Identifying a series of critical fit flaws in menswear, Ian Myers, owner of the UK's largest bespoke tailor, partnered with GQ to reveal that if you own a ready-to-wear suit, there is a "good chance that yours doesn't either" fit correctly, exhibiting issues ranging from a collar gap to misaligned shoulders. Myers’s detailed analysis dissects the most common suit mistakes, what causes them, and how simple fixes can elevate a suit from average to perfectly tailored.
One of the most frequent problems addressed by Myers is the appearance of "shoulders breaking down," signaled by diagonal lines and creases across the upper back of the shoulder. This occurs because the jacket was not cut to the wearer’s specific shoulder shape. The vast majority of people are not perfectly symmetrical; over 50% of people have a "drop right shoulder," which means the right shoulder sits lower than the left, often due to strain from being right-handed. If both shoulders are dropped, they are called "slope shoulders". Since jackets are designed for the "average person" with only a slight slope, a lower shoulder will cause the jacket to "break down". The fix requires a good tailor to lower the angle of the shoulders and bring the armhole down to fit the body correctly. Conversely, "square shoulders"—where the shoulders are high on both sides—will lift the jacket and cause a "collar roll," or a rocking and creasing underneath the collar. The solution is for the tailor to take the cloth and pass it up into the collar to provide a clean finish to the back of the jacket.
The tailor also focuses on complex issues at the neck point. If one neck point is lower than the other, the entire jacket panel will follow it, causing the whole jacket to sit lower on one side. This throws off the alignment, leading to the button and buttonhole not aligning and causing one lapel to bow off the chest. The best way to fix this is to move the cloth into the neck point at the top, which realigns the button and ensures both lapels sit cleanly. Lapels may also bow and lift off the chest if the jacket is simply too small across the chest. Another cause of bowing is a "prominent chest," which creates an upward pressure on the jacket. Since the chest area is one of the most difficult parts of the suit to alter due to a lack of cloth to let out, Myers recommends buying the jacket based on the fit of the chest and then having a tailor take in the waist for desired shaping.
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The correct jacket balance is defined by the bottom of the jacket hanging parallel with the floor. Posture is often the root cause of imbalance: a "round back" causes the jacket fronts to go lower, the back to kick up, and the fronts to "kick open like a pair of scissors" from the button down. Conversely, an "erect posture" causes the fronts of the jacket to lift up and close like a pair of scissors. Myers warns that the root cause is always at the top of the jacket, not the bottom. For a round back, a tailor must give "extra back balance" (more length over the back) and straighten the fronts; for an erect posture, the opposite is needed: reducing the back balance and adding extra length over the front. A collar gap—a space between the neck and the collar—is a minor version of a round back, often appearing because a person’s head sits forward. For those with these posture issues, Myers suggests that ready-to-wear may not be the right option, as the cost of substantial alteration can be prohibitive.
Other key jacket details include sleeve length and armhole height. The correct sleeve length should come down to the back of the wrist, allowing one-quarter to one-half inch of shirt cuff to show, which demonstrates that the jacket and shirt have been "perfectly tailored". Low armholes are common in ready-to-wear garments because they offer "more room and more comfort" and fit more people. However, low armholes create a "wing of fabric underneath the jacket," which ironically reduces movement, and shortens the run from the armhole down to the waist, diminishing the desired masculine silhouette of broad shoulders leading to a slender waist.
Moving to trousers, the most crucial and overlooked element is the rise (the area between the waistband and the crotch). A low-cut pair of trousers makes the leg look shorter and doesn't pair well with a jacket, working better for casual items like jeans. Myers highly recommends a higher-waisted pair of trousers, sitting at the hipbone, which gives the illusion of a longer leg and a shorter body, creating a more elegant and seamless silhouette with the jacket. Gaping pockets are usually caused by the trousers being too tight around the seat. If the trousers are too tight, the cloth pulls, causing the pockets to bow open, and often results in creases across the front and back. The preferred trouser length for a classic look is a "single break" on the front (a small fold) and straight on the back, avoiding excess cloth.
Finally, dress shirts often suffer from being purchased based only on the collar size. Myers emphasizes that while the collar may fit the neck, the rest of the shirt might not fit the body. An overly fitted shirt will show pulling and creasing across the front and straining buttons, meaning the shirt is "too small and glued to the body". If this is an issue, the recommendation is to buy a shirt with a bigger chest size and have a tailor bring the waist in. Shoulder seams too wide, sitting off the edge of the person's shoulder, make the shirt look sloppy, and since this alteration is expensive, it is best avoided by purchasing the correct shoulder width. Myers concludes that suits are "a very personal thing" but a great-looking suit is certainly within reach, provided the wearer knows what to look out for.
