Brown Is A Great Colour. Just Sayin'

Summer's gone and Autumn has fallen upon us. Our wardrobe is most often inspired by the seasons' colours. You look around and you see trees everywhere turn orange, red, brown and yellow.  Now is a good time to bring out your earth-tone garments/accessories and wrap yourself up in mother nature's warm cozy palette.

Let me introduce to you the brown suit. Brown is often overlooked as a suit colour and it doesn't seem to be as desirable as its navy, grey or black counterpart. There seems to be a stigma behind the brown suit: It looks dated and is only for mature people.

Okay, brown is sort of an old-person colour. I'm guilty of thinking like that. I personally don't wear a lot of browns because it makes me look more mature than my real age.  I just don't wear the hue well.

BUT, if you happen to be the kind of person who loves brown and wears it well, consider yourself lucky because you've got one more colour than all the rest of us to wear! Take my brother-in-law for example. I think he wears a brown suit REALLY well (um, yah, I indirectly called him old but he looks good, so it's all good!):

He wears his rich brown suit (made with love by Balsam Tailors!) with an airy baby blue shirt that has a white collar and finishes the ensemble off with a light grey tie. I imagine a good analogy for that is having a cup of rich authentic Belgium hot chocolate and adding a dollop of whipped airy fresh cream to it . Mmm... Cold-weather cravings. ;)

Here's another way to wear the same suit pants. I made him put on a royal blue Mandarin collar shirt that really compliments the brown pants and cognac boots. Yes, I MADE him do it. And I also MADE him put on my really cool tribal pattern scarf with tons of bright fall colours in it to complete the Fall look.

Not only did I MAKE him put on the clothes I wanted him to put on, but I also MADE him pose for me like this:

In the end, he MADE me leave his house. Haha.. 

Jokes! He's truly an awesome man for letting me dress him up and photograph him. :)

Custom Suits For Every Body Shape

This is Dora's first custom suit ever. She has a petite frame overall but still has broad shoulders and wide hips for her height (she does kung-fu and dragon dancing, maybe that's why!) and then a tiny waist. She opted for an indigo suit that she'll be wearing to her friend's wedding. This is what we made for her:

Open-jacket look. Very casual.

Closed-jacket look. Very posh.

 We're glad you love your suit, Dora!

Bob & Sheryl's Summer Wedding

Bob and Sheryl are such an amazingly fun and sweet couple. They first came in for a whole bunch of alterations but then, after a browse, Bob decided that it would be nice to have a light grey summer wool suit made up for his ocean-side wedding. Of course, I was delighted! We honestly don't get a lot of opportunities to make light-coloured summer suits. Most guys opt for dark coloured suits like, back, charcoal and navy because they are versatile and "safe"...

Well, Bob is not a "safe" guy. He's a performer at heart. He loves to dance and from what I heard, he also sang for Sheryl at the wedding! 

He sent these photos in yesterday so that I could see how great the suit looked on him:

Don't they look perfect for each other? :)

I think they totally look like celebrities here!

Thank you guys for sharing your happiness with us. Congratulations on tying the knot!

The Navy League. Coming Together To Look Extraordinary!

I've posted a handful of navy suits in the recent past and I'm honestly going to say, it doesn't get old for me. Every customer of Balsam Tailors is unique and so are their suits. They've all been absolutely amazing to work with and I'm so glad to have met each and everyone of them! I love seeing the big smiles on people's faces when they come out of the fitting room and see themselves clad in a custom-built suit made perfectly to conform to his/her unique body shape.

Take a look at our line-up of awesome navy suit wearers:

-Tristan- 

Doesn't he look handsome in our 3-pcs suit and shirt? My jaw pretty much dropped when he put the whole suit on. Good enough for the cover of GQ, you think? He's getting married later this year in this suit! Congratulations, Tristan!

-Jennifer-

She was so gracious and enthusiastic about having her pictures taken even while she was on an important business phone call (You'll notice that in the second picture, one of her hand is missing. That's because she's holding onto her cell phone! Haha!). We thoroughly enjoyed chatting with you! Thank you, Jennifer! Please come back and visit us soon :)

- Michael-

Not only did we have the fortune to make his brother a suit but we also got to build Michael his very own one too! His parents are truly amazing people. They are so sweet and thoughtful. Sometimes they will stop by just to say hi or sometimes they will pop in and give us little treats like egg tarts or Starbucks gift cards! Oh yah, I also was lucky enough to be chosen by them as their Valentine's Day photographer a couple years back. We love this bunch so so much. Balsam Tailors really can't thank you guys enough for your generosity and continued support! Thank you, thank you guys!!

How To Look Good In A Double-Breasted Suit

While black suits look sleek and sophisticated, they can be a bit too overbearing for certain occasions.  Shades of blues and shades of greys are the popular alternatives. These colours are great for events with a more relaxed atmosphere.

