For many men, it is not an everyday event to wear a suit. As a result, suits can look intimidating.
There are a lot of rules to follow, and suits don’t come with a handbook. Hence, it isn’t instinctive to know the ins and outs that come with wearing a suit.
Don’t sweat it. We’re here to assist you in navigating the suit world.
Whether you’re new to suits or just brushing up on the latest, this guide can help you.
How to Wear a Suit: The Basics
There are a few ground rules that are helpful to establish before you suit up for the first time.
If you know the fundamentals of how to wear your suit, you’ll be off to a great start and do it like a well-suited gentleman:
- Never fasten the last button on your suit jacket. The top button of a two-button suit jacket should be buttoned when standing.
- If it’s a three-button jacket, the middle button should always be fastened. The top button is optional.
- Unfasten your jacket when sitting. Unbuttoning helps you not feel so confined and avoids the unsightly bunching up around your chest and shoulders. That strain can’t be good for the jacket, anyhow.
- Your belt and shoes should match. Always be sure that they are made from the same material and color.
- Remove stitching from your pockets and vents. These are only meant to help the suit keep its shape until it’s ready to wear. This advice also goes to the label on the sleeve.
- Find yourself an excellent tailor. They can help transform a good suit into a great suit.
The Suit Should Fit Perfectly
The way your suit fits is the most crucial part of wearing a suit. If it is either too large or too small, you risk looking unprofessional.
The quickest test for checking the fit of your suit is by examining how your jacket fits. It should close easily and gently hug you once it’s buttoned.
For a perfect suit fit, you should be able to insert a finger between the jacket and your stomach comfortably.
If there is a spare room, your jacket’s too large. However, if you can’t squeeze your finger in easily, you have a too-small jacket.
Another tell-tale sign of an ill-fitting jacket is if it bunches up to form an X-shape across your chest.
Jacket Shoulders Should Lie Flat
If you notice that the tops of the shoulders on your jacket are bunchy, you need larger suit jackets.
On the other hand, check to ensure that the jacket’s shoulders don’t hang over the edges of your shoulders.
The shoulder seam should end right at the natural end of your shoulder.
This needs to be addressed before you purchase your suit. If you get it home and discover this is an issue, you may not be able to do anything about it.
A tailor can only do so much, and adjusting a shoulder issue isn’t one of them.
Proper Suit Jacket Length
A simple way to determine if your jacket is the proper length is to stand with your arms hanging loosely at your sides.
Do you see where your fingertips brush against your thigh? That’s where your jacket hem should fall.
In other words, it needs to completely cover your zipper in the front and your seat in the back.
Well-Sitting Jacket Collar
Your suit fits properly if the jacket’s collar sits even with your shirt collar. They should be able to touch without creating any collar humps.
Also, you should not be able to see any gaps and large spaces between your jacket and shirt in the collars.
Good-Fitting Jacket Sleeve Length
The jacket’s sleeves should fall to just where your wrist starts. You need to have enough room for a bit of your dress shirt sleeve to poke through.
As a general rule, approximately one-quarter of an inch to half-inch should be visible from your dress shirt cuff.
Pants Break on Top of Shoes
The pants break, also often called a trouser break, is the slight indentation of the fabric around the ankle of your pants.
Your pants hem should rest gently on the top of your shoe, which causes this crease.
There are different-sized breaks, from a full break (with large or multiple creases) to no break at all.
A slight break is usually the best type, but it depends on the look you are going for.
Watch for Baggy Parts
If your suit seems to sag in the seat area or the jacket looks oversized, you’ll look sloppy.
You want to stay away from a baggy look because it will cause people to think that you don’t care about your appearance. And that could translate into your work ethic.
If your suit is baggy in any area, take it to that good tailor we mentioned earlier. It’s worth the extra money to get a good fit.
Wear Dark Suit Colors for Formality
The color of your suit will determine how dressy or casual it is. Dark colors are more formal.
Black is the most formal color of all. However, you may want to consider a different dark color as your first choice for other events.
For example, the navy suit is a terrific color choice for everyday wear. It can be remarkably dressy but still appropriate for business needs.
In addition, the charcoal gray suit is also a perfect choice for a first choice. It offers much more versatility than the black suit.
Lighter Suit Colors Look More Casual
You can wear a light gray or blue suit as less formal attire. Or try brown or tan. These colors are excellent for business casual offices or daytime events.
Lighter suit colors like tan, khaki, or beige are also suitable for summer outings.
So when you are buying a new suit and building your wardrobe, begin with a foundation of basic suit colors. One dark and one lighter shade suit will be good to start with.
Once you expand your collection, you can begin experimenting with more unusual colors.
Match the Shirt to Your Suit
Your dress shirt needs to look as if it belongs to the suit. So start by picking a high-quality dress shirt.
Your dress shirt must also be a good fit. It should fit smoothly across your chest, and the sleeves shouldn’t be too long.
