How To Rock A Three-Piece Suit
Ironically, the first time I fell in love with a three-piece suit was when it was being worn, well, ironically. The wearer was Steve Martin, and he rocked it when he first burst on to the stand-up comedy scene, which was also right around the same time that Peter Rey rocked (or, more accurately, discoed) a three-piece suit in Saturday Night Fever. While most of us back in the 1970s thought Travolta looked cool in his vested white suit (worn with no tie and a black shirt with the collar out and over the lapel), it was Martin's white three-piece worn with a white dress shirt, black tie and black pocket square that made me fall in love with the look. (Especially since he was still able to be funny in it.)
The Argument For A Three-Piece Suit
I’m not quite sure what the allure of a three-piece suit is. I think part of it is simply practical: A vest frees you from having to worry about whether your shirt is tucked in properly and can make even an untailored shirt look good, as long as your collar’s the right size and your sleeves are the right length. We here in the USA who want a slim-fitting dress shirt have always been at a disadvantage since men’s dress shirts always seem to be made for the biggest guy in the room. So wearing a vest makes it both stress-free and fun to take off your jacket, even if you haven’t been able to get your shirts darted. All the poor saps in two-piece suits who take off their jackets have to continue to worry if their shirts are ballooning out at the waist while you sit there looking extra dapper in your waist coat, like a riverboat gambler or a guy about to have a duel.
Another part is the way it feels. Simply put, you feel more held together in a three-piece. The vest gives you an added layer of confidence, an extra piece of armor to keep the world from taking you down. I feel different when I’m wearing a three-piece than I do in a two-piece. When I’ve got the jacket of my two-piece buttoned, I feel dressy and together, but when I leave the jacket unbuttoned, there’s a weird unintended casualness to it. It’s a good look but it’s definitely a bit devil may care. With a three-piece, you look dressy whether your jacket is buttoned or not. It’s a way to have it both ways, since a buttoned jacket isn’t always the most comfortable thing to spend your day in.
But it also depends on what kind of image you want to give off to the world. When you push the sides of your jacket back and put your hands on your hips in a two-piece, there’s something that’s both put together and yet still a bit carefree about the image. When you do the same move wearing a three-piece, you look like you own the place and you’re trying to decide whom you’re going to kick out or fire first. It says to the world, “I’m in charge, and I didn’t just dress up. I extra dressed up.”
It's In The Vest
There are several things to avoid when wearing a three-piece, and the main one is having a vest that hasn’t been tailored properly. Simply put, a vest that isn’t fairly formfitting will make you feel worse, not better. It will kill all the above-mentioned confidence-building benefits your three-piece is supposed to give you. A vest that’s too loose will shift around and feel like someone draped a pillowcase around your chest. It won’t hold your tie in place, which will result in you looking down after you’ve been walking around a party and see that your tie is at a 45 degree angle and you’ll feel like everyone is talking about it behind your back. (Or at least I do. I’m very insecure, which is why I need the materialistic confidence of a three-piece.) A vest that’s too tight will ruin your day because you won’t be able to breathe. (If you’re having a hard time breathing while standing because of a too-tight vest, just wait until you try to get through a meal in a sitting position. It’s like Darth Vader has your body in one of his telepathic death grips. Trust me, I’ve done it a couple of times in my endless search for the perfect-fitting vest.)
The vest needs to contour your body with no lumps or protrusions on the sides, which would ruin your silhouette when you take your jacket off. It needs to be closely fitted but still give you room to breathe. Test it first standing up to make sure it feels snug, and then sit down to make sure it doesn’t become too snug. There’s an extremely good chance it’sgoing to take the tailor a couple of tries to get the fit right. I’ve had vests that have required four different tries. Sure, the tailor will begin to hate you, but you’re trying to find a perfect balance. If the vest is even a little too loose, it’ll buckle out at the top, which may have the added benefit of making you look like you have a pot belly. If it’s too tight, well — I already warned you about that.
Dealing With Your Midsection
But this brings us to a rather indelicate subject, and that is about the stomach. Simply put, if you’ve got a big belly, the three-piece isn’t going to hide it. It’s going to put a big flashing red light on it. If you’re proud of your gut, then go for it. We’ve all seen plenty of movies with big Southern lawyers in three-piece suits making overblown speeches to the jury and rubbing their vest-encased stomachs as proudly as a first-time mother rubs her baby bump.
But if you’re hoping to disguise your belly, then the three-piece may not be for you. A vest isn’t Spanx for men. You can’t use it to wrangle your middle into submission. Putting a vest on a big stomach is like putting a frame around a painting. Either be big and be proud with a three-piece, or go home. Tough talk, but I’m a tough guy. (Actually, I’m about as far from tough as a guy can get. But I’m trying to sound manly for this website. So, just go with it.)
How To Choose The Right Vest
As for types of vest, you have a few options, although they’re usuallydictated by the suit you’re looking at since the decision on the style of vest has already been made for you by the designer. That is, unless you’ve got a ton of dough and you’re shelling out for a bespoke suit; then you can request whatever type of vest you want.
