The world is divided into two types of men: those who know how to wear a suit and those who don't. Spotting the difference between the two doesn't require a keen fashion sense: it just takes common sense.
A man may wear a suit, but that does not mean he looks good in it. He will buy what he thinks makes him look his best, but quality materials are not enough to guarantee he will be his best. What separates the well-dressed man from the one who is not is comfort. Until a man feels at ease in his suit, there is no amount of money he can spend on designer names that will give him what he most needs.
Look at those men who are at ease with what they are wearing. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson may be nearly two metres tall and weigh almost 20 stone, but it probably took some time before he felt comfortable lifting grown men over his head wearing a black Speedo. The same applies to a man who goes to work in a suit. It takes time to develop that comfort zone.
Bruce Cutler, the New York City mob lawyer, wears a suit well. Conversely, his biggest former client, John Gotti, did not. No doubt he had his clothes cut exactly as he demanded and the fabrics were most likely of the highest quality, but he rarely looked comfortable. He appeared uptight and the suits looked tight. He had the flashy ties and the colourful pocket handkerchiefs, but there was a lack of comfort that was always evident.
Jason Statham looks confident in a black suit in his Transporter movies. He looks good – perhaps because he has the physique from more than a decade as a member of Britain's National Diving Squad – but also because he has an ease about who he is. An impressive build, however, is not enough. Sylvester Stallone, certainly a man with a nice body – even if it is supplemented with Jintropin – looks more like Gotti in a suit rather than Statham.
Watch the red-carpet broadcasts from the Oscars or the Baftas and look at those well-paid actors and see if you can spot the difference between these two types of men. Of course, all are wearing the latest fashionable cuts and designer labels, but look at how the trousers of some men pool at their shoes or how their jacket sleeves are too long or their shirt collar gaps around their neck or their tie is not pushed all the way up. Not knowing how to wear a suit is the result of not being comfortable in one.
So the next time you put on your suit, ask yourself this simple question: am I at ease with what I am wearing? Until you can answer yes, you won't look your best.
Michael Jabri-Pickett is the news editor at The National
