Ezra Paul Men's Clothing Blog
Are Your Suits Too Tight?
design fitted sport coat suit tight
As men’s clothing has undergone a drastic conversion from an all-time peak of bagginess in the early 2000s to the much more fitted styles of today, a lot of attention has been devoted to the laggards who have been slow to adapt. I recently wrote about Donald Trump’s baggy suits and he certainly isn’t alone in his outdated style sensibilities. However, I’ve noticed a pretty severe overcorrection in some crowds in response to the excessive bagginess of the 1990s and 2000s. Honey, I Shrunk Your Suit Starting in the middle of the 2000s, men’s clothing started to gradually slim down....
The Real Reason Trump Wears Dumpy Suits
It’s been pretty well documented that Donald Trump’s suits are ill-fitting. I’ve seen several articles and videos that prescribe solutions – mostly a trimmer silhouette for the jacket and trousers. However, I think the fit of his suits is more purposeful than many people realize. Most of the discussion seems to revolve around how to remedy the poor fit, but I think to fully understand the issue, it’s necessary to look at the potential causes. People are sometimes slow to adapt to changed styles Trump, like much of America, got used to the baggy fit that dominated men’s style from...
How Often Should You Be Dry Cleaning Your Garments?
canvas dry cleaning fusible garment care sport coat suit
The last several blog posts have focused on jacket construction – this time I’m concentrating on garment care, since the two are intrinsically connected when it comes to longevity. Garment care is multifaceted, but the largest issues I encounter surround a general misunderstanding of dry cleaning – particularly why a garment should be cleaned. What is dry cleaning and why should I have a garment professionally cleaned? To understand why, it is important to understand what dry cleaning is exactly. Most people know that woolen goods generally can’t be laundered or dried. Tumbling in water will destroy the guts of a...
What's Inside a $4,000 suit
$4000 canvas fusible sport coat suit Tom Ford
If you've been following this blog, you'll remember that I have been deconstructing suits at various price points to show how they are made. So far I’ve examined a $500 Jos. A. Bank suit and a $1,500 Z Zegna suit. This week we are taking a big jump in price to a $4,000 Tom Ford suit: As the former creative director for Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, Ford is one of the most prominent and influential designers of the 21st century thus far. His suits and sport coats are generally designed with a heavily structured shoulder and he was an...
Soft vs. Structured Shoulders
con rollino roped shoulder shoulder type spalla camicia sport coat suit
As I've discussed in previous posts, suit and sport coat design and trends are more about playing with details than reinventing the wheel - wide vs. narrow lapels, short vs. long jacket length, etc. One of the most important, and often overlooked details is the shoulder type. While most people have observed that the shoulder width of jackets has narrowed dramatically from the early 90s to today, the type of shoulder - that is how it is constructed - is a more subtle detail and can be telling of a jacket's pedigree. It's important to understand that the amount of shoulder padding and the...