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!

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!

Best Year-Round Suit

Betty was looking for a versatile, easy-to-maintain, medium weight, non-wrinkly and comfortable grey suit to wear for any occasion all year round. 

Voila! We paired her up with an easy-to-wear budget friendly "Wool (70%) + Polyester (30%)" medium grey suit. With a wool-polyester suit, you get everything you want in a suit:

1. The breathable and moisture-wicking properties of wool

2. Medium weight wool that doesn't feel heavy

3. The texture of fine wool that's soft to the touch

4. Lowered cost due to the added synthetic material

5. The durability of polyester

6. The non-wrinkling property of polyester

7. Ease of ironing at home if necessary (but we always recommend taking it to a professional for pressing)

Check out what we built for Betty:

I really love these high-shine dress shoes by John Vluefog. The gold trim adds so much elegance to it.

Thanks Betty for sharing your suit!

What Kind of Grey Suit Should You Get?

This post is a comparison of how two different shades of grey affects how a person looks. One question I get really often is: What sort of grey suit should I get that I can wear year-round to everything?

Meet Andy. He's a professional who moved here from Toronto for his new job. On the way here, he lost his suitcase full of good work clothes and was left with just the suitcase of not-so-great looking work clothes.

I joke.

I actually forget the reason why Andy came in but he desperately needed a new work wardrobe. Of course, we were totally excited to help! 

He had a pretty good idea of what he wanted so it didn't take too long for him to make his selection. 

He also had a lot of decision-making to do when it came to choosing his shirts. We offer a lot of design options: French cuffs, convertible cuffs, contrasting collar & cuffs, contrasting plackets, concealed plackets, pockets with flaps or no flaps and so forth.  

Check out the following two grey suits that Andy is sporting for us:

Medium Grey Mixed Wool Suit & Contrast Collar/Cuff  Window-Pane Pattern Brushed Cotton Shirt

Medium Grey Mixed Wool Suit & Contrast Collar/Cuff  Window-Pane Pattern Brushed Cotton Shirt

Versus:

Charcoal Grey Mixed Wool Suit & Window-Pane Brushed Cotton Shirt

Charcoal Grey Mixed Wool Suit & Wiudow-Pane Brushed Cotton Shirt

A medium grey suit is very versatile in that it's not too light for the cooler seasons and not too dark for the warmer seasons. It feels more casual than a black, charcoal or navy suit.

Contrastly, Andy's charcoal suit feels a little more "serious" and formal since visually, it's closer to black. When you put on a charcoal suit, you look like you mean business!

Notice that even just the very act of doing up your jacket and leaving your jacket undone affects how formal or casual a suit looks?

My personal opinion is that these are the two best greys to choose from if you want to be able to wear your suits all year round and not have to worry about looking too done up or too casual. Andy obviously had that all figured out before he even stepped foot into our store since he didn't really need any guidance in picking out the colours! :)

Thanks for modelling, Andy! You have a great smile and very lush healthy-looking hair! ;D

Creative Repair On A Down Puffer Jacket

If you have a puffer jacket (especially one made with down), you will know how annoying it is to get a rip in it. The outer nylon or polyester layer can't ever be mended in a way that it will become perfect again. You could try sewing up the rip but there will definitely be a seam.

I see cigarette burns and accidental tears in these jackets all the time. Down puffer jackets aren't cheap. A decent one will run you a minimum of $200. A really high quality one can cost as much as $1000 and up. Most people are reluctant to throw away a down jacket just because they put a rip in it They know that, beyond the aesthetic imperfection, it is still a very warm jacket that will do its work.

If you don't mind the visible seam that goes over the rip, especially if it's located in an inconspicuous place on the jacket, then simply sewing it up will work well.

But sometimes, a seam in somewhere obvious, say on the backside of your jacket, isn't very pretty. Look at the following picture of a very new puffer jacket. There's a big cut down the backside:

If we were to sew it up, there would be an obvious vertical seam down the backside of the jacket.

Our seamstress thought of a better idea. Instead of creating a seam that looks out of place, she decided to "blend" the repair into the background.

Putting a piece of triangular fabric to cover the lower half of the rip.

Pinning the triangle in place.

The extra fabric comes from the belt that came with the jacket.

What the seamstress has done is cut a couple pieces of triangular shapes from the original jacket belt and strategically sewed them right over on top of the damaged area.

The result: 

This $500 jacket is saved! Looks almost flawless, right? :)

We Can Always Rely On Our Customers To Lift Our Spirits On Such Cold Rainy Days!

Mr.Le came in one day to inquire about a suit and shirt for his son's graduation. A very happy, funny and friendly man he is! After our brief little chat, Mr. Le smiled, nodded and said he'd bring his son in for a suit. 

Mr. Le indeed brought his son, Daniel, in and together they picked out a nice black cloth with a subtle sheen for the suit and a crisp stark white cloth for the shirt. I knew he'd be a perfect candidate for a slim fit suit with a nicely cinched jacket waist just by looking at his slim physique.

Take a look at Daniel's first custom-made suit and shirt:

We are very pleased with how it fits and drapes. I think Daniel agrees too judging by the smile in the picture below, or maybe he's just ecstatic that his dad is such a cool guy with a great sense of humour (A decade worth of jokes were told during our three short meetings--I had such a good laugh)! ;)

Mr. Le and Junior Le! Don't they look alike? Such great smiles!

Thanks Mr.Le and Daniel for being awesome people! It was certainly our pleasure to work with you. :)

Feel The Difference.

