. You write you haven't planned to spend on 5 bespoke suits now, but you are ready to throw the money on 5 MTM suits in 10 oz worsted that are precisely what you don't need. With the money you spend on 5 MTM suits you could probably have 3 bespoke suits made with a local tailor, in good autumn and winter cloths (summer is over in a month). Then in winter you could start preparing a couple of summer suits, such as a high twist fresco and a mohair-wool blend. You might consider having a couple of your older suits altered to help you get through this closet repopulation phase (although 60 pounds sounds like a lot to alter). After a suit or two your tailor will know much better how he needs to work with you, so you will have built the foundation for developing this relationship. You start collecting benefits from day one and no time or money is misspent on what you already know to be a dead end. Plus you will have fun choosing cloth and styling your suits as you like them (not really possible with MTM), focusing on dress while making sure your suits are the perfect instrument to achieve a stylish look. If you want to make a change in your wardrobe, why not get a good start from the outset and use expedients instead that will end up as money misspent? Instead of punishing yourself for losing weight with 5 average cloth quick MTM suits, offer yourself the pleasure of a radically improved look rebuilding your wardrobe more slowly with good bespoke suits in first hand cloths.If I Can Have Only One Cloth Weight ....
J. Cogburn, I don't see how this plan follows in any way Merc's good advice, but it's clear you need to suffer for a couple of years in these year-round 10 oz worsted suits before you decide to abandon this approach . You write you haven't planned to spend on 5 bespoke suits now, but you are ready to throw the money on 5 MTM suits in 10 oz worsted that are precisely what you don't need. With the money you spend on 5 MTM suits you could probably have 3 bespoke suits made with a local tailor, in good autumn and winter cloths (summer is over in a month). Then in winter you could start preparing a couple of summer suits, such as a high twist fresco and a mohair-wool blend. You might consider having a couple of your older suits altered to help you get through this closet repopulation phase (although 60 pounds sounds like a lot to alter). After a suit or two your tailor will know much better how he needs to work with you, so you will have built the foundation for developing this relationship. You start collecting benefits from day one and no time or money is misspent on what you already know to be a dead end. Plus you will have fun choosing cloth and styling your suits as you like them (not really possible with MTM), focusing on dress while making sure your suits are the perfect instrument to achieve a stylish look. If you want to make a change in your wardrobe, why not get a good start from the outset and use expedients instead that will end up as money misspent? Instead of punishing yourself for losing weight with 5 average cloth quick MTM suits, offer yourself the pleasure of a radically improved look rebuilding your wardrobe more slowly with good bespoke suits in first hand cloths.
. You write you haven't planned to spend on 5 bespoke suits now, but you are ready to throw the money on 5 MTM suits in 10 oz worsted that are precisely what you don't need. With the money you spend on 5 MTM suits you could probably have 3 bespoke suits made with a local tailor, in good autumn and winter cloths (summer is over in a month). Then in winter you could start preparing a couple of summer suits, such as a high twist fresco and a mohair-wool blend. You might consider having a couple of your older suits altered to help you get through this closet repopulation phase (although 60 pounds sounds like a lot to alter). After a suit or two your tailor will know much better how he needs to work with you, so you will have built the foundation for developing this relationship. You start collecting benefits from day one and no time or money is misspent on what you already know to be a dead end. Plus you will have fun choosing cloth and styling your suits as you like them (not really possible with MTM), focusing on dress while making sure your suits are the perfect instrument to achieve a stylish look. If you want to make a change in your wardrobe, why not get a good start from the outset and use expedients instead that will end up as money misspent? Instead of punishing yourself for losing weight with 5 average cloth quick MTM suits, offer yourself the pleasure of a radically improved look rebuilding your wardrobe more slowly with good bespoke suits in first hand cloths.i agree with costi
particularly: the single best addition to my wardrobe has been summer suits and tropical weight pants. maybe start there on the bespoke items
depending on location of course, mid-weight can get you through everything but the heat if you have the right overcoats.
particularly: the single best addition to my wardrobe has been summer suits and tropical weight pants. maybe start there on the bespoke items
depending on location of course, mid-weight can get you through everything but the heat if you have the right overcoats.
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J. Cogburn
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Alas, I am considering a relatively inexpensive local MTM operation, so four MTMs = one bespoke suit from my local tailor. Given my tight finances this fall, I face the choice of four or five MTM suits until next Spring or - if I really stretch it - two bespoke suits. Could I really rotate two suits day-in, day-out for nine months?
Losing 55 pounds is a wonderful thing for one's health and self esteem, but unfortunately, it can put one in a financial corner because one must build from ground zero.
