Author: Max Winters

Evening gents! Now, you might have a big event coming up where you’ll need to dress up a bit. It could be a wedding, a job interview, a school dance, or anything similar. With so many of such events happening in a gentleman’s life, it’s always a good idea for a gentleman to have a decent suit or tuxedo in his closet. So today, I’m going to give you a guide about how to talk to a tailor and get your tux or suit ordered (or rented), but first things first!

Suit vs. Tuxedo

One thing that most men wonder is this: what is the difference between a suit and a tux? I didn’t even know for a while. I only found out when I started doing research for this post, and the difference is simple. The main physical difference is the presence of satin. Tuxedos have satin lining in the lapel, pocket trim, buttons, and a satin stripe on the pants. Suits are devoid of satin and the buttons are often made of either plastic or the same material that the jacket is made of. Tuxedos are traditionally worn with a bowtie and either a cummerbund or a vest, whereas a suit is traditionally worn with just a long tie. Now, there are some who like to wear a long tie with a tuxedo (like in the photo shown above) or a bowtie with a suit, and that’s perfectly fine. Just keep in mind that the other way around is more common and traditional. Be sure you know what kind of outfit you want when you talk to a tailor.

Know your measurements

Now that you know what the difference between a suit and a tux, it’s time to get it ordered. Now in today’s day and age, you can find multiple websites where you can order a suit or tux online and have it delivered. Such sites will likely ask for your measurements. Now, there are four (4) main measurements you should be concerned about when dealing with this: neck, arm, waist, and leg. Your neck measurement will determine the cut of your shirt’s collar and tie (which will most likely be a clip-on), and your arm measurements will also determine the cut of your shirt’s sleeves as well as your jacket. Your waist and leg measurements will determine the cut of your pants. If you don’t know your measurements, they’re rather easy to figure out. Your natural body proportions will determine most of the cuts of your tux. Start with your pants. Since I’m hoping most of you reading this have bought pants before and have learned your measurements for your legs and waist, you should have this part down. My pants size is 34 waist 32 legs. As such, my body proportions determine that my shirt size is 16 – 34/35 and my jacket size is 40 short.  If you’re confused about all this, use this link. https://www.besttuxedo.com/index.php?action=help2

That link will help determine the size of the elements of your tux; pants, jacket, and all. My height, 5’10” matches up with most of the measurements found on the website, so check it out for yourself! But if you’re going to buy or rent your tux from an actual tailor, you can just ask the tailor to take your actual measurements, and they’ll cut your suit or tux accordingly.

Know what color/material you want

For those getting ready for prom or senior ball, this is a big one. Now, if you’re renting your tux or suit for something like what I do with with orchestra performances, a traditional black tux is generally the best option. However, if you need your tux or suit needs to fit a certain theme or match your date’s outfit for prom or senior ball, as is tradition, then simply let the tailor know so. In the case of my sister’s wedding (a picture of which is shown above), there was a prevalent lavender theme, so the bridesmaids all wore lavender dresses, and the groomsmen all rented grey tuxes with lavender ties and pocket squares. If you’re renting a tux for prom or senior ball, it’s smart to show the tailor a picture of your date’s dress so they can get an idea of what material to use for the accents (which generally consist of the tie, vest, and pocket square).

There we go! Follow these steps and you’ll have a fine looking suit or tuxedo for any of life’s big events! Be sure to follow me on all social medias found in the Social Media tab of the blog’s homepage and send me pics of your tuxes. Make sure to read any of the blog’s recent posts as well, which you can find links to in the sidebar.  Until next time, gents, this is Max from Men in the Making, and I’ll see you next time!

Evening gents! Sorry about the lack of posts lately, I’ve extremely busy with work and performances, but from this point, I’m going to try and get a post out once a week. Anyways, onto the topic of today’s post!

So the holidays are in full swing, now that Thanksgiving has just recently passed and Christmas is on the horizon. And with the holidays now going strong, it’s likely that many who read this will be or have already been invited to a holiday party of some sort. Now, for those attending a party, it can be a great time to relax and spend time with friends. However, for the host, they will be incredibly stressed out trying to get the food ready, keep the guests entertained, and generally keep things moving along. If you follow these simple steps, not only will it ease the host’s stress but it will also create a much better environment for the other guests. So, before this turns into a full-length novel, let’s start the list!

1. Make sure to RSVP

Now, this is something that can help the host before the party even begins. “RSVP” stands for “Réspondez s’il vous plait,” which is “please respond” in French. If an invitation requests that you RSVP, it simply means that the host wants to know whether or not you will attend. Unfortunately, in recent years, people have started to view the RSVP as optional, even though it’s one of the most important things you can do to show respect to your host. When you RSVP, you are helping your host prepare various things for the party, i.e. how much food to prepare, where to hold the party, and how many places at the table to prepare if it’s a dinner party. If you don’t RSVP, you end up leaving your host guessing as to how many people to prepare for, which only creates more stress for them.

 2. If it’s a dinner party, offer to bring something

Speaking of dinner parties, the biggest part of a dinner party is, obviously, the dinner. Your host will obviously be scrambling to get everything ready for all their guests. So in order to ease some of that stress, offer to bring something to help them. A gentleman never arrives empty-handed. When you RSVP, just ask if you can bring something. Such things can be an hors d’oeuvre, a salad, a dessert, or even a bottle of wine (if you’re older than 21, that is). And it doesn’t have to be anything extremely elaborate, it can just be a plate of cheese & crackers, a pan of brownies, or a simple tossed-together bowl of salad. Doing so will not only put less stress on your host, but also add some variety to whatever is being served.

3. Come with conversation in mind

Don’t be the burnout. The whole reason you even go to the party in the first place is to hang out with friends and have a good time, but if you’re not prepared to talk to them, you’ll just end up bored and embarrassed. Think of some conversation topics on your way over. You could talk about a recent trip you went on, a movie you saw recently, something colloquial. Another thing is to consider the host and other guests. What are they interested in? What to you and they have in common? And just like in my last post about how to date, divisive and controversial subjects like politics and religion should generally be avoided.

4. Eat and drink responsibly

Finally, we come to possibly the most important part of the list: don’t overdo it! If you come to a party absolutely starving, piling everything you can onto your plate, you’ll just look like a slob, which would be embarrassing to the host as well as other guests. On the other hand, don’t come to the party completely stuffed, and unwilling to eat anything. This is simply rude to your host, as they have prepared all this food for you, yet you don’t want to eat it. And as far as drinking goes (again, only if you’re over 21), just know your limits. Don’t leave the party feeling like you could pass out on their front porch as you’re leaving. But you should never arrive after having a few drinks either.

So there we go! Follow these four (4) steps and you’ll be on your way to being the life of any party (but hopefully not the center of attention). Hopefully if you follow them, your host will not only invite you to more of their parties, but they’ll most likely accept invitations to your own parties. Be sure to follow me on all my social media, all found on the front page of the blog, and let me know how all your party experiences go! So until next time gents, this is Max from Men in the Making and I’ll see you next time!