Or are they just right? What do you guys think?

Part 1: https://www.skool.com/rmrs/review-guido-maggi-elevator-shoes-part-1 Today, I am continuing with the review of the Guido Maggi elevator shoes, and at the end, I will also include some guidelines on how to pick a good pair of elevator shoes. After the previous order, since the original oxford insoles were too tall for my feet, I asked GM to exchange them, and to send me other heights as well, so I could test them all, which they did. In the meantime, I also ordered another pair of penny loafers just like the first one, but in black. I really loved that design! As for the white sneakers, I ended up posting them on eBay, as (despite good quality) I determined they don't really suit my style. Now to the point: OXFORDS "VERONA" AND "TERNI" Just like the loafers from Part 1, the oxfords I've ordered have a very pleasing, simple design. Due to the higher elevation, they do have a bit more of a vertical emphasis than the loafers. However, the elevation is still pretty much invisible. I had one tailor really compliment the shoes on their great, subtle design. One piece was the plain-toe oxford "Verona", which was made pretty much as-is. I asked the other piece (based on the "Terni" model) to be done as quarter brogues (with brogued cap toe) and also on the leather sole. Both came out very nicely, which shows that GM, despite not having quarter brogues in their main offer, can accommodate individual requests quite well. To accommodate the elevation, the shoes are a bit taller than regular. They land somewhere between the standard dress shoes and low boots like chukkas. The design of the shoes includes a subtly reinforced, rounded arch on the back of the shoe. This keeps them on your feet and prevents them from wobbling around. This is consistent with other GM designs, such as the loafer. One weird detail was that the shoelaces in the "Verona" black oxfords were a bit thicker than the ones in the brown "Terni". This ties into the huge variety of GM shoe designs, which I will talk about later. Fortunately, it was an easy thing to fix.

The common wisdom of "dressing for the body you have" seems to make sense for the common man. After all, clothes look better when they suit the wearer. However, when I started getting into MTM and bespoke garments, I decided that I wanted to go the other way — to get my (mostly) perfect body before I spend too much money on garments, so I can make sure they fit the body that I want to keep for the next 20-30 years. Advantages of this approach: 1. Having a motivation to improve our physique. 2. Not being demotivated to improve our physique due to already having plenty of clothes designed for our current, inferior one. 3. Avoiding the cost of future alterations (or remakes). 4. In the end, looking better. Because if you're obese, all the tailoring in the world won't make it look *good*, it can just camouflage it and make it look *passable*. So I started training. Since I didn't have any belly to lose, for me, the key areas were: 1. Neck thickness — since that's what determines what shirt collar you can button. I wanted to optimize it. I've mostly been using a simple routine of neck curls, side flexions, and extensions. I found out that once you can neck curl ~5 kg at ~30 reps, this looks like the sweet spot (the neck should optimally be around the width of the jaw). 2. Shoulder positioning — which determines the shoulder position of all shirts and jackets. I focused on upper traps and serratus anterior through Lu raises and similar exercises. This made it so I have much less sloped shoulders than before — their default position looks much healthier and more masculine. 3. Pelvis positioning — not sure how much it affects the pants fit, but I have been training muscles around my pelvis (mostly the inner stomach muscles and the glutes) through exercises like stomach vacuums to counteract the excess lordosis I've developed. Now I've gotten so much into it that I'm also training less important muscles like chest, biceps, and triceps to balance out the huge neck that I grew. 💪

With or without lapels, narrow or wide shoulders — four designs total. Which ones look the most attractive (as in "sexy") on me? Which ones are to be avoided?

Third fitting. One thing I asked the tailor to do, which I am beginning to doubt a little, was to sew the pleats a few centimeters lower than standard. This was dictated by the desire to make the pleats as straight as possible. I didn't capture the effect well in the photo, but it seems to make them look shallower visually. I was unhappy that the tailor did not consult me on the shape and position of the pockets in the jacket (I wanted hacking pockets) or the fastening on the trousers (he made them buttoned, when I would have preferred an elongated hook-and-eye fastening). However, the foundations seem solid. As for the jacket, the tailor put in a lot of padding, but I'm wondering if even more would be in order. I'm also considering a larger opening/slit at the bottom to visually lengthen the leg line. Perhaps a slightly narrower waistline — but for now, I'm going with the strategy of “widening the shoulders instead of suppressing the waist.” The tailor will widen them by another half a centimeter, and we'll see the results at the next fitting. What do you think, gentlemen?