Tales of a Petite Groom

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[Tom, who made your wedding suit?]

It is so hard to find a good fitting suit for the short thin man in the States. I know, because the boy and I covered some serious ground in San Diego and the OC, only to realize that everything is way. too. big. What was even more frustrating is that salesmen tried to convince us that suits that clearly did not fit in the shoulders were perfect on him. Sorry Hugo Boss, we’re not shelling out two thousand on a suit only to have it pulled apart for alterations.

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[Our mission? A blue slim-cut suit, similar to this one out of Martha Stewart Weddings. Suit from Richard James; photo from Martha Stewart Weddings]

“This is how a suit is supposed to fit,” they would tell me at each store.  Granted that I do not wear suits, and I am not a professional tailor or even know how to mend loose buttons, but even I knew that the 36S (the smallest most stores carried) didn’t fit. Nothing was proportional to the boy’s frame, it looked like he was swimming in someone else’s clothes. Finally, honest salesmen at Bloomingdale’s and theory told us the truth after seeing the boy in the smallest jacket they carried. We had two choices: get it tailored or hit up the boys department. So we began our hunt.

On a late night Google search, we found Jason of Thick as Thieves through the blog Short Shrifted (another good read if you are frustrated by the lack of clothes for shorter men.)

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[Photo from Exquisite Weddings by San Diego Magazine; suit by Thick as Thieves]

Thick as Thieves is an L.A.-based company making custom tailored suits at a fraction of what you’d pay for some off the rack suits (starting around $500 a suit.) Just looking at their website makes me confident that the boy will look more badass than he ever has in his entire life. Because we are suit-ignorant, we met Jason, the talent behind Thick as Thieves, to take measurements and basically pick his brain about fashion resources. I’m feeling pretty excited after our meeting, and now I’m worried the boy will look prettier than me on our wedding day. The suit is expected to arrive in February (quick turnaround!) and then we’re going to hit the ground running to find a good tie and shoe combo.

(If you aren’t in the L.A. area, you can also send in your measurements and they will ship to you.)

Has anyone else had a difficult time trying to find a suit? Anyone go the custom route?