This is Danny. And we're super grateful that he happily agreed to let us feature him on our blog wearing our custom shirts and pants. When he shops for ready-made clothes, his main issue is trying to find a shirt that fits in the waist.

Most guys with broad shoulders usually have this problem: Shirts that fit in the shoulders never fit properly at the waist. We know this to be true for Danny because he's brought in several store-bought shirts already to have the waist slimmed down.

Of course, we were delighted when he walked in one day to place an order for some shirts and pants. I've never dealt with any of Danny's pants and I haven't been told what sort of trouble he has when buying store-bought pants. 

But, here are some common reasons as to why guys (and some girls) would need custom pants:

REASON: They have a thick seat area naturally or due to weight-lifting or sprint-heavy sports that increases mass in the gluteal muscles. 

EFFECT: Ready-made pants aren't cut with a deep enough and wide enough U-crotch. Hence, these types of pants usually feel really tight and uncomfortable in the seat and crotch area for people who have big behinds. They give the feeling of what some people call, a "wedgie". 

~~~

REASON: They have thick upper legs. 

EFFECT: Ready-made pants are usually cut by manufacturers to fit people with average-size legs. Basically, the general populace. Manufacturers don't make pants with thick-legged individuals in mind. Especially, in this day and age, when slim fit pants are the trend. The problem people with big legs encounter are usually a tight pulling across the front of the pants. One of the biggest visual indications of too-tight pant thighs are: Wide gaping pant pockets when standing still.

~~~

REASON: They fill out the seat area but not the waist of the pants. This problem arises when individuals have a thick behind and a narrow waist. This is the most common problem with athletic people.

EFFECT: When people with small waists and thick behinds put on pants, they will notice a gap in the back of their pant waist.

If you have any of the above issues with your pants, you might want to consider custom-made pants. This option will eliminate any discomfort and unsightly problems that store-bought pants may give you.

I love this picture (above). Very candid. Also happened at the spur of the moment. I almost missed this shot. Danny decided to switch his stance and I caught him at the right time!

Thanks for modelling, Danny! :)

Tuxedos Aren't Just For Fancy Galas And Weddings

A lot of people often think a tuxedo is reserved for very special occasions. That used to be the case. A very long time ago. 

Nowadays, people are more at liberty to express themselves in however they want to dress. Also-- getting multiple uses out of their high-quality garments is a preferred choice for many young folks out there, especially with all the fast-food clothing stores that sell cheaply made tops and pants that exhibit poor construction and fabric quality that fall apart quickly, which in turn ends up costing the buyers more money in the long run if they need to replace those items.

Take this blue tuxedo for example:  

If the jacket and pants are worn together, it's pretty clear that this IS a formal tuxedo.

 

But if you take the jacket and pair it up with a casual pant, the overall feel of the outfit becomes a hip street-wearable ensemble.

If you want to wear the tuxedo pant (pictured above are the same pants in the first picture) on its own, that's perfectly fine too. It just looks like a pair of regular dress pants. Here's a tip: If you want to be able to wear the tuxedo pants as a pair of normal dress pants, make sure to order a pair without the satin trim down the sides of your legs. 

So as you can see here, our model pictured above, Sam, is sporting a pair of tuxedo pants that doesn't really look like tuxedo pants anymore. How versatile is that? :)

Need A First Custom Suit? Come On In. Matthew Did!

Matthew walked in with a kind of smiley shyness to him, asking for a custom suit that he'd be wearing to his sister's wedding. I don't blame him. It's his first custom suit. Many people are unsure what to expect when they walk into our store. They feel a little intimidated or even overwhelmed by the whole suit-making process. 

It's really quite simple: Think of us as your friend and we're just here to help by giving you professional and stylish advice! There's no right or wrong. Style is a very personal thing. If you feel a little lost, we're happy to offer some suggestions. And if you know what you want, we'll help make your ideas into reality.

Together, Matthew and I, picked a dark grey wool suit that could easily be worn again for other occasions or even to work. A dark grey solid suit is a great base to build upon. You can start off with a more conservative look by pairing it with a shirt that has a subdued colour or pattern. If you choose to take it up a notch, you can finish the suit off with brighter colours and wilder patterns, topping everything off with lavish male accessories like tie-clips and cuff links! 

Medium Grey Suit

Summer has been upon us and we've been getting many requests for suits in various shades of grey (last summer it was navy). One of the most popular is the medium grey which makes for an excellent year-round suit. Because it's a neutral colour, you can't go wrong pairing it up with ANY colour. Wear soft pastel colours with it in the Spring, pops of vibrant colours in the Summer, earth tones in the Fall and deep rich shades in the Winter. How great is that?

Below are pictures of Clive modeling a slim fit medium grey suit. He's one of the four groomsmen at his friend's upcoming wedding. We made them suits out of the same material and colour. I didn't get a chance to photograph the rest of them but I hope we'll get a submission of professional photographs taken on the wedding day so we can see how these guys look all decked out in Balsam suits. I'm very curious to see what the bride's gown looks like too because you know, I'm a girl and girls like girlie things! :D

Thanks for modelling,Clive!

Canadian Fans in Sochi, Russia

Here's a look at a couple of suits that Balsam Custom Tailors made for two brothers, Greg and James, in collaboration with clothing designer, Ash Turner of Organic Mechanic:

Click here are more pictures from photographer, Mariska Richters.

Thanks for sending in the pictures, Ash! :)