How Should A Suit Fit?

How should a suit fit is an easy-to-answer question (even though many guys don’t seem to know). Here, we go back to the basics and show you the 5 keys to a well fitted suit.

What a Well Fitted Suit Looks Like

It’s only fitting that a custom clothing crew like Black Lapel would spend a lot of our time focusing on fit. After all, fit is the main reason many people get custom suits. But ask 10 guys what a great fit looks like and you’ll probably get 10 different opinions.

Now, usually the old saying, opinions are like assholes, everybody has one and they all stink, would apply. But when the question is how should a suit fit, or what proper suit fit looks like, the answer is pretty subjective. If you’re 6’7” and 240 pounds, your definition of a perfect fit should be different from someone who’s 5’8” and 145 pounds. Nonetheless, there are some objective things to look for in how a suit fits. Those things make up the short answer to the question, how should a suit fit?

The Short Answer to Proper Suit Fit

A well fitted suit should fit if the padding inside the shoulder doesn’t extend beyond your shoulder, there is no gap between your shirt collar and your jacket’s collar, the jacket hugs, but doesn’t squeeze, your midsection, the jacket sleeves end right above the top of your wrist bone and the pants touch the tops of your shoes without bunching up at your ankles.

How Should a Suit Fit: The Full Answer

Let’s break down what exactly goes into that short answer explaining what a well fitted suit looks like.

Here at Black Lapel, we see them all: short, tall, fat, skinny, hunched back, upright, long-legged, and/or pencil-necked. You name it, we’ve suited him up. And what we’ve found is that there are five areas that are universally important parts of a great fit. We’ll show them to you below, using Black Lapel custom suits as an example.

Essential Suit Fit Area 1: The Shoulders

You know you’ve got a proper fitting shoulder when the padding in the shoulder is aligned with yours, creating a smooth, straight line from the collar to the sleeve. Then, the jacket will drop sharply like a cliff when it meets the sleeve.

Suits, more than any other garment in a man’s wardrobe, rely on the internal structure to look good. This is no more evident than in the shoulders where the padding and the seam, connecting the body of the jacket to the sleeve, join to form a shoulder’s shape.

The most common problem preventing a well fitted suit is a jacket shoulder that is too wide. When the wearer’s shoulder doesn’t fill out the jacket, you see the dreaded shoulder divot where the shoulder pad and sleeve cap meet but there’s nothing underneath to hold the shoulder’s shape. The jacket collapses in on itself, wrinkling into a shape that appears like a chunk of the jacket’s shoulder has been carved away (hence the name divot).
Too narrow of a shoulder will cause the sleeve to pull the fabric across the top of your shoulder and rumple, further pulling the lapel out towards the shoulders. This won’t feel comfortable or look comfortable.

Essential Suit Fit Area 2: The Collar

On a properly fitted suit, the jacket’s collar, the lapel and the shirt collar should all come together at the wearer’s collarbone.

This one flies under the radar of most people when they wonder how should a suit fit, but the fit of a suit jacket’s collar can make or break the look. Next to the dreaded shoulder divot, the collar gap is a common fit problem found on fitted suits. Why? As we mentioned in the section on shoulders, a tight shoulder can create pulling across the top of the jacket. This pulling, along with tightness in the chest, can lead to the lapel flaring out towards the shoulders. The resulting a gap between the shirt collar and the jacket’s lapel and collar is bad news.

Essential Suit Fit Area 3: The Midsection

The perfect amount of waist suppression tapers without pinching in too much so the jacket doesn’t flare out at the hips, but still accentuates the wearer’s V-shape.

While many of us would love a naturally V-shaped torso, the truth is most of us could use a little help from our tailors to achieve this look. That’s why the midsection made this list, but not all midsections are the same, meaning how your clothes fit has to match you. Some men expand from the shoulders to the waist. On some men you could draw a straight line down from their shoulders to their waists. Some sharply taper toward the waist.The amount a jacket tapers from the chest to the waist is called waist suppression and applying the right amount of it is one key to a great fit. For some, that means no waist suppression. Athletic types tend to have a sharp taper from the upper body to the waist, but following the contours too closely can lend an hourglass-like look to your suit.

Essential Suit Fit Area 4: Sleeve Length

Nothing says “scrub” like a shirt sleeve that has been swallowed up by an extra long jacket sleeve. Actually, we take that back, something else says “scrub” like that: a too short jacket sleeve that exposes the entire cuff of the shirt.

Your jacket sleeve must follow the Goldilocks rule. Not too long, not too short, but just right. You’ll know you’re there when you let your arms hang naturally and the jacket cuff rests just above the base of your palm, exposing about a quarter inch of your shirt cuff.

Essential Suit Fit Area 5: Pants Length

You don’t need to bare your calves with high water pants but if no one can see your socks, even when you’re walking, you could stand to shorten your pants. Oh, and if the idea of showing a little sock scares the bejesus out of you, never fear, we’ll show you how to find a few great pairs of socks.

Perhaps there is no sadder sight in menswear than a puddle of fabric around the ankles of an otherwise fitted suit. A holdover from 90s rapper style, the long, baggy pants fad died around the same time as Tupac and Biggie (today’s rappers rock well-fitted suits on the regular). Sadly, many men stick to the extra long look for their suit pants and it’s killing their style.

Your Turn

Got questions about your own fit? You can ask a Black Lapel stylist your fit questions and we’ll help you master your own fit issues. Just send us an email at concierge@blacklapel.com It sounds simple, but nail these five essentials of proper suit fit and you’ll be light years ahead of the average guy when it comes to fit. Answering the question how should a suit fit me? will set you on the path to timeless style.