Meet young Hans. He is the little brother of Ethan whom I wrote a post on about 2 years ago ---> click here to read.

Hans had a scouting event to go to yesterday and he had to look his absolute best. Him and his mom decided that a custom body-hugging double-breasted suit would do the job. He needed to stand out. They brought in a picture of a suit they wanted us to replicate.

We had to make one change to make the suit work on Hans.What needed to go was the width of the lapels. Double-breasted (DB) suits were very popular in the mid-30's to late 50's. Most often, they had the super wide 5 inch lapels, which looks way too offensive the modern eye. The suit in the picture they brought in had exactly those.

Having a DB suit fit snugly is very importantly because of the two rows of button down the front. They create the illusion of a wide jacket. Looking like Spongebob is not the goal here, although, I must say--Spongebob does have this underwater nerdy charm that girls would fall for. :P

Top off your slim DB suit with a regular-width tie, a fun pocket square, bright socks and penny loafers for that Southern French gentleman charm...just like what Hans has put together for himself:

"Call Me Jonno Please."

Alright, I will! ;) 

Jonno was actually referred to us by an incredibly tall and stylish friend of mine (I'll leave the name out -- but hopefully I will get to write a blog post on him too, one day soon.)We made him a luxurious Super 150's wool slim-fit suit for the upcoming wedding he'll be attending as well as other subsequent suit-appropriate occasions.

It was Jonno's first custom suit. It's his first--but I believe it will not be his last because he looked pretty darn happy about it:

We're standing by the counter, chatting. I notice Jonno is hugging his suit that I'd already wrapped up for him in a suit bag. It looks like it's slipping away from his grip. 

"Is that heavy? Here, let me hang it up for you while we continue this conversation." 

"Oh, no. It's okay. It's not heavy."

10 mins later.

"You sure you don't want me to hang it up? You look sort of uncomfortable and you're crushing your suit. I'll give it back."

"No. It's fine really." *Steps back*

"You really love your suit, huh?"

"YEAH! I love it!"

:P 

I'm glad you do. 

Hey! What's That In My Crotch?!

Yah! What is that diamond-shaped insert in the crotch of your pants?

So here's the low-down: Before you get your panties all up in a bunch, just know that that diamond insert is NOT a defect nor is it there just for show (Haha! That's right! Keep those legs close ladies and gents!)

That geometrical piece of fabric is called a diamond gusset. It helps to reinforce the seams at the crotch because the way our bodies move and how we position ourselves create a lot of tension in that area. That's tension in the seams, people. Get your mind out of the gutter please :)

The diamond gusset makes the crotch bigger (Alright, you don't need to go there. Let's keep it professional.) but not deeper so that it impedes movement. The result is a slack crotch in the pant which allows plenty of room of your legs to open up in. For example, you will find that it is common for motorcycle riders with jeans that have diamond gussets in them because of the way they have to sit on their motorcycles. If they didn't have the diamond insert, they may find the jeans intensely uncomfortable since there will be a lot of horizontal pulling right in that area.

Pants that you may find diamond gussets in are: rockclimbing pants, dancing tights, martial art uniform pants, horseback riding pants and basically others that are made specifically for you to move in comfort when you're doing stuff that requires you to stretch out your legs and groins.

Custom tailors also make use of this diamond gusset feature to help make dress pants comfortable for their clients. Men who carry a little more weight and have a wider seat area or thicker thighs will appreciate this feature.

I have had hundreds of customers who come into our store to have dress pants or jeans repaired in the crotch. That is one area where rips and tears are prone to happen.  Unfortunately, most denim jeans or dress pants that you buy at retail stores don't have the diamond gusset feature. Overtime, all that stretching and thigh-rubbing will put holes into your beloved pants. 

That's when you'll want to bring in your pants for us to fix ;) See below:

Both sides of the inner thighs were torn badly due to continuous pulling and rubbing but they're now nicely patched up!

Sentimental Vintage Brocade

This is the brocade tuxedo jacket that I designed for our customer. 

One of our customers asked us what she could do with several pieces of her late mother-in-law's precious silk brocade. She didn't want it to just sit in a wooden chest where the moths could get at it. There was one particular piece that stood out from the rest--that I personally really liked. This cloth was a lustrous powder-ink silk speckled with old Chinese script.  It definitely was a very feminine style of brocade.

The customer didn't want to have a piece made that she could only wear on very rare occasions because then it would just sit in her closet most of the time--meaning it would be no different than just having the original piece of brocade cloth sitting in the wooden chest. The precious cloth needed to be worn and shown off!

