Navy 3 Piece For Unique Body Shapes

Not all bodies were made the same. We are all born differently and different lifestyles will help shape our bodies too. Some people will have a harder time finding clothes in retail stores that fit them because manufacturers can't cater to every single body type in this world. So they mass produce clothes in sizes that fit majority of the population.

Here's where we can help. Have a look at Jason's suit. He avidly lifts weights and has sculpted his upper body so that it is broad and thick. I cannot imagine a single suit retailer that would carry anything for men who have muscular upper bodies and narrow waists. 

Balsam Tailors can make a suit that fits your specific body shape:

Never-old Navy!

Navy is still a very sought after colour for suits. Requests for navy suits haven't declined at all. They are a favourite and staple for young professionals. 

Take a look at how amazing navy looks on this dashing young professional: 

I'm so happy to call this dashing young professional MY FRIEND! Haha. He's my friend, Jonathan and I am so happy that he came back again for a 2ND suit! The first time we made him a grey pin stripe suit and he wore it really well. He made our suit look so good!

I have to say, he looks EVEN better in navy! You know how some people just wear certain colours better than others? Well, my friend here wears navy extremely well. I tell him he looks like the CEO of a blue chip company ;)

Thank you Jonathan for coming back! We'll see you again for your 3rd suit? ;)

3 Piece Grey For A Spring Wedding

Light grey suits are the most popular choice for Spring weddings because it goes so well with any colour--in particular, powdery pastel colours. Grey forms a neutral background that would make any light or bright colour pop. 

You can be sure that whatever your colour scheme is for your wedding day, your grey suit will not clash with it. And a great photography tip for those tricky wedding pictures: It used to be a pain for wedding photographers to pick the right exposure for the bride and groom photographs because of the high contrast between a black suit and a white dress. What would a photographer expose for: The really dark black suit or the really bright white dress? Depending on the photographer's choice of exposure, someone in the picture would either be washed out or look too dark.

Thanks to Photoshop, that problem could be avoided but still requires the photographer to do a bit of prep work before taking the photos.

If you feel inclined to help your photographer out or want to ensure that your pictures are correctly exposed or you just love the colour, try a light grey suit!

Check out this 3 piece grey suit that we made for Nathan:

Nathan's mom made this self-tie bowtie for him!

Thanks Nathan for sharing your suit!

Christine & Grace: Maui Wedding

Here's a tuxedo that Balsam Tailors made for Christine and Grace's wedding. I'm always so happy to receive photos from our customers' weddings because then we get to see how the suits and shirts that we made for them is worn and accessorized. It definitely gives me and my team immense gratitude that our company is able to be a part of our customers' big day!

Christine's tuxedo has the classic black satin lapels which makes it look very formal and luxurious.

Thank you for sharing your photos with us Christine and Grace! Congratulations :)

Photo credit: Sara Quinn Photography

White Wedding Dress Alternative

Here is Sarita wearing her brand new wedding outfit. The veil adds a really nice elegant touch to the crisp white suit.

A picture Sarita sent us so we could model her suit after this one.

It's always a joy for us when somebody comes in with a suit idea. This time, it was an idea for an unconventional wedding outfit which I love so much: A clean and crisp white ladies' suit. 

The best thing about this suit that Sarita wanted us to make is that it's not your typical slim fit suit that's been dominating the fashion scene for the past 5-6 years. Sarita wanted a tailored suit that is comprised of a tailored jacket plus a pair of double-pleated wide-leg palazzo pants--a refreshing departure from the skinny pants. If you don't already know, wide-leg pants and flared bottoms are making a huge comeback. 

I've known Sarita for several years now. She and her family has been coming to us for their tailoring needs since as long as I've been working at Balsam Tailors (coming up 7 years! Woohoo!). It's always a pleasure to see her and her mom walk through the door. All of us somehow always end up chatting for at least an hour on any topic you can think of.

That one day Sarita told me that she was getting married, I nearly cried. I love happy occasions. 

Working with Sarita on her suit was a blast and I even got a big hug at the end when it was all finished!

Congratulations Sarita on your marriage and I can't wait for our next chat session! :)

Resurgence of the Wide Lapels

If you're one to pay attention to fashion, there is no doubt that you know in the world of fashion, every style and trend that's ever been thought of in the history of mankind will eventually make its way back into the modern times. 

For the past 5-6 years, the two most popular suit cuts around the world have been the British and the Italian styles. Both styles are characterized by the slimness throughout the entire length of the body, with the Italian style being tighter than its UK counterpart.

You've all seen these styles displayed in the windows of large clothing retail stores: undersized to tight-fitting jackets with shirt cuff-exposing jacket sleeves and almost-too-short skinny trousers that hit at or above the ankles. Most often, you'll see narrow lapels adorn these suit jackets.

Lapels. Lapels is the focus of this blog entry. 

There has been a resurgence of the wider lapels visible on catwalks, recent tv shows, blockbusters and magazines. For the first time in many years, I'm being asked by customers to design a suit for them that features lapels that are wider than 2.5" or 2.75". 

The above pictures showcase a custom navy suit that we recently made for a really good-looking young man who has been our loyal customer for years. Notice the width of the lapels? Those are 3.75" wide! I'll call our model, Andrew, since he wishes to remain anonymous due to professional reasons.

During Andrew's earlier visits, he would request simple clean-looking suits in various colours but all of them had the same skinny lapels. With his model-like features and towering height, we knew he would carry our suits well. Our business is to make people look good but Andrew made our suits LOOK REALLY GOOD.

Time passed and we saw Andrew again recently. He said he wanted some new suits made but with wider lapels. "How wide?" I asked. "This wide," he replied. His thumb and index finger indicated four inches of width. 

I smiled. "Wow. That's really wide. Um, why don't we try 3.75" or even 3.5" first?" We discussed this topic for quite some time. There was a lot of uncertainty because he hadn't seen himself in a wide-lapel suit before. He'd only seen them on actors on tv.

I didn't think it would be an issue. I knew it wouldn't be an issue for Andrew to wear wide lapels. He is really tall and has 20" wide shoulders. That's a really broad shoulder width. Most men have shoulders anywhere between 17" to 21". 

Here's a good way to figure out the maximum lapel width for yourself before you end up looking goofy: Your lapel tip generally shouldn't cross the imaginary halfway line of your shoulder. Check out the diagram below to better understand what I mean.

I just want to remind everyone that style is very personal. I simply inform people of what is currently the most popular trend according to the fashion industry and what my customers commonly ask for. But if you have a preferred style, say you like the skinny lapels, by all means, rock it and keep rocking it!

So there you have it. Wide lapels aren't out of style anymore. They have come back and is starting to make their way back into men's wardrobes! 

Perhaps try out a new style?

Slim Fit Grey Suit Post. Yes. Another One.

We never get sick of making grey suits here because we like them a lot. We think they are the one piece that any guy should invest in if he were to get just ONE suit ever in his whole entire lifetime. 

The Grey Suit will go with many items that you will likely already have in your wardrobe. The Grey Suit will also be suitable for many special occasions or work meetings. You may think of it as a fool-proof blank canvas.  The Grey Suit basically has your back covered. 

Here, we are featuring Abhijeet, who managed to provide us a full set of measurements all the way from Toronto using the detailed instructions I gave him. The measurements were almost good enough for us to make him that awesome suit. Since there's a fitting that is always included in our suit-making process, all of the little imperfections that were present were looked at by us during Abhijeet's fitting and remedied soon after.

Thanks for modelling Abhijeet!