Losing 55 pounds is a wonderful thing for one's health and self esteem, but unfortunately, it can put one in a financial corner because one must build from ground zero.
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carl browne
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I don't think there's anything wrong with cheap summer suits. Two summer classics, poplin and seersucker, are both cheap and fragile cloths; the idea of having a bespoke tailor working on this kind of stuff seems a misallocation of money and talent. Brooks Brothers makes wonderful versions of both. If you can get them to fit, better to buy them off the peg, wear them for a season or two and then give them up, replacing them over time with bespoke frescos, linens, and mohairs.
C
C
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carl browne
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Losing weight and keeping it off increases your chances of living long enough to build up a wonderful wardrobe and guarantees you'll look your best when you wear it.
Congratulations, now the test is to keep that weight off. A bespoke wardrobe is a great incentive.I have lost about 60 pounds over the past year and am in need of a new wardrobe (and thank you, Michael, for encouraging your readers to do this – it was your advice on this matter that, in part, convinced me that this was an effort worth undertaking).
Funny how that works.Since losing all of that weight, I have become much less sensitive to the heat. In fact, if anything, I have become more sensitive to the cold!
For years in the LL I have pretty much been able to deduce a member’s personal silhouette by their aversion or desire for heavy cloth. I get chilled in no time but things are a changing as a bit of extra protection is lingering on the old body thanks to Sicilian cuisine. Michel Montignac, I have wandered but am on my way home!
Cheers
Michael
I have always disagreed-- whether im at my trim weight of 155 lb. (32-34" waist) or my heavy weight 10-12 lbs more or anywhere in between i always have run warmalden wrote:For years in the LL I have pretty much been able to deduce a member’s personal silhouette by their aversion or desire for heavy cloth. I get chilled in no time but things are a changing as a bit of extra protection is lingering on the old body thanks to Sicilian cuisine. Michel Montignac, I have wandered but am on my way home!
Cheers
Michael
only once in my life when i had an extended stomach bug one winter and became sickly lean was i cold.
in fact when i'm thinner i'm easily as warm because im more active and i think the internal flame is toked up a bit more, and it is on an ongoing basis.
and warm offices and stores in NY exacerbate the problem. i can be quite comfortable in warm clothing outside but heavy weight cloth becomes terrible in a heated indoor space where i find january temperatures on an average 30F day can hit 72-78F in offices and stores.
Merc
Yes, there are people who run warm or cold no matter their weight. But sixty pounds of marbled white fat enveloping a human body is like wearing three or four sheepskin overcoats. How could one not feel uncomfortable in warm weather?
Michael
Yes, there are people who run warm or cold no matter their weight. But sixty pounds of marbled white fat enveloping a human body is like wearing three or four sheepskin overcoats. How could one not feel uncomfortable in warm weather?
Michael
true..although 60 is a lot of extra pounds!alden wrote:Merc
Yes, there are people who run warm or cold no matter their weight. But sixty pounds of marbled white fat enveloping a human body is like wearing three or four sheepskin overcoats. How could one not feel uncomfortable in warm weather?
Michael
Well twenty pounds too many is like going around with one sheepskin overcoat on the body. Its still too much. (I keep telling myself)
Michael
Michael
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J. Cogburn
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Postscript - Having now lost 70 pounds and down to a proud 15.5% body fat number, it's time to make a decision. Unfortunately, I had to have something to wear in the here and now and couldn't wait for bespoke orders lest I wear Joseph A. Bank gunny-sacks until after the New Years .... something I just couldn't bear to do. So I bought three RTW Ralph Lauren Black Label suits ostensibly from their winter collection but, in reality, the cloth is only 10-11 oz. With those suits in hand, I then went to William Field in Georgetown and ordered a bespoke French blue chalk stripe suit in 11 oz Anglia cloth. Hence, my first bespoke suit will be ready by around Christmas. Can't wait.
if you bought black label and have 15.5 % fat, you really must have had an impressive weight loss
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J. Cogburn
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Indeed I did. No real trick to it; I simply joined Weight Watchers, did what they told me to do, and exercised for 30-40 minutes a day, five days a week. Took a bit more than a year. I'm not quite where I want to be yet - 160 pounds and 10% body fat - but I'm getting close. It sure makes wearing clothes a lot more fun when you're in shape!Merc wrote:if you bought black label and have 15.5 % fat, you really must have had an impressive weight loss
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J. Cogburn
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Michael Alden's encouragement - and my new-found passion for clothes - played a big role in keeping me going. Suits look a lot better on you when you're in shape.
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