I thought: She needs something versatile and fun so she would be comfortable wearing it and not feel too overdressed since brocade is such a luxurious and ornate kind of material. An idea popped into my head: Tuxedo-style Jacket! That's fun, very chic, and super versatile. She could wear it as a statement piece paired with some nice jeans or with a black skirt forming a girlie skirt-suit or with a pair of dressy shorts and heels. The possibilities are endless really. :)

So here it is: A one-of-a-kind brocade tuxedo jacket! The only one in the world too!

Website Images Updated

Over the month of April, Balsam Tailors had been busy working to prepare for a photoshoot with a couple of finely selected young men. It's that time of the year when the pictures need to be updated, in order to reflect our stylish, refined and high-quality custom products. Mosey on over to our website and check out our gorgeous selection of men, errr...I mean gorgeous hand-made garments! I hope these pictures will inspire you to get something unique made and that you will wear proudly--because at Balsam Tailors, we're all about making you look and feel amazing! :)

Happy May!

This Year, I'm All About LEAN!

One of the perks about working at a custom clothing store is that I HAVE TO wear nice clothes made by us. Haha! For the past two Springs, I was totally into the whole pleated carrot pant look. This year, I've decided that I would slim down the silhouette and sport some leaner, sleeker-looking hip hugging dress pants. But I kid you not, this SPRING, for guys, IT IS ALL ABOUT THE PLEATED PANT LOOK. Let me dig up some samples and show you in my next post. 

It's really cold and windy out today. I had trouble unshrugging my shoulders! But nevermind that. Just look at my pants!!!!

OK, this one's better.

Close up pant shot. I love the checks. And navy is such a great colour. Pair it with a thin brown belt to make it less like office-attire.

No Project Too Small

2nd post in a day. I'm on fire today! Wooooo!

It's probably better this way. I have a whole collection of pictures waiting to be blogged but I just never get to them because I tend to prioritize and blogging, somehow, always gets the last spot on my to-do list. Don't get me wrong though--I LOVE BLOGGING. I've been told that I have a knack for writing and copywriting could possibly be my thing. Your thoughts? ....Actually, nevermind. If you're reading this, chances are you must enjoy my weekly/monthly rants!

Check out this little project that we got asked to do. It's really a pair of children's pajamas but I've only photographed one because they're both essentially the same. We made them for a pair of twin boys. Who are only 4. Who haven't even started school yet. Who have no idea what custom-made means. Who have a mother who loves them A LOT. Who have a mother who likes well-fitting clothes for her kids. Haha..

You want your kids to have an outstanding sense of style? Start them off with custom-made when they're really young! ;)

We're in the process of making two cute little dress shirts for them... will post those as soon as they're done.

Don Approves!

A little while back, a man named Don came into the store. I have to admit, I was a little intimidated by him. He had this stern voice and an authoritative attitude to go with. He also had sort of a half smile which made it confusing for me to judge whether he was genuinely in a good mood or it was just the way his lips were shaped.

His request was to have us tailor a shirt for him. Following his request, he said something like this, "You do this for me and if I like your work, I'll bring in more."

A couple weeks later, he showed up, tried on the shirt and we received a nod of approval.

In my head, I was like "YES!"...and "Phew."

The next time Don came in, I was able to smile without beads of perspiration tumbling down my forehead. I knew that since he had chosen to come back, that meant he liked our work.

To our surprise, Don had trusted us enough to ask us to make him a suit!

Although he gave me the jitters, I was confident that Balsam Tailors had the skills to make him look really good.

4 weeks later, he came and tried on his suit. To judge our success, I used the smile on Don's face... it went from a half smile to a full blown mile-long smile! We did it!

Don's a cool guy. He really is.

Lesson here: Never judge a book by its cover, but do judge a man by his smile ;)

Love the brown loafers!

Our New Look!

We've always wanted a store front that would reflect who we are. We love simple and clean designs because they seem to hold up against the test of time.

Anda and I love our new look. Thank you Nobuko Takasu from Adnovation Design Inc.

European-style Suit. Great For Slim Guys.

I'm a huge fan of the sleek and skinny European-style suit. It's most flattering on guys with an average or slim build. Men who are muscular or are on the heavier side should probably stay away from this style because you would literally look like you are busting out of your suit.

European-style suits have a "shrunken" feel to them. Everywhere is lean. The waist on the jacket is very well defined, the pant waist is high, the legs are narrow to the point of almost uncomfortable and the pant hems are so short your socks show even when you're standing up.

Jay Su here wanted something of the sort but opted for a tiny bit more relaxed fit. He didn't want skin tight but he also didn't want boxy. We made him a suit that was in between. The legs are narrow but still comfortable. Keep in mind, narrow pants means it will break more at the front. His jacket length is an inch shorter than what we'd normally make for a guy his height simply because he wanted longer legs.

The result is a skinny but comfortable suit. Hooray for European-style suits! They make you look tall and lean which is look desired by many modern guys.

Custom Made Suit Price: $499 + HST