Here's a 'note' worth starting on: A big thank you for embracing our newsletter with so much enthusiasm. We've loved every word of praise you've given and the feedback you've shared. Keep it coming, as we try our level best, week after week, to give you something worth writing home about.
And for those of you who've just joined us here, welcome aboard. We're hoping you'll enjoy this exclusive dose of Esquire India every week in your inbox. From our best stories to the sharpest takes, this newsletter should hopefully make for a great read for you.
Speaking of great reads, our digital cover star Rahul Khanna has plenty to say about the small graces that make life better. Then there’s also actor Danish Pandor, modelling five new ways to rock a suit. It’s a great one, if I may say so myself. Also worth reading are our first impressions of the iPhone Duo, a deep-dive into tinted sunscreens and the best ones worth buying, and a conversation with bestselling author Richard Osman.
Until next time!
Saurav Bhanot
Digital Editor, Esquire India
Why custom-made still matters, even if you own fewer suits than your father did
By Komal Shetty
My grandfather came from little, but he was particular about the little he had.
He’d buy this specific fabric in this particular shade from the same store every few years. He’d then take it to a tailor who, by then, didn’t need a reminder of how he liked it stiched. It became a ritual once every few years—one colour, one shop, one tailor. A crisp, grey safari suit was one of his non-negotiables. The other? Variety on his plate.
This memory came back to me recently when a friend was complaining about how difficult it was to find a good suit for a milestone occasion. When I suggested getting one custom-made, his response surprised me. He had never had a custom-made suit and wasn’t sure if it was worth the cost or the trouble. It got me thinking about how many men have never experienced what a well-made suit is supposed to feel like. Not simply something that fits, but something cut around your proportions and peculiarities. A garment that works for you rather than asking you to work around it.
Stylist and creative director IB Kamara, speaking on fashion designer Bella Freud’s podcast ‘Fashion Neurosis’, spoke about growing up with very little choice when it came to personal style. Yet he recalls feeling so grateful for made-to-measure clothing, because someone had thought about him while making that garment. It was the human hand and thought that went into it that made it one of a kind. Luxury doesn’t always have to be a name on the label or a price tag. Sometimes it's knowing that something was made intentionally, with you in mind.
Some would argue that the suit has had its heyday. Dress codes have relaxed; offices don’t function on a fixed formula like they used to and most men simply own fewer suits than they once did. We spend an absurd amount of time online now, with algorithms knowing what we liked, watched and almost bought. Naturally, consideration has been replaced by convenience. A custom suit, however, operates on the opposite logic. You show up, someone looks at you, measures you, marks up a piece of fabric, asks how you intend to wear it and then spends hours making it work specifically for you.
Here’s what most men don’t realise: a suit isn’t a wrongly sized T-shirt that can be rescued with clever styling. No amount of alterations or styling can salvage a suit that was wrong from the start. And perhaps that's why having something custom-made in this day and age feels like a small act of rebellion. Not because you need another suit, but because the one you have should belong to you in a way an algorithm can never quite influence.
Measurements only tell a part of the story. Two men can have the same chest and shoulder measurements and still need completely different jackets. One might have a longer torso, a sloppy shoulder or a slight forward lean. The other might carry more weight through his chest or simply move differently. Your posture and peculiarities have the power of changing how a suit sits on you. You could alter a trouser hem, shorten a sleeve or even take in the waist, but the architecture of the jacket is a different matter altogether. The shoulder, for example, is particularly difficult to fix or alter once the garment has been made. And then there are aspects that most people don’t even think about. The pitch of the sleeve, the fall of the shoulder, the jacket balance, the rise and break of the trousers, the way the collar sits around the neck and even the roll of the lapel.
To break it down to the basics. Off-the-rack is the easiest transition. You see it, you like, you take it home. Made-to-measure is a bit more deliberate. An existing pattern is adjusted to your numbers. Custom or bespoke goes further still. An expert creates it for you from scratch according to your preference, measurements and body type, sometimes with multiple rounds of fittings. None of this is to say that off-the-rack can’t be good. There are some fantastic brands that make excellent suits. But whether the suit is good for you is a gamble you’re taking every single time whether you notice you’re taking it or not. The real difference between a good suit and a great one isn’t visible on a hanger. It’s what the tailor thought of fixing even before you knew it was broken. It’s the small details that may not be visible, but that’s precisely the point. A great suit isn’t supposed to look good. It’s supposed to look like it was made for you.
Liked this story? Click here to subscribe to the Esquire India Weekly newsletter