You’re gonna see HUNDREDS, if not THOUSANDS of articles, lists, how-to guides and photo galleries of the best way to look good this Fall and Winter (in fact, we’re probably responsible for a good 75-80% of those.) A lot of them are going to have a lot of great information in them, and there’s gonna be a lot of overlap among the suggestions, which we think is a good sign, since seeing recurring suggestions and tips show that great minds think alike and you’re not going off on some bizarre, fluke of a style tip that one loony advises you to do (apologies to actual people from St. Louis here. Respect.)

But before we are well into Fall (and by “we,” I mean those of us in Florida and other places where we won’t hit true Fall conditions for a couple more months,) the number one tip we can give you before it’s cool enough to start wearing suits to the office more regularly, we’re telling you to TAKE YOUR GODDAMN SUITS TO THE TAILOR. NOW.

There’s no style sin greater than wearing ill-fitting clothing, and wearing an un-tailored suit is the unforgivable crime that so many are guilty of that we actually had a survey commissioned* to find out exactly how many men are guilty of this, and the results are staggering (*OK, not really.)

So, this year, hell…RIGHT NOW, get your suits and get your asses to the tailor. Don’t have a tailor? Your local dry cleaner probably does standard alterations that’ll at least get your suit on the right track. If you live in a decent-sized city, there are bound to be at least a handful of decent tailors that’ll be able to sort you out. The biggest things to look out for and remedy:

Same Guy. Same Suit. What’s Changed?

Looking at the photo on the left, it seems that this gentleman wandered into his father’s closet and decided to play dress-up. The slacks are hanging down past where they should, making it look like he has elephant’s legs. The jacket is nearly baggy enough to fit another person. The shoulders extend beyond the man’s natural frame, almost giving him a bit of a Frakenstein look. The remedy? A visit to the tailor, who fixed the cuffs of the slacks so that they break right at the top of the shoe like they’re supposed to. They also took the jacket in at the waist and made it so that the shoulders of the jacket conform the the man’s actual shoulders, giving him more of that V-shaped torso that women subconsciously look for. One final touch is that similar to what was done for the hem of the pants, the tailor adjusted the cuffs of the jacket sleeves so that they’re not bunching up at the end and making the man’s hands disappear in a sea of wool.

Know Your Measurements

Key among then are your jacket size and the waist and inseam of your trousers. If you also know your shoulder, chest, and arm measurements, then congratulations. You’re in the top 1% of men who can rattle these off at will. Knowing these will not only save time shopping but also help you avoid what we’ll refer to as “Trump Suit.”

And it may sound like we’re being hard on you guys, but we’re all guilty of this at one time or another. Don’t believe me? Take a gander at Exhibit A, and the style crime committed by one of the game’s living legends, who we hope wore this in a scene from The Wolf of Wall Street and not during his morning jog:

So if you’re not 100% sure on what the end result of you and your tailor’s efforts should look like, please reference the gallery below, which may or may not reflect what you end up with, but if you get it even a little bit close, you’ll still be the best dressed man in your office.

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