Tucking your shirt in should not create a muffin effect, ballooning out over the top of your pants.
Stick to classic collars. A traditional shirt’s collar looks the best for a professional suit. And be sure to button it up all the way.
Above all, your dress shirt must be clean and wrinkle-free.
Stick to Solid Color Shirts
Patterned shirts can be fun but stay with solid colors until you learn how to match your shirts to your suits.
Although patterns make dress shirts less formal, you may find it challenging to pair your shirt and suit properly.
The safest color for your shirt is always white. It’s the gold standard in dress shirts, as it is the most formal.
However, for a more casual experience, you can also wear a blue or pink dress shirt. These colors pair surprisingly well with most suit styles.
The Quarter-Inch Cuff Rule
As we mentioned above, your dress shirt sleeve should be slightly visible under your suit jacket.
A small sliver of the shirt’s sleeve cuffs, about one-quarter of an inch, should poke out from your jacket sleeve.
However, be sure that we don’t see much more than that. Otherwise, that means your sleeves are too long.
Match the Tie to Your Suit
It’s tempting to believe that all ties are created equal. Or at least equally sized. However, they aren’t; they come in many widths and lengths.
In addition, these different sizes can look different on different bodies. Hence, you need to be sure that the tie you choose is an appropriate match for your body type.
Your suit color should dictate the color of your tie. It doesn’t need to be the same color, but it shouldn’t clash, either.
Tie Width & Length
You can easily judge how wide your tie should be with the help of your jacket’s lapel.
Did you know that, traditionally, your tie should be about the same width as the lapels of your jacket?
There’s even a proper length for your tie. You can use your belt to help measure this. Your tie should just barely overlap the top of your belt buckle.
Matching the Tie Color
Your tie should be darker than your dress shirt. This isn’t hard if you’re wearing a white dress shirt or a light blue or light pink shirt.
You want to be sure that your tie doesn’t look out of place with the rest of your outfit.
It’s also important to verify that your tie doesn’t clash with your suit; they should complement each other.
The tie, shirt, and suit colors don’t even need to be in the same color family. However, since the colors will be sitting side by side, they need to make sense on the color wheel.
Basic Tie Knots
Knots can differ in size. So you want to be sure that the way you tie your tie doesn’t result in a distractingly large knot.
Half-Windsor knots are the most common way to knot your tie. These knots are versatile and easier to tie than other sophisticated tie knots.
However, there are actually many other methods to tie a men’s tie.
Some different common knots are the four-in-hand and the simple knot. These are smaller knots and are suitable for thicker ties.
Accessories to Complete the Look
How you add to your suit is critical in shaping the overall effect of your suit style and its formality.
Some “accessories” like shoes you simply can’t avoid. Other accessories can be left off should you decide to, like a tie bar.
Accessorizing your suit can be the perfect way to infuse a bit of your personality into your outfit. However, it’s also an art.
Therefore, you want to be sure you send the right message with the items you choose to include in your ensemble.
Oxford Dress Shoes
Oxfords are the most formal style of men’s dress shoes. They are a traditional classic and are incredibly versatile.
As a result, you can wear them with nearly any outfit.
You aren’t only stuck with one type of shoe that you can wear with suits, though. Derbies and bluchers are also appropriate choices, although they are slightly more informal.
Whichever shoe style you choose, though, you must match your shoe color with the color of your suit.
For example, a black suit would look horrid with light brown shoes. But black shoes, or perhaps even very dark brown ones, would look excellent.
Formal Dress Belt
Your dress belt needs to be thin, somewhere between 1½ and 1¾ inches. Wider belts are too casual for a suit.
Most dress belts are leather and have a frame belt buckle, which is always metal. The metal should be the same as any other metal accessories you may be wearing.
It would be best if you also made sure that the color of your belt is the exact same color as your dress shoes.
Wear Dress Watch with Your Suit
Wristwatches may seem obsolete in this age of smartphones, but they are still an excellent addition when you’re dressing up. Also, they are a very classy touch to any suit.
It’s preferable if you have a watch with a leather strap. Remember to match it to your shoes and your belt.
The watch face should be very simple. No adornments should be cluttering up the surface of this dress watch.
Also, the watch needs to be very thin so that it can effortlessly slip under the sleeve of your dress shirt.
Pocket Square for Class
A pocket square is by no means mandatory, but adding one is a very charming touch. It should be neatly folded and just slightly poking out of your breast pocket.
The color and the material are critical and should complement the tie.
Just make sure they’re not identical to each other. That’s because a matching tie and pocket square come across as rather juvenile.
Instead, you can create a more mature look by choosing contrasting colors without completely matching them.
Don’t Over Accessorize
It truly is possible to have too much of a good thing. So rather than adding all the amazing accessories at once, pick only a few key items.
For example, you can’t wear suspenders and belts at the same time. It’s redundant and
You don’t want to create sensory overload by adding a lot of detail. As they say, less is more.