Ladies, I’ve seen you do this. Often. That’s right, I’ve seen you go out and about in the world wearing a button down dress shirt that is too tight for you. It’s so tight that it looks like the buttons are holding on for dear life.
I have to be honest with you. This doesn’t look good. Not one little bit. It’s doing nothing to highlight your style. More importantly, this look actually takes away from your credibility! Why would you want to do this to yourself?
Regardless of how you’re wearing a classic button down shirt (to work, out for dinner, on the weekend, to a show or anything else), here are some tips to make sure the shirt fits your shape.
- If your dress shirt is too tight, get rid of it (donate it please) and start from scratch.
- First, wiht the buttons fully done up, make sure the dress shirt fits you at the widest part of your body. You want it to comfortable across your widest part without any pulling. Ladies, this will likely be across your chest or your hips.
- See if the shirt’s shoulder seem is aligned to your shoulder. If the shirt is too big, the shoulder will hang down. If the shirt is too small, it will be tight across your shoulders.
- At this point, you should be able to see where the shirt is too big and where it is too small. Now, it’s time to tailor that shirt! Men do this right? When they buy a new dress shirt, they often have it tailored. I have to say, I rarely see women do this.
- An experienced tailor will be able to see what needs to be taken in. For example, if you are your widest across the chest (make sure those button do up without any pulling!!!), it’s likely that you’ll need some darting in the body/torso of the shirt so that the shirt skims your frame – without being too fitted. You may also need to take in the shoulders so that the seem fits at your actual shoulder. These alterations will avoid the “I’m wearing a tent” look.
- Once all alterations are done, try it on. You’ll want to make sure that it’s fitted to your frame and that you can move pretty easily. If additional alterations are needed, go back to your tailor and have the shirt fixed!
- Lastly, make sure you iron that dress shirt before wearing it. ;)
If you have any questions about fit or need some tailoring suggestions, drop me a line.
