Piping

A few months ago I met up with Huong to discuss his wedding suit. He had his eyes set on something gray, but wanted additional accents so that the suit would 'pop' a little bit. After some brainstorming, he showed me a picture that reflected what he envisioned:

As you can see, the gray fabric is nothing too out of the ordinary, but the accents on the suit (contrast lapel and jacket/pocket piping) makes the suit a bit more unique. To add some additional contrast, Huong opted to go with black felt buttons (tuxedo buttons).

I don't always get clients who wish to have lots of contrasting parts to a suit, so this was an interesting project for sure. After hammering out the details (which also included black accent stitching on all buttonholes), here was the end result:

At his fitting, Huong was a good sport and let me snap this picture of him. He was very pleased with the result and - more importantly - so was his fiancé. Together, they got married in May and are now beginning their 'happily ever after'.

Thanks Huong for reaching out to me; it was an honour to suit (and pipe) you up on your wedding day.

the Rollin Wedding

Remember Gab?

He came through YourSuit earlier in the spring to have something made for his July wedding in Ottawa. As it was a summer wedding, Gab and his fiancé Katie decided to go with a 100% wool jacket so it would be more breathable and combat the heat. It ended up being a great choice because it turned out to be a beautiful day, albeit quite humid.

When I first met Gab and Katie, they told me that they preferred more classic looks as opposed to modern, so they opted to go with a versatile brown windowpane jacket and chocolate trousers. Gab ended up wearing a bow tie and suspenders on the day of the wedding which added to the classic feel. They sent me this 'action shot' (below) which shows the suit ensemble; it's one of the best photos I've ever received.

Here's a more 'conservative' shot of Gab and Katie:

Another factor in selecting the brown windowpane jacket was versatility. Gab wanted to be able to use the jacket in future for other events, so by selecting an Earth-tone colour, he will be able to pair it with other trouser colours (i.e. navies/blues, greys, browns, blacks). The windowpane pattern can make the jacket suitable for more casual events as well (a night out to dinner, for example); Gab would have no issue wearing the jacket with a solid pair of denim jeans.

A closer look at the windowpane jacket.

Funny story: Katie told me that when she first met Gab, it was at his home and he was wearing sweats and Crocs, and while there's nothing wrong with lounging around the house in comfortable clothes, she wanted to ensure he'd look sharp on the big day.

I think he did alright, don't you? 

Style by Simba

You know those guys who can pull off anything? Everyone has a friend like that, including me. His name is Simba.

I met him a few years ago when he started dating a good friend of mine. They got married in August of 2016 and I was one of the lucky guests to attend. You may have seen some of his wedding pictures on YourSuit's Instagram.

I never know what to expect when Simba comes to get some clothes made; we definitely have similar tastes, but he's always willing to be more aggressive, whereas I always default to being conservative (because I just can't pull stuff off like he can). Anyways, it's never dull when this guy comes through YourSuit so I thought I'd share some of his creations.

About a year ago, Simba placed a relatively conservative suit order; he was attending a corporate Christmas party and requested a black suit with satin lapels. I consider satin lapels a bit more aggressive, but it is a frequent request so I didn't think it was anything too out of the ordinary. The only slightly more 'aggressive' choice Simba made was to line the inside with a floral pattern. It looked like this:

What I didn't realize was that he ended up pulling a Fresh Prince and making a turncoat out of it. He messaged me the night of the Christmas party with this:

Suffice to say, I had a pretty good laugh. I showed it to many people and everyone had the same comment: That looks awesome. I could never pull that off, but it looks awesome.

As I mentioned earlier, this past summer Simba got married. He gifted all his groomsmen grey suits, a more conservative selection but versatile and reusable in future. However, he did choose to go with a white patterned shirt with black buttons and black contrast shirt lining; these made the shirts more unique than a typical white shirt. A few pictures from their wedding are below (though it's hard to see the shirt detail):

Simba is second from the left.

A shot of the complete wedding party.

This wedding photo does a bit more justice. Like the groomsmen's wedding suits, Simba's suit was also grey, albeit a slightly different shade and with a minor pinstripe. He also went with a breasted vest with shawl lapels, a rare request. In this photo his shirt still looks white, but I promise it's actually patterned. You can see the subtle black buttoned down collar - in reality, all the buttons on the shirt were black to add contrast. It was a great call.

Simba on the big day.

And here's one last shot of the happy couple:

Then, just this past month, Simba came to me again for another Christmas party suit request. He's big on patterns, so I asked if he'd consider a polka-dot suit. Immediately, his eyes lit up and he said he was already thinking of something like that. After hammering out some details, here was the end product for this year's Christmas suit:

It was a deep navy with white polka dots. I have to hand it to Simba; he never sees limitations, and because of that, he's always pulling stuff off. It's always a love-hate relationship with friends like this; you love them because they are so much fun, but you hate them because they remind you of how boring you are.

Aside, a mutual friend of ours said I should open up a Simba Collection. Sounds like a good plan, don't you think?