Mens Fashion Tips - Fitting a Dress Shirt

Sometimes bad fitting destroys the beauty of a good dress shirt. Men should learn these few tips to get the appropriate mens dress fit to avoid fitting blunders.

An ideal fit for dress shirt should display a smart and savvy appearance for the man. For a formal event, mens dress shirt should provide a ceremonial effect that suits the occasion. If you intend to create dressy attire, fitting in different parts of the suits should still be suited to give you that dressy feel.

Collar Fit
The main focal point of the dress should start under the mens face the collar. Most dress shirts run their collar size by half inches such as 14, 14.5, 15, and so on

Measuring the right collar size should be based on the neck dimension just below the Adams apple. If the neck circumference is about half inch, then it would be a good idea to get the higher end to prevent too tight collars when the fabric shrinks.

Most men buy dress shirts with too wide collars. Collars ought to be snug around the neck. Snug means that it should not squeeze or give you a choking feeling especially when you bend your head down to touch your chin to your chest. There should be just enough room for your head to move around the neck.

Other way to find out the tightness of a collar is by slipping two fingers between the buttoned collar and the neck. The two fingers should fit comfortably, and this additional space gives room for possible shrinkage after a few washing of the dress shirt.

So the collar fit should not be a perfect fit when immediately tried on and neither should it have more room than the two fingers you slid in. Otherwise the fit in the collar would be inappropriate.

Collar points have to touch the chest when worn with a tie. It should never leave a gap or stick up between the collar points from the chest especially when you turn your head.

Sleeves and Cuffs Fit
There are two lengths of dress shirts in every collar size to accommodate a wider range of arm length in men. Men wearing dress shirts with improper sleeve lengths can actually make a man look funny.

So to achieve a good fit for your sleeve, it is important to check the sleeve length. Proper measurement should run the tape from the centre of the back of your collar to the top of your shoulders then down to the arms and the wrist bone.

An extra inch will allow an extension of about a quarter inch when worn with suits. It will also provide additional fabric to avoid cuffs from pulling back when you extend your arm in any direction.

The proper way of fitting mens dress shirt is to keep your arms on your side and make sure that the cuff ends are slightly further down the wrist bone without gathering to much fabric at the cuffs. Armholes should float over your armpit rather than a tight snug.

Cuff circumference should not allow your hands to slip in without unfastening the cuff buttons. This applies both for barrel and French cuffs. Bespoke dress shirts should have room for a wristwatch and should not fit too tight or snug.

Torso Fit
A good fit around the torso is an important criteria in mens dress shirts. There are different types of cut such as the American, French and English.

American cut is the fullest, next is the tapered look for the French cut and the English cut is somewhere between these two. Whichever style of cut you choose, the most important is to have comfort with style.

Lately, the trend of dress shirt is the tight tapered look. It gives an overall lean and clean feel for slim men. But this is not suitable for everyone and some men do not like its wrapping feel.

Most importantly, a good fit in mens dress shirt should be full but will not cause the front panels to gape open when you sit down. This only shows that the fit around the torso is too small.

The seam that connects the yoke and sleeve should rest just where your shoulders end. If it drapes over it, then the shirt is over sized for you.

And lastly, the tail length should fall just around your crotch are. It should never pull out of the trousers whenever you raise your arms or when you sit down. Proper tug-in is important to prevent looking sloppy and untidy.

Pohl regularly writes in mens fashion. He has over 100 articles published on dress code advice, and mens for men. He is also the founder of one of the Internets premiere Tie Shops: Ties-necktie.com - Weather you are looking to buy neckties or are interested in a mens fashion blog, the site might be worth a visit.

Celebrities, Designer Dresses and Latest Fashion Forecast For 2009

Chic Tough Girl Looks, Military Influences, and Seductive Jumpsuits rule the Runway.

The New Year is barely in the door and we are already looking to our favorite celebrities to show us how to make this our best year in Fashion yet. Anne Hathaway is a celebrity style icon in the making already, with her raven hair and creamy skin. With her fashion break out role in The Devil Wear Prada, the public took notice of her expressive appearance. While recently in the pages of Vogue and InStyle magazines, she resonates in Versace, Thakoon, and Marchesa. Her casual side is appealing to many as well, having been photographed in a military influenced jacket. This Sergeant Pepper inspired look will be hot in 2009, and will be seen in electric blue, orange, and red, in addition to the more traditional look of black or olive. Pair with form fitting pants, boots, and a simple t-shirt. The fashion accessories can be pared down as shiny metallic buttons will festoon across the jackets. Piles of metal chains will be your ideal accessory choice for a plain shirt.

Love her or hate her, Victoria Beckham will continue to rule the fashion world, with the fashionistas waiting hungrily for her next hair style or statement. A fashion brand herself, she will continue to reinvent her own look of elegant flamboyance style. Look to Victoria to be the enduring face of high glamour, as anything worth leaving the house for should be dressed for. Body skimming, elegant dresses with an element of exaggeration are her forte, like the black Dolce dress she wore recently in Dubai. Look for Victoria to also influence the menswear look with her seductive take on wearing high waisted, fluid moving pants that are hot off designer runway. The new soft silhouette of pants will be worn in various lengths this year from chic cropped styles to the floor skimming variety, and topped with smart jackets, feminine blouses, and knits.

