You have picked a well-tailored suit and you are happy. The day arrives, and you are ready to don it for some special occasion and there you start entering into a confusing state. The thoughts ~ “Oh! Which tie”, “which shirt, this one or that one”. Crossing the hurdle of mixing and matching everything you are wearing today, then the question arises ~ when to button-up and when to open the buttons of the jacket. Let’s go through some of the cardinal rules of donning a ‘Suit’.
BY SHIVAJEE DUTTA
Riddle of Buttons
The trickiest part of wearing a formal jacket is knowing when to keep it open and when to button it up. While standing, it is the Gentleman’s choice to keep it open or button-up. One thing we always need to keep in our mind, the last button is purely for aesthetic purpose. Always keep it open. But exception is always there, wearing one-button jacket. Unfasten the buttons, while sitting down. Saves from spoiling the suit to looking stuffy and suffocating.
Vest too follow the same rule of not closing the bottom most button.
Complementing Shirt
On contrary to jacket’s buttons, one is supposed to use all the buttons on the shirt. While trying out dress shirt, put an extra emphasis on the collar size so when buttoned-up, you don’t feel choked and keep fiddling with the collar every now and then.
Now direct your focus at your wrists. The cuffs should not go beyond the wrist bones means not to flow over the hands. Cuffs should be buttoned up and use of cufflinks is always recommended.
Playing Mates ~ Shoes & Belt
This is the one part we take quite casually. We, in general, forget to match the color of our belt with the shoes i.e., when you are wearing a black belt the shoes should always be black. No exceptions. Now if you are slapping a leather-strap watch around your wrist, the strap’s color should also match the color of the belt and shoes. Addition to this, never forget to match your leather bag’s color with the other three items. It all should always complement the color of your suit.
Perfecting the Tie
Only tying the knot of a Tie doesn’t complete the task, one needs to keep a track of its length. The tip of the Tie should be just above the buckle of the belt. If it is bit longer or shorter, do it again till perfecting the length. Keep the color of the Tie in contrast to the suit but always be darker than your shirt. And make sure, tie-bar shouldnever exceed the width of the tie.
Tit-bits For Tightening It Up
Wear your socks in tone with your trousers and long enough to cover your legs even when you are seated.
Trousers should slide down just on the top of your shoes. Going below that will transform the smartly fitted pants into a baggy one, and if too short will expose the socks.
The hem of the jacket shouldn’t be inching below the zipper of the trousers. Once bought, lose all the threads binding the vents and the pockets along with outside labels.
If wearing suspenders, don’t bother to wear a belt too. Both serve the same purpose. Also, avoid accessorizing too much, let your suit do the talking.
This is just some of the basics of wearing a suit. Stay with me for diving deep into the ocean of knowledge of etiquette of donning a suit.
