Journal
A suit either fits or it does not. The difference is rarely a single thing. It is a series of small marks the eye reads in less than a second, a shoulder that sits, a chest that lies clean, a lapel that rolls instead of folds, a sleeve that ends at the wrist bone.
This is a guide to those marks. Six places to look on any tailored garment. The same six places a tailor checks during a fitting. If five of the six are right, the suit is yours. If three or fewer, the suit is wrong, no matter what the label says.
The shoulder is the first mark, and the hardest to alter. The seam where the sleeve joins the jacket should sit at the edge of the shoulder bone, not over it, not past it. Stand in front of a mirror. The seam is on the bone, or it is not.
If the seam falls past the shoulder bone, the jacket is too big at the shoulder. There is no fix. Shoulders cannot be taken in by an alteration tailor without rebuilding the jacket. The garment will read off-the-rack for the rest of its life.
If the seam falls inside the shoulder bone, the jacket is too small. The cloth at the upper back will pull. The sleeve will dent at the deltoid. Same outcome, no real fix.
A bespoke shoulder is built around the actual shape of your shoulder. Square shoulder, sloped shoulder, one higher than the other. The pattern accommodates it.
The chest of the jacket should lie clean against the body when you stand still. No rippling. No pulling. The lapels should hang straight down, parallel to each other, not flaring open or pinching closed.
If the chest pulls when buttoned, the jacket is too tight. If it rumples and gapes, too loose. A jacket button done up should sit calm and flat, what tailors call a clean front.
The X-pull is the test. If you see two diagonal creases pulling from the button toward the shoulders, forming an X across the chest, the chest is too tight. The jacket needs a different size, or a different pattern.
The lapel should roll, not fold. A canvassed jacket has a lapel that curves softly from the neckline to the button. A fused jacket has a lapel that breaks at the chest like a folded piece of paper. The difference is visible at arm's length.
The collar should sit flat against the back of the neck. Not gaping away from it. Not crawling up it. Half an inch of shirt collar should show above the jacket collar at the back. If you see less, the collar is too high. If you see more, the jacket is sitting forward, usually a sign the shoulders are wrong.
The sleeve should end at the base of the thumb, at the wrist bone, give or take a quarter inch. A quarter inch of shirt cuff should show below the jacket cuff.
If you see no shirt cuff, the sleeve is too long. If you see more than half an inch of shirt cuff, too short. Sleeves are easy to alter, but only within reason. A full inch of correction is usually too much; the buttons or the working buttonholes start to interfere with the cut.
A working buttonhole, a real buttonhole that opens and closes, is a sign of bespoke construction. It is also why sleeve length matters. Once it is wrong, fixing it costs the buttonholes.
The trouser break is where the front of the trouser hits the front of the shoe. Three options: full break, half break, no break.
A full break means the cloth folds visibly across the top of the shoe. Traditional, formal, slightly old-fashioned in its full form. A half break is a single soft fold, the modern standard for business and formal wear. A no break is the trouser sitting cleanly on the shoe, no fold, slightly shorter than the half. Right for casual tailoring or for a deliberately sharper line.
The break is set at the second fitting. It depends on the shoe you wear. The same trouser at half break with a Derby will read no-break with a sneaker. The shoe is part of the fitting.
The trouser should sit on the seat without pulling at the rear seam. Pockets should lie flat, not gape open. The crease should run from the centre of the knee to the centre of the shoe, straight, not bowed in or out.
The waist sits at the natural waist for traditional cut, slightly lower for modern. Either is correct. Neither should pinch or sag.
A trouser that pulls at the seat, or whose crease bows outward, is fitting the wrong body. Alteration can correct small differences. Fundamental shape problems mean the pattern is wrong.
Look in the mirror standing still. Then move. Reach forward as if to shake a hand. Sit down. Stand up. Cross your arms. The suit should follow you, not lock you in, not flap loose.
The fitting is a conversation. If something feels wrong, say so. The tailor's job is to read what you cannot see in the mirror. Your job is to report what you feel.
Six marks. Five of six is a working suit. Six of six is a bespoke suit.
ZIMMA TAILORS works in Sydney, by appointment. Book a fitting →