Short Shrifted

After posting on the Duncan Quinn sale yesterday (and casually mentioning their $3,000 bespoke suits), a friend tipped me off about a story in NY Mag’s current Fall Fashion issue. Regular Joe (and short guy) Michael Idov momentarily ditches his ill-fitting, off-the-rack duds for a bank-breaking bespoke suit and finds he loves it. The piece gives a rundown of some of the newer bespoke players in NYC — Duncan Quinn, Freemans Sporting Club and Lord Willy’s, where he ultimately submits to the measuring tape and scissors. It also explains the difference between the bespoke and made-to-measure process.

It’s a funny read but the best part is that I think it fully captures the bespoke experience. I say “I think” because I’ve never had a bespoke suit made for me before. But I did have one Near Bespoke Experience where I dropped way more cash than I should have on a suit and had numerous fittings over the course of several months. It’s the only thing that has ever felt like it was literally made for me (discounting the turtlenecks and stuff my mom used to make for me, of course; thanks, mom!). I also don�t do massages or spa treatments or anything like that so it was one of the few times in my life where there were all these strangers really focused on making me look and feel my best. It sounds ridiculous but it was a life-altering experience. As Idov puts it:

Two months pass before I’m called in for the first fitting. All doubts vanish at the first sight of the suit: It feels, not to be sappy about it, like a reunion. The jacket still lacks lapels and lining, and its rough inner workings are exposed, but even now, putting it on magically improves my posture. “You can’t gain any more weight,” warns Betty. Ha, but now I don’t need to lose any, either: The trousers’ high flat front makes my gut disappear. I get it now. It’s not about feeling exceptional; it’s about feeling utterly normal. I’ve cracked the secret of the bespoke addict. Too bad I’ve cracked it by becoming one myself.

The only thing, though. Alex Wilcox, the bloke who does more than just stand at the till at Lord Willy’s, comes across as a little in-your-face (albeit pretty funny) in Idov’s description. If you’re the timid sort, I wouldn’t let that stop you from checking out his store: I’ve only been in once (just a few weeks ago) and he was super nice and made me feel really welcome as I casually checked out his merch and asked him a bunch of questions. As with Idov, though, he did call out my neck size from across the room almost the minute I walked in — and he was dead on to the half inch.

Got a note in my inbox today from “the gents at DQ” reminding me that their end-of-summer sale is still a going concern (in typical goofy damn-the-spellcheck Anglo-ese): “Maybe you’re not up to the full monte, but for those of you who want to add a little style and flair to your wardrobe and not break the black card there are some very special offers available for just a few weeks more.” The “style and flair” being selected items from Duncan Quinn’s inventory of fun ties, pocket squares, accessories and fitted shirts (their smallest size fits pretty well if I remember correctly).

The “full monte,” undoubtedly, would be their bespoke suit service, which starts at $3,500 (during the sale they take 10% off if you order two bespoke suits). Now, that’s a lot of dosh — and their look is very specific, a sort of modern Saville Row dandy cut. So it’s not for everybody. Or even most people. But I will say this: When I slipped into one of their suit jackets last summer, it made my wife-to-be cry. She kept a stiff upper lip while we were in the store (British genes), but after we left she got a little choked up. It was the end of a long day making the rounds to suit shops and tuxedo rental places, searching for a suit I could wear to our wedding, and as a small guy, I was having no luck. Swimming in all of the smallest sizes I tried on. Tailors and salesmen trying to convince us that these oversized, boxy shapeless suits actually fit right. Bloody bastards. Duncan Quinn was the first suit that actually fit OK. I didn’t end up buying it and since then I’ve found other suits that fit short men even better, but DQ gave me hope. Cheers, gents.

Links:
Barney’s Warehouse Sale: through Sept. 4 [Shophound]
Opening Ceremony: extra 25% off all sale items through Sept. 3 [Racked]

It’s on. Brooks Brothers is gearing up to launch the fall collection of Black Fleece the second week of September with an “exclusive, by-appointment-only” trunk show with Thom Browne at their Madison Ave. store. It started yesterday and ends tomorrow (Call 212-885-6811). Fashion Week Daily reported back in July that on a much grander scale, BB’s already embarked “on the largest print ad campaign push in the company’s 189-year history — an estimated $7 million initiative”? As the inimitably venerable “oldest surviving men’s clothier in the United States” prepares to drop $7 mil on him, Thom took a few moments away from finishing up his spring Black Fleece collection to answer some “Random Questions” from The Fashion Informer yesterday. Stuff like “What did you eat for lunch today? Tuna salad on white toast,” and “What was your favorite subject in junior high school? Phys Ed.”

