style blogs out there that breathlessly parse exactly what you should and shouldn’t. I can’t stand 99.9% of them (though props to ACL for stringing these words together: “nice, big, front-of-book denim package”). And that’s not to say that many of these blogs can’t be useful. And yes, there’s a select few that I absolutely and unreservedly love.

But I’ve always had a different mission. I’m not here to annotate photos of capsule collections or throw my two cents in on every street-style photo that passes through my RSS feed. For the most part, I trust you guys to either A) already have your own sense of style or B) develop one with the help of some of those thousands of other menswear blogs.

Short Shrifted is not here to narrow things down for you. As shorter men, you’re sick of facing limited choices. I’m here to give you options, throw out possible solutions, present you with the widest range of possibilities that I can. Then, you pick the solutions that work for you. That’s my manifesto. But enough about that.

The other reason why I’ve resisted writing a comprehensive guide to jeans is: It’s depressing. Because when it comes to shorter inseams, there just don’t seem to be a lot of options out there. Buying shorter inseams off the rack are key, because you shouldn’t always have to roll your jeans and hemming presents a myriad set of problems and expenses.

But enough excuses.

Let’s figure this thing out once and for all. I’m hoping you guys can help me.

Here’s a link to a Google Docs spreadsheet that I started a couple years ago: Jeans By Length

I’ve made it public and editable. Please take a look and do the following:

When it’s ready, I’ll repost it as our collective, comprehensive guide to jeans. And in the meantime, please also leave your best-fitting jeans or any other denim tips (including alteration advice) in the Comments below.

I love this pic from today’s Guardian profile of Aziz Ansari (5′6″). He’s a funny guy. I totally should steal this idea if I ever redo my blog’s header.

A couch is a big investment, and unfortunately for short folks, there are way too many overstuffed, oversized styles out there. At best, these monsters are merely unflattering or uncomfortable. At worst, they’ll cut off the circulation in your legs and leave your lower back unsupported. But if you know where to look (and what you’re looking for), it’s not that hard to find something built for your body type.

I found my current couch at Room & Board (see the pic). It’s not a “short-person couch” per se, but it conforms to my height (5′3″) perfectly. Room & Board have a lot of choices that would be good for someone who is shorter because most of their styles run to mid-century modern design. Very 1950s stuff, like something you might find on Mad Men (not that I watch). You certainly don’t have the overstuffed look there. It’s more for NYC apartments where you really want something that’s narrower because there just isn’t that much room. Beyond their selection, though, it’s just an awesome, awesome store with great customer service.

Besides Room & Board, I looked at Crate & Barrel, and Design Within Reach, and found good choices there as well. But that’s more about my taste (to put this into perspective, I actually got a comfortable couch once at Jennifer Convertible, too).

The key is trying stuff out in person. So find a showroom and plunk yourself down.

Obviously, the same applies to chairs (whatever type they are). I’ve found a few other nice pieces over the years, including a Le Courbusier chaise, that was also purchased at Room & Board. It’s a knockoff, but nice. Incidentally, did you know he was 5′4″? So, theoretically, he designed all his furniture for us!

I’ll leave you with this one other pic of me in this other little chair they had at Room & Board. Very nice. You can see how it suits my build because my back is touching the seatback AND my feet are on the floor. What a concept!

JOSH’S NOTE: Besides sleek, modern designs and faux midcentury modern sofas designed for small-apartment living, another alternative is vintage furniture. Reupholster it if needed. Not all that long ago, people were smaller, materials were expensive, and many houses were not that big. There are many styles from the 1950s on back that may fit you better. And remember: You can always swap the legs out for shorter ones, cut them down, or even cut them off — but seat depth is immutable, so that’s the key to comfort.

Jesse over at Put This On just did a post on where to find size 34 suits, in response to a reader’s question:

Size 36 jackets don’t do it for me at all, I feel like a kid trying to look like a grown-up. I haven’t been able to find a single label that makes a 34 jacket. Can you direct me to the right place? Maybe online somewhere?

There’s not much new info here, except I hadn’t heard of Southwick. But it’s a nice round-up nonetheless. And it’s a good reminder to me that Mr. Ned (NYC) does custom suits for just under $1,000. If I’m ever in the market again, I’m headed to Mr. Ned. Read lots of good stuff about him.

If you’re looking to dig deeper into the subject, check out my post about shopping in the boys dept, my Custom category, or one of my 20+ posts tagged “Suits.”

And hey, that’s kind of a weird pic of Matt Fan, eh? What’s up with that shoe? (And btw, everyone keeps linking to Matt’s blog Tweed in the City, but sadly, he must have let his lease on that space lapse, because it was taken over by a spammy looking “upscale decorating” robo-blogger a few months back).

So I’ve been reading Keef’s autobiography: Life. I like the Stones just fine, but it’d still be a highly entertaining read even if I didn’t. Brian Jones doesn’t come off so well in it, of course. But a dig at Jones’ height did send me to his Wikipedia page one day, where I discovered he was 5-foot-6. And this:

“Brian Jones was regarded as a fashion icon due to his rebellious and flamboyant style. His style of dress and manner did much to influence the fashion scene of swinging 1960s London. Anita Pallenberg has stated in an interview that he wanted to look like Françoise Hardy [pictured above], he loved ‘dressing up and posing about’ and that he would ask her to do his hair and make-up.”

“After he became famous, he was known to walk deliberately in crowded streets until girls would start chasing him, at which point he would run as fast as he could.”

Ha. So here’s to Brian — and the ladies who chased him.

Check out my photo blog — A Concise Men’s Lookbook — for pix of Mr. Jones posing with a bevy of tall, leggy models from the ’60s.