For a garment – and a suit at that – to enhance the wearer’s personality, it’s essential that the wearer has purchased a garment that fits perfectly. When a customer is looking for a product on the Internet, it can be tricky to figure out which size would be best for them.
That’s why RIVES is keen to put its tailoring expertise at the service of its customers by providing them with a “Guide de la Juste Mesure”.
What is a well-tailored garment?
A well-tailored shirt can be recognized by several elements:
- the collar: two fingers can be slipped between the collar and the neck
- shoulder: the shoulder seam must stop perfectly at the end of the shoulder.
- armhole: the seam should start under the armpit, without too much excess material, but without the armhole “pulling” due to lack of fabric.
About the jacket:
- the shoulder: padding around the shoulder should rest entirely on the shoulder and never protrude beyond it
- sleeve: must stop at the prominent wrist bone
- waist: the jacket must be able to close and two fingers must be able to slip between the bust and the button
And the Trousers:
- the buttocks: must not be excessively padded, and must be held loosely, regardless of the shape of the garment.
- crotch: similarly, there should be no excess material in the crotch area.
- length: this measurement depends on the garment’s style and look.
- Thighs: the fold of the Trousers must remain visible, so the fabric must not be too tight against the skin to ensure ease of movement and seam strength.
- waistline: Trousers are usually worn just above the navel and sit on the hips. Depending on the style required, the waist can be higher or lower.
How do the measurements of a garment affect its fit?
The measurements of a garment depend on the measurements of the wearer, of course, but also on a few other factors:
Type of garment: a coat will always be larger than a shirt, even if the coat and shirt are the same size.
Style of garment: a Tuxedo jacket will always be slimmer than a workwear jacket, so its measurements will be smaller.
The fabric of the garment: knitwear and woven linen behave differently when worn. One adapts to your body shape, the other is rigid. For the same size and type of garment, the two products may have different measurements.
The look of the garment: if you want to wear a slim-fitting or oversized shirt, you can choose to go up a size on your own – but be careful, an extra size makes for a fuller garment, not a longer one.
If this person has a morphology that requires the garment to be tailored to fall at exactly the right length, then it is possible to make a tailor-made garment (CTA with link to tailor-made).
Therefore, there’s no point in trying to get all the clothes in a wardrobe to be the same length, but rather to get each one to match the desired effect. To this end, RIVES has created a detailed guide within each product sheet to accompany its customers through their purchasing experience.
Measurements at RIVES
RIVES’ greatest talent lies not so much in taking measurements, but rather in his ability to interpret and transpose them to create a perfectly fitting suit.
The challenge is to find the right balance between the measurements of the body and the measurements of the stylistic volumes envisaged, in order to find, in the interstice, the perfect measurements for the garment.
At RIVES, we’ve struck a balance between maintaining a certain classicism in the garment’s structure, with little or no interference in measurements that might distort the customer’s morphology (build, sleeve length).
By playing on opposites, this allows the rest of the measures to become a vast stylistic playground.
Trousers can be more or less elongated, and jackets can be tailored, fitted, straight or oversized.
It all depends on the desired effect and attitude.
