Women’s Suits

Fair warning: 10 minure read on how a women’s classic suit should fit to any female body – the gold standard, the pitfalls and anything in between

If you want to know how your business suit should fit you to exude professionalism, trust and a bit of femininity, read this thread.

I will focus solely on classic women’s style as, unlike in men’s tailoring, there are 254,795,331 possibilities for a suit or a jacket or pants for women. The rules are not as strict and in most instances mimicking men’s style doesