Mistakes Men Make With A New Suit

You’ve found your perfect suit, you’ve got it in the right size, it fits, and you’re ready to wear it out for the first time. But is it actually ready for its debut? There are a surprising number of sartorial mistakes it’s possible to make when your don a new suit for the first time, but we’re here to make sure you don’t make them. Just follow our guide for total suit-wearing success.

New threads

One of the most common mistakes, and the most obvious, is when men don’t cut the vent threads on their jacket. The vent is the flap of fabric at the back, or sometimes a slit up the middle depending on whether it’s British or Italian tailoring, and is usually sewn shut on new suits. This helps to keep the fabric flat during transport, but beyond that serves no purpose other than to kill your panache stone dead if you leave them on. Did you also know the pockets on a suit jacket are also sewn shut? These are perfectly functional, carefully unpick the stitching and you're good to go. On the front left side of your suit jacket you may also have noticed that this pocket is sewn shut, for those who don't know this is known as a welt pocket. Again, remove the stitching and add a pocket square to complete the look.

Cuff up

A fast route to looking like you’re 14 and you’ve borrowed your dad’s suit is to misjudge your jacket sleeve to shirt cuff ratio. There should be around a half an inch of shirt cuff showing at the end of your sleeves. If there isn’t, your shirt sleeves are too short or your jacket is too long.

Labels

For men who don’t often wear suits it can be easy to overlook the brand label on your jacket sleeve. Don’t be the guy who leaves the label on, remove it carefully with a pair of scissors and don’t look back!

Ankle deep

Likewise, it’s important to get the length of your trousers right. Hopefully you addressed this when buying your suit in the first place, but you should make sure the hem of your trousers falls so it just touches the laces of your suit shoes and the fabric ‘breaks’ a little. If you want a trendier look, you can also go for the ‘no break’ style, where the trouser hem stops just at the top of your shoe leaving more of your ankle exposed. What you really don’t want is your trousers bunched up around your ankles like an accordion.

The irony

Once you’ve worn your suit you may be dismayed to find a few wrinkles have formed, and your instinct might be to reach for the iron to return it to perfect smoothness. This is a mistake, as applying heat directly to your suit will result in a flat, shiny surface as its fibres are squashed. Not a good look. Just hang your suit up and the creases will fall out after a day or so.

The perfect accompaniment

Accessories can make or break a suit, so choose wisely. If you have a total blind spot when it comes to style, it can be easy to make mistakes such as wearing brown leather with a black suit. It’s also easy to go overboard with tie bars and pocket squares and cufflinks end up looking like a parade float. Stick to a couple of well-chosen accessories to lift your look, such as a complementing colourful pocket square and tie, or block colour tie and a tie bar. Less is usually more.