Bigger Men Can (And Should) Wear Slim Clothing

That full-framed guys can’t wear slim apparel is a popular notion. It’s also utterly ridiculous.

Can bigger guys were slim clothing?

Let’s get hypothetical for a minute.

Imagine Bill, 47, a successful investment banker in Fort Wayne. He’s a big guy, say, 6ft tall and 240 pounds, most of it around his middle.

He’s always shopped for bigger sizes in clothing, even when he was a kid.

When the slim trend became a global phenomenon a few years back, Bill abstained, despite his love for dressing well. He resigned himself to “classic” and “traditional” cuts, believing he’d look like an overstuffed sausage in “slim” or “skinny” clothes.

That look is for thin guys only, Bill thinks.

And anyway, he feels better in loose clothing. He can move comfortably (don’t skinny jeans choke your you-know-whats? He wonders), and more importantly, he believes he is cleverly concealing his size by wearing clothes that look “too big.”

So, day after day, Bill wears large suits that hang from his shoulders like a tunic, pool at his ankles, and crease repeatedly in the arms.

Then one day, at a business conference, Bill notices a man who looks oddly familiar. He was built like Bill, even looked like him…and…whayda know…the man is wearing an almost identical suit. How strange!

Bill At first wonders if he’s looking into a mirror, but quickly spots clear differences. The strange man’s suit doesn’t have excess fabric hanging from the ankles and waist. The jacket hem hits just above his upper thigh, and his pants have a clean quarter break just above his shoelaces.

Bill silently marvels at the man. Not only does the guy look incredibly polished—he looks like Bill, only 10 pounds lighter!

Bill grabs his phone and texts his wife to ask if she remembers the name of that menswear store they always pass by in Covington Plaza in downtown Fort Wayne.

Luckily, she does. A few minutes later he has a consultation with the store booked for the following week.

During the appointment, Bill tells the helpful salesman that he’s interested in slim clothing, but had, until recently, thought he didn’t have the right body type.

Everybody has the right body type, the salesman explains. “Slim means that the garment fits closer to your body, not ‘you have to be slim to wear this.’ You can wear a slim 38 and a slim 44. It’s relative.

The salesman then shows Bill a variety of slim-cut suits in Bill’s size. They need to go up a size with a few brands, but, as the salesman explains, this is common with slim cuts, even for skinny guys.

They find a suit in Bill’s size, but it needs a few alterations. The in-house tailor takes Bill’s measurements, and puts pins in here and there.*

(*Bill enjoys keeps an eye on a football game, thanks to a big screen TV hoisted on the far wall, during this time.)

A week later, Bill sports the slimmest suit he’s ever worn. And he feels fantastic.

To his surprise, he is incredibly comfortable. In fact, he feels more comfortable than before. He hadn’t realized how much all the extra fabric on his other suits had been weighing him down, and the clean, sharp silhouette puts a pep in his step.

Bill’s wife looks at him differently, too–in a way she hasn’t since their first few months of dating. Meanwhile at work, he senses his sharper, more professional appearance is eliciting more respect from his boss. Oh, and Barbara from accounting even asks if he’s lost weight.

Moral of the story: Big guys, don’t dismiss slim clothing. It can definitely look good on you.

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