Short Shrifted

As Men’s Fashion Director at Macy’s, Steve Cardino charts the course each season for men’s clothing in all of the chain’s 800 U.S. retail stores. Although Cardino looms large in the fashion world, he also happens to stand 5-foot-6: “properly proportioned” as he calls it. As such, he’s uniquely qualified to offer us some great advice.

Recently, Steve took me on a tour through the Men’s Department at the Macy’s flagship store in Herald Square. We talked about problems men under 5′8″ face shopping for clothes, current trends that favor us, the importance of alterations, specific brands that work for short guys, shopping in the Boys Dept., and more. (Thanks to the many Short Shrifted readers who wrote in with questions for Steve)

You can see all the photos on Flickr.

SHORT SHRIFTED: Hi Steve. So what’s going on with clothing options for short guys these days?

STEVE CARDINO: I think the challenge that all of us face – and when I say all of us I mean guys that are not really tall — is that there’s been such a move in the apparel industry toward standardization. It’s simply easier from a SKU maintenance point of view. Like right now all of the neckwear we carry on our floor is 57 inches in length. Now, it’s a standard sort of a size. The neckwear buyer tells me a few years ago it was actually 59 so it has gotten a little shorter, but it’s not like most of the neckwear companies you see here are making special sizes. We do carry special sizes in the dress shirt component, which really translates into sleeve length (that’s really important). But I’m always amazed at the number of men that don’t realize that dress shirts come in [different] sleeve lengths.

What’s interesting to me is that it seems like everyone has their shirts too big, their sleeves too long. I’m not even talking about just short guys. And the big trend now is the shirt-sleeve roll.

And I think they only do that to compensate. There’s that, and then there’s always that guy in the dress shirt that’s got three yards of fabric back here because he doesn’t realize that you can buy a modern, trim-fit dress shirt. But I think in general, most guys, whether short or tall, don’t buy clothes that are size appropriate. It makes it harder for people that are our size. And I think you almost have to accept the fact that some degree of tailoring has to be factored into your thought when you purchase. I mean, I have yet to buy a suit – whether it was $500 or $1200 – that I didn’t have to spend $100 on having tailored.

I guess for people our size, it’s not possible to live an entirely off-the-rack lifestyle. But if you’re a guy that’s on a budget, what do you invest in off-the-rack and what do you get tailored?

I personally believe that there are certain things in life that are crazy to spend a lot of money on. One of them is luggage. Why would you ever spend a lot of money on luggage and give it to the airline? The second thing is men’s dress shirts – if you’re like me and you send them out. Because invariably after two times out they come back and the buttons have cracked…

That just happened to me actually.

So for me, I try to spend what I consider a moderate amount of money knowing that they have a very short shelf life. But in terms of where I spend is on professional [items], for work. To your earlier point: on a casual shirt, you can roll the cuff up. On a sweater you can cuff that, too. Most pants you have to have tailored in length anyway, I mean most guys have to have pants tailored. Tie? Depending. Sometimes you can spend $100 on a tie but you can buy a $30 tie that looks just as good.

A few years ago when I started trying to dress a little bit better, I bought a few expensive ties from Barneys and different places. They were fine, but they were usually too long. So either you have to have them tailored or they end up hanging in my closet.

Or you have to stuff the fabric in your pants. Yep, I’ve done that.

What I’ve found is eBay. I just go and get these vintage ties. They always say the length and the width. And a lot of them are much shorter.

But your question earlier about where to spend the money was really a good one. Because it can’t be everywhere. Definitely the suit. To spend any amount of money on a suit, especially if you’re going to spend a decent amount on it (say $500-$700), and not have it tailored? You’re not spending your money smartly.

So when you buy a suit and you know you’re going to have to do some alterations on it, what are you looking for in terms of fit kind of off the rack and what can you work with?

Well, most suits come in Short, Regular and Long. If I buy a Short, I’m usually OK with the length. I seem to have short arms, so I usually always have to have the sleeve length taken up. So what I’m always watching is: Where is the button placement on that sleeve? Is the tailor going to have enough to work with? Or if you’re really spending more you get working buttonholes. And also the fit through [the chest]. Usually the shoulders fit OK. And a man can usually judge that. But most men don’t realize a suit should sort of skim the body. You don’t want it to hug, but it shouldn’t hang like a box. You should have some shape once you’re in a suit. So a suit is something I would definitely always spend money on. A sport jacket, too. Every few years I seem to spend an absurd amount of money on a navy blue blazer. But you get a great navy blue blazer and you look phenomenal.

So invest in a few key pieces that fit great (or are perfectly tailored)?

Yes. On my first trip to Europe, I commented to someone in our Italian office on how incredible Italian men dressed. And the woman in our office over there said, ‘That’s because Italian men would rather have two phenomenal sweaters than 10 so-so sweaters.’ And it’s that mentality: You want a few pieces that are special.

You’ve talked in an article I read about this trend, you called it ‘the rock-star trend’ – Band of Outsiders, Thom Browne, all that stuff [that fits short, slim men so well]. Do you see that continuing for a while?

I definitely do. In fact, I’m working on Macy’s Fall ’09, I’m calling it Here Comes the Son, and it’s still that rock-star vibe. The influences are the vest, the velvet jacket, that short-waisted leather jacket (that same high waist that we saw downstairs, only in leather), the three-piece suit over a patterned shirt. But it’s a three-piece suit worn as sportswear as opposed to being worn as tailored clothing, so it’s an entirely different vibe. But the accessories really make the difference. So the jacket lapels are getting narrower, the ties are getting narrower, the collars are narrower.

I noticed this the other day: Sometimes fashion works for guys like us. Right now one of the big directions is that shorter, cropped jacket as an outerwear piece. So for guys like us, that’s a great look. But again, you might have to worry about sleeves. So it’s something that you might have to factor into the cost of the garment when you’re buying it. Because it’s better than looking silly in it. Whether men are short, tall, fat, thin, they all just have to come to grips with the fact that guys just don’t really understand how clothes should fit. I don’t particularly know why that is.

And then I think there are certain looks that you gotta watch when you’re a shorter guy. The untucked woven is a big trend. But if anything’s going to shorten you up, drag you down, I think you have to be really careful.

What else is going on right now in men’s fashion that works for men under 5′8″?

Many sweaters now come with either the banded bottoms or the ones that just fall. I tend not to like the ones that just fall.

I feel like the ribbed bottoms give a lift somehow.

It does, I think, to some degree.

Kenneth Cole is also doing a lot of the very short jackets. Something like this is just pulling up dramatically. And here’s a similar cropped jacket to what we saw downstairs. You’re going to have to see if the sleeves are right, definitely, but here’s one that could easily be hemmed if it had to be. And honestly on some coats you probably cold get away with [sleeves] a little longer. On a winter coat, you cover up. So again, this short cropping [trend] is something that this time works well for us. Now, when the cycle swings and it becomes about long again… [laughs]. Then we’ll have to figure something else out.

Yeah, I want to hold onto this moment as long as possible.

Exactly. Well, fashion comes in cycles. But a lot of it is knowing what works best on you. Coco Chanel said that you shouldn’t strive to be fashionable, you should strive to really create a look for yourself. And I think that is very, very important. Part of it, too, is that if you’re wearing something that you’re uncomfortable in, even if it’s fashionable, it definitely comes off.

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Please stay tuned for Part 2 when Steve and I discuss:

This entry was posted on Monday, October 6th, 2008 at 8:55 pm and is filed under General, Q&A, Stores, Style Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.