Tailoring Opinions Confuse Me · Real Men Real Style Community

Tailoring Opinions Confuse Me

I bought 4 dress shirts at the same time. Two of them are shown here, same brand/size - Proper Cloth / Christopher Lena. No alterations made. I didn't have many dress shirts before, so I wanted a selection to work with.

I went to my Phoenix area tailor shop and clothing store. I tried on a couple sample shirts, seeing that a 15.5" neck was good. I put it on, they said it looked good as-is, I though Wow, how lucky, OK. They were saying "slim fit" as they looked through their stock, and I picked 4 colors, checked out and left. Once I tried them on later, I am thinking these are much puffier than I expected.

So, I was disappointed that I allowed that to slip past me, but I am out of town for a few weeks in a row on work. Felt self-conscious wearing one to work wondering if people were laughing at how ill-fitting they are. So, I looked up a tailor in my work town, went there after work, put the white shirt on and said it looks a bit big, right. Tailor said, no it is just right. I said sleeved not too long. She said no, sometimes you bend your arms, and the sleeve shortens too much. I said it is a bit big on the sides? No, it is just fine as is, no changes needed.

What world am I living in? What is the right follow-up action? I asked ChatGPT. It is a wordy thing, but these lines summarize well:

Important mindset shift

You’re not asking:

“Does this fit correctly?”

You’re asking:

“Does this create the silhouette I want?”

Those are not the same question—and most tailors default to the first.

It wants me to try again but with more specific direction to the (next) tailor.

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