While it was recently reported that she hates the words "boho chic", Kate Hudson is certainly an influence for it. Her laid back California way of dressing makes her look a favorite to women of all ages. She embodies comfort, with a fashion style. Kate's take on combining patterns, color, and a an easy aesthetic will rule many closets this year - think dresses by Marc by Marc Jacobs, Prada, and M Missoni. Missoni knits feature an incredible weave of colors that give only a nod to the boho look and make knits the comfortable choice. Natasha Leratti offers an affordable knit look at her latest fashion designer collection website, in a citrus kissed yellow mini dress, accented by the ever popular black and white.

As a new celebrity who dresses the celebrities, Rachel Zoe's own style has taken storm due to her reality show. One can't miss the larger than life luxurious fur vests she favors, paired with skirts or skinny jeans. While she favors vintage, her look has an exotic flair that evokes a Russia meets West Coat influence. Strong prints in rich colors, chunky knits, and bold jewelry are the staple of her look. We will look to her to show us how to mix unusual textures and prints. Rachel is a perfect example of being able to dress high-low by taking a vintage $2000 Chanel gown and mixing it with a $98 faux fur vest from The Limited. Not only is her look fun and fresh, it inspires our inner designer to take risks in mixing styles.

Tough Girl or Biker Chic will edge its way back in, due to the strong women it evokes. The rock style looks of Rihanna and Pink brings their influence to a look that can be dressed up or down. Rihanna will be a style setter for this year with her stunning good looks and cutting edge fashion style. Her sweet smile accentuates her glam rocker appeal. Little black dresses are topped off with edgy fitted jackets that offer zippers, rips, and a sharper structure. While leather seems like an obvious choice, look for unusual takes on the jacket that include fitted knit sweaters over skinny black pants and boots. Leather pants and thigh high boots are creating a tough but glam look. Studded accents on designer handbags or boots are offset with shiny sequins to bring in a feminine touch. A Balenciaga Biker Bag may set you back thousands of dollars for this look, but consider checking out leratti.com to find her take on new and vintage designer handbags to suit this look.

While it may take awhile for this trend to gain steam, many celebrities have been photographed wearing the new jumpsuit. Kate Hudson, Scarlett Johannsen, and Rosario Dawsen have been seen adding their touch to this retro look. Chunky belts, long chains, and miles of bangles add spunk and glamour to an otherwise simple style. Look for silky, flowy materials that accentuate movement, and show subtle glimpses of skin. Styles will be long or cropped, and will be set off with sexy high heels or boots. The jumpsuit can be dressed down for day, or up for cocktail hour, and may prove to have a versatile ability for the modern women. Look for spring neutrals to bring a safari -tinged feel to the style.

Whoever your style icon may be, develop your own sense of style. Natasha Leratti is a Miami based High End Fashion Designer with a cutting edge vibe and distinct sense of style.

Your Fashion Guru and Stylist,
Natasha Leratti

Fashion Designer, born in Europe, studied from best known masters in the world, now designing and presanting her collections in United States and Europe. Visit us at http://www.leratti.com

Men's Fashion Tips: The Line and Drape of Dress Pants

Special attention should be paid on the line of the dress pants and its drape. The line of the pants should always be following the contours of the body. It will naturally flow with from the hips to the ends with a subtle taper.
Drape of the pants over your lower body should always be smooth (no bulge or horizontal creasing especially under the waist area and thigh area).

When fitting into pleated pants, we should expect continuous smoothness in the drape where the pleats are not stretched when standing. For plain or flat front pants, the pockets should lie flat from the sides. No puckering should be seen for a flat front.

It should be able to accommodate the fullness of the thighs. The pants have to float over your legs. It must not flare like hip-hop pants or hug your legs skin tight.

For stout men or even heavier men with larger thighs, pleated pants have more cloth around the waist and thigh areas. This leads to an illusion of more weight around the abdomen and legs.

Instead wearing a flat front dress pants can create a more slimming effect than pleated ones. The overall men's dress pants fit, therefore, should compliment the built of the man as well. A general guideline on the measurements of my bespoke dress pants are 31 inches waist, then flowing to 21 inches around the knees and about 19 inches at the bottom. The taper is so subtle that it can not be noticed visually instead a nice drape is being created. This fitting criterion allows a good men's dress pants fit for most men even for the short and stout ones.

Understand more about Men's Dress Pants

Copyright 2006, Leroy Fong and Mens-Fashion-Tips.com

Reprinting this article is allowed provided all references and acknowledgement to the author, the website, and the URL remain intact.

Leroy Fong
Mens Fashion Tips | Guide on Men's Fashion | Fashion Advice for Men