My personal favorite is a lapelled vest. This is a classic and somewhat old-timey style that looks especially good when you take your jacket off. Lapelled vests usually have a slightly higher neckline than a regular non-lapelled vest, which I like. (To me, the more tie you show, the more you have to monitor if it’s going crooked or not.) Plus, I personally think that men can’t have enough lapels and collars in their lives. I hate to break it to you, but very few of us look good without a collar. T-shirts are the devil’s work unless you’re a body builder. Without one, our shoulders slope down from our necks, and there’s nothing framing our heads.
A collar and a lapel help define your face. It’s the dividing line between the part of you that thinks and the part of you that does all the heavy lifting. Dressing is all about accentuating your body while showcasing your face. It doesn’t matter if you’re good-looking or not, trust me. The better your clothes show off your face, the better you look. Period. (This is me being tough again. Just continue to go with it.)
The most common vest is one without a lapel that generally has a lower neckline. These are on most three-piece suits. They’re the norm and look great as part of a suit, since they lie nicely under your jacket. Just make sure that the vest still shows when you button the jacket. I’ve occasionally encountered three-piece suits in which the neckline of the vest pretty much matches the neckline of the jacket, so that when you button the jacket, the vest completely disappears. That pretty much defeats the purpose. People need to know you’re wearing a three-piece whether your jacket is buttoned, open or off. The neckline of the vest should complement the neckline of your jacket. It’s a layered look of sorts, a Russian nesting doll that showcases your tie and your head. Don’t hide a single layer.
A double-breasted vest is very cool but a bit more formal. They’re almost always lapelled and often times have peak lapels. This is a great look, though worn in the wrong settings, it can make you look a bit like the Monopoly guy.
There’s definitely a retro look to the double-breasted vest that I love. It makes you look like you own a manor house in the English countryside. If this is an image you don’t mind giving off, then go for it. I have a couple of them, and they make me feel like I’m in the Great Gatsby or something. Hey, you’re dressing up anyway, so you might as well draw some attention to yourself as well, right?
Alternative Styles
I just had a bespoke suit made by a fairly new bespoke house in London called Thom Sweeney. One of its featured vests is a horseshoe. It has a rounded plunging neckline that really puts your tie on display. It’s a very 1950s/1960s retro look, and I think it’s very cool. But, like I said, I normally like a higher neckline on my vests so I don’t have to worry so much about if my tie is crooked or not. I haven’tgotten the suit yet, so I’ll let you know if the horseshoe works for me or not. But I’ll tell you this: It sure looks good on the mannequin.
The final thing I love about a three-piece suit is that it gives you an accessory you can wear in combination with other pieces of your wardrobe. Simply put, you can use the vest without the suit in any number of ways. One of my favorite looks is mixing a vest with a blazer and jeans. You can wear it with or without a tie, and it will almost always draw compliments.
It’s fun to take a chance with mixing different colors and patterns between your vest and your jacket. I’ve stumbled into some very crowd-pleasing combos simply by putting on a vest and trying on other suit jackets and sports coats. You can also wear the vest without a jacket. The only caveat on this is a lot of restaurants have their waiters wear vests with no jacket, so you do run the slight risk of somebody asking you for a refill of coffee on your way to the restroom. But only if you don’t dress it up a bit.
Add a colorful tie and a pocket square or a bold shirt, and you’ve got a great look. My only advice is to consider keeping the vest buttoned. Wearing it unbuttoned runs the risk of making you look a little too much like the Dr. Pepper guy from the old TV ads. That or Ed Norton from The Honeymooners. But it’s up to you. Some guys can pull it off.
Collar Gap
Finally, on the fitting front, make sure to pay attention to how your jacket collar sits against your neck, meaning, be on the lookout for collar gap. I find this to be one of the most consistent problems with off-the-rack suits in general and, particularly, on three-piece ones. Your jacket collar should hug the back and sides of your neck. There shouldn’t be a gap, meaning that the collar shouldn’t separate from your neck and float midair away from your shirt collar. Because a vest adds another layer of fabric between your shoulders and your jacket, there’s extra chance for the vest to make your jacket levitate away from your neck. So, always have the tailor check this, and if it’s a problem, make sure he makes the adjustment by taking the back of the collar in a bit. If he sees the gap, he’ll know what to do. But I find that a lot of tailors don’t catch a potential collar gap unless you flag it for them. Be vigilant, be aware, be gapless. It’s a lot easier than having to constantly pull your jacket forward to close the gap.
Anyway, that’s my advice on the three-piece suit. Please be aware that I have absolutely no legitimacy in the world of men's fashion whatsoever. The opinions expressed here are solely my own and should not reflect on the judgment or intelligence of the fine folks at AskMen. Well, except for the fact that they asked me to write this. So maybe it’s a little bit their fault. Happy suiting!
Comments
Post a Comment