[Edit: TLDR: how do I learn about House Styles for suits in the major OTR brands in the US?]
I live in an area with what seems to me an abysmal selection of menswear stores (I’m picky, so I’m probably a little harsh here). We have Jos A Bank, Mens Warehouse, Macys, Dillards, and then 3-5 ultra-high-end places where you can’t walk out the door with a tie for under $150. This presents a problem for me for a couple of reasons: first, I’m not large and I’m a difficult fit, and the only things the lower end places keep in stock are humongous. We’re talking 44+. Second, I care about quality in my clothes, but my budget rarely stretches to even $500 unless I have saved for a couple years. So I’m totally priced out of even the SuitSupply market.
I can, however, find great deals online at some of the mid-level places we don’t have where I live (forgive me for mentioning J Crew and BR), and I am very happy to scour eBay. I’ve done as much research as I can to understand what to look for, I know my measurements and preferences. Online shopping when you don’t have much experience with brands is, to say the least, hit or miss. As I’ve often read here and elsewhere, knowing about “house styles” is really the key. So here’s my question: how do I learn? I’ve searched the forums to no avail.
Online pictures tell me so little—I can’t tell how a sleeve is positioned or how much slope someone uses in a shoulder, whether a jacket is draped, swelled, etc., how things are supposed to fit. I can see things like shoulder shape, quarters, lapel width, etc, but these only go so far.
I’m happy to do the work of trying things on (but there’s so little near me), but I can’t afford a large number of guesswork buys and returns. I realize that one answer to this is that I just wait until I can afford it (soon, after graduate school) and live in a better area (heading to Boston in the fall), but I’d still appreciate any other advice. The more I learn now, the better it will be then. And I would love to know enough to take advantage of some of the eBay stuff in the meantime.
I live in an area with what seems to me an abysmal selection of menswear stores (I’m picky, so I’m probably a little harsh here). We have Jos A Bank, Mens Warehouse, Macys, Dillards, and then 3-5 ultra-high-end places where you can’t walk out the door with a tie for under $150. This presents a problem for me for a couple of reasons: first, I’m not large and I’m a difficult fit, and the only things the lower end places keep in stock are humongous. We’re talking 44+. Second, I care about quality in my clothes, but my budget rarely stretches to even $500 unless I have saved for a couple years. So I’m totally priced out of even the SuitSupply market.
I can, however, find great deals online at some of the mid-level places we don’t have where I live (forgive me for mentioning J Crew and BR), and I am very happy to scour eBay. I’ve done as much research as I can to understand what to look for, I know my measurements and preferences. Online shopping when you don’t have much experience with brands is, to say the least, hit or miss. As I’ve often read here and elsewhere, knowing about “house styles” is really the key. So here’s my question: how do I learn? I’ve searched the forums to no avail.
Online pictures tell me so little—I can’t tell how a sleeve is positioned or how much slope someone uses in a shoulder, whether a jacket is draped, swelled, etc., how things are supposed to fit. I can see things like shoulder shape, quarters, lapel width, etc, but these only go so far.
I’m happy to do the work of trying things on (but there’s so little near me), but I can’t afford a large number of guesswork buys and returns. I realize that one answer to this is that I just wait until I can afford it (soon, after graduate school) and live in a better area (heading to Boston in the fall), but I’d still appreciate any other advice. The more I learn now, the better it will be then. And I would love to know enough to take advantage of some of the eBay stuff in the meantime.
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