Five suit buying tips for the bigger guy

You’re a big guy with an amazing ability to store excess calories. You want to look good in a suit, and we’ve got some tips that should help you look your best.

By Nick Bradshaw

Buying a suit when you’re a larger man can be a bit of a nightmare. The good news is that if you get it right a suit can give you shape, considerably smarten your image and boost your self esteem.

You might think it’s easy to get things wrong, but if you follow our straightforward tips you should have no problems when you make a trip to a tailor.

Go for the smallest size that fits you perfectly

The important phrase here is ‘fits you perfectly’. Don’t wear a suit that’s the size that you’d like to be able to fit into or the size you’ll be wearing once you’ve gone on that diet. Wear the size that fits you now.

Too small and you’ll feel uncomfortably restricted, you’ll look uncomfortable, and you’ll risk bulging in all the wrong places. A suit that’s too small will draw attention to the fact that you’re wearing clothes that don’t fit and that the reason that the clothes don’t fit is that you are too fat.

Conversely, a suit that’s too big will hang badly and turn you in a giant lump of a man, making you look like an elephant hiding in a circus big top.

Get measured and then wear a suit that fits you.

Go dark

The great thing about most suits is that they come in dark colours. Light, bright colours will draw the eye, dazzle the onlooker and effectively make you look bigger. Understated dark colours won’t.

You should also avoid too much contrast around the waist area as, again, this will draw attention to a part of your body that you’d rather people didn’t focus on. The easiest way to do this is to keep a button of your (well-fitting) suit fastened.

A dark blue suit or a mid to dark grey suit when paired with a medium blue shirt looks good on a bigger fella.

Avoid short jackets

If a suit jacket is too short, you’ll look wide and blocky. While you don’t want to wear a frockcoat that’ll make it look like you’ve got stumpy legs you‘ll want the jacket to cover your arse.

Consider your waistband

Thinner men have it easy when deciding where to put their waistband, in that they don’t have to consider where to put it at all. It just goes around their middle. Simple.

However, when you’re bigger you need to give this issue some attention. After all, you don’t want to look like Tweedle Dum with the waistband so high that it’s doing a good job of underscoring your moobs.

Try on a few different suits in different styles and see what looks right,  but in the end you should probably aim to wear your waistband on your hips.

Go to a specialist

I just mentioned trying on different suits in different styles. To do this, of course, you need to be in a place that stocks suits in your size.

Specialist menswear stores that focus on larger men offer the best environment in which to do this. Places such as Mr XL’s in Swords only deal with bigger men, meaning that to them you’re not big, your normal.

Mr XL's, 3A Castle Shopping Centre, Swords, Co Dublin. Tel 01 890 2583.