Why should short men care? As I’ve raved before, Thom Browne’s own boutique line of “shrunken” suits may look kinda idiosyncratic (many would say bad) on Thom, his super-tall models, or even men of average height, those same suits look absolutely proportional on small men. So I’ve been hoping that Brooks Brothers’ Black Fleece would maintain his perfect-for-short-guys silhouette and sizing — at half the price of a “real” TB. Well, I guess I’ll have to wait until September to find out for sure, but a recent Wall Street Journal article gave me hope:

“On Brooks Brothers chief merchandising officer Lou Amendola, who has been working closely with Mr. Browne, a gray-flannel style that he was test-driving looked like a snugger version of a Brooks Brothers suit. … Though not as extreme as his own label, which will continue to sell at other stores, the clothes have a decidedly close-to-the-body fit. Men’s sizes go up to only a 46-chest jacket.”

In your face, 48-inch chests and over. The next question is: How small do they run? Think they go down to a 34 extra short like Jimmy Au’s? In any case, all of the fitting details mentioned in the WSJ bodes well for us, I think. We’ll see in a couple of weeks.

The Gap has always been one of the key go-to places for short men. If you’re short and live outside of a major city, chances are Gap is one of the very few (or only) options you have for smaller sizes. So whatever its faults, it remains a decent place to find casual basics and office standards on the cheap.

See Jack Shop, a blog that hooks you up with info on menswear deals, reports today that the Gap has Ringer T-shirts on sale for $10 (and online they’re even cheaper: $6.99 each, $12 for two). Summer may be on the way out, but you can never have too many well-fitting T-shirts.

Link: Gap

I’ve been wanting to start up a recurring series here on Short Shrifted that would feature candid, man-on-the-street-style photos of short men that are well dressed. People I see on my way to work or on the subway etc. Maybe ask them a couple of questions about what they’re wearing, where they bought it or got it tailored.

I think people really like to look at photos of other people — I know I do, at least. Especially when you’re talking about style and clothes, a picture shows you how stuff actually fits, how fabric hangs, etc. when words mostly fail. “Nondiscursive information” my old Art History teacher would say.

I’m trying to finally get up the gumption to start snapping photos soon and I thought maybe starting the series off would force me to actually do it. So since I don’t have anything else at the moment (OK, it’s unadulterated vanity) I figured I’d begin with a photo of me taken a few weeks back at a friend’s wedding on Peaks Island in Maine.

I’m wearing an XS Dry Wrinkle Free Check Long Sleeve Shirt from Uniqlo and feeling very Kennedyesque. Or maybe just drunk (but still effortlessly dashing) in a New England maritime setting. Is it the same thing?

This is my favorite new shirt. For short, small-framed men, these dress shirts are the best fit and price I’ve come across in years. I’m five-foot-five and have fairly narrow shoulders and chest (36″) and these shirts fit perfectly. The shoulder seams are exactly where they should be (see above). Sleeves seem slightly shorter than average (which you can’t really tell in this photo, unfortunately), and the cuffs have two sets of buttons so you can adjust the size to fit your wrists (again, it seems that they can be buttoned much tighter than most shirts if you use the inner set of buttons).

They’re $39.50, come in a pretty wide range of styles and colors (checks, stripes, solids), and most of them don’t require ironing. I’ve tested this out and it’s true. You can take them out of the dryer completely wrinkle-free and ready to wear. Also, like everything from Uniqlo, they’re supposed to be prewashed and shrunk — and they do seem to be for the most part, so trying them on in-store should give you a good indication of the fit. Finally, I feel nerdy for mentioning it, but some of them are made with CoolMax technology (the one in the picture), and it really works.

Maybe that odd expression on my face is just me contemplating the curious cooling effect of moisture being effortlessly “wicked away” from my body.

Site: Uniqlo

If you’re short, ties that are skinnier than average are usually a good bet. And if you’re short on cash, POLO Ralph Lauren has a bunch of narrow neckwear on sale right now on RalphLauren.com. Their online catalog says they’re 3 inches at their widest point (which is anywhere from ¼ to ¾ inches or more narrower than your average tie) and I think they may be even a hair or two skinnier than that. They come in a wide variety of fabrics, prints and colors—from trendy silks (Skull-and-Swords Tie, knocked from $95 to $69) to classic stripes (Narrow Vintage Repps Tie, from $95 to $49), old-school collegiate plaids (Narrow Cotton Tartans Tie, from $75 to $39), traditional paisleys (Narrow Heirloom Paisleys Tie, from $95 to $49), and a bunch of other prints, solids, Irish linen, seersucker, even denim!

Not all of RL’s ties are slender (many are 3.5 inches). What’s weird is if you click through Men/Ties/Sale/Narrow Ties on the Web site, you don’t come up with all of their narrow ties for some reason. I found a lot more by going the following, more general route: Men/Ties/Sale. Since that comes up with their entire sale tie selection (both narrow and regular), just make sure you click through and read the measurements before buying. Another odd thing: although most of them say “Narrow” in the product titles, a few don’t, so if you see something you like, click through and check the specs.

Link: Ralph Lauren