For those of you expecting a political debate here, you can close the tab right now because this is everything but. What I promise, is that you will find some interesting inputs to consider for your next suit addition.
Style problems
Just like many of you, last night I was watching the second Presidential debate (Oct 2016) trying to learn something new from the candidates. However, within the first 5 minutes, my professional inclination soon diverted my attention from their discussions. In fact, soon I was scratching my head on Donald Trump’s outlook, which I thought was not exactly appropriately put together.
Despite having over a decade of experience in the menswear industry, I always look for inspirations from other people, especially from the ones in the industry (he owns a menswear line) but needless to say, he failed in impressing me under this aspect.
Let me break this down so you can better understand my point.
First and foremost, I would have chosen a little lighter tonality of blue. At least on my screen it looked almost black, but it probably was a dark navy blue color. Given his “hot” political situation, I would have “lightened” up a little the overall image and gone for a slightly brighter blue, but this is just an opinion of mine and not a critique. On the other hand, the choice of the tie color was appropriate to match his “fire” on stage.
Facts
Let’s move on to the facts.
The suit looked everything but a sophisticated custom-made/bespoke suit. For a public figure like him and with an income well above the average (!), I’d expect much more than that. This could be easily noticed by quite a few things:
– His jacket presented a very wide shoulder which makes me think that, given his body structure, it was an adjusted off-the-rack suit. The shoulders are so wide that you can see the gaps under the padding. Not good.
His sleeves carry a lot of fabrics compared to the size of his arms. You can see it when he moves the arms forward a little (i.e. when he brings his hands together, like in the picture), a lot of fabrics bunches up.
– The front of the jacket looks very stiff in every movement, which makes me think it is not even a full-canvass construction. I have not seen a natural “wave” from the lapel in the entire debate…and he moved a lot! For those of you not too familiar with constructions, the full-canvass is a sartorial construction with lots of handwork that renders the jacket more “natural” looking.
– I can’t see pick-stitching along the lapels. In fact, typically, the very first detail you notice on a decent suit is the stitching. But I will leave the benefit of the doubt on this as there might have not been enough resolution on my TV to spot that out.
– The trousers are incredibly wide at bottom hem and his shoes are quite narrow for this set-up. Result: it looks very disproportionate when he stands up.
The sleeves length is too long. When he has his arms down, you can’t see the shirt cuffs at all. The shirt cuffs should stick out by 0.5/0.75 in.
Also….the tie was incredibly long! Not the first time he wears a super long tie…at least 3 or 4 inches below the belt buckle height, where it is supposed to end.
I’m not sure if getting dressed better would help Donald Trump’s chances in this race, but still! I’m not a politician and won’t tell him how to run our Country, but as far as style goes, I might have a few suggestions for him.
Anyway, I hope I didn’t come across presumptuously and I’d like to hear what you think; if you noticed anything else and/or if you disagree with me, please tell me why.
Please leave your political views out of this post.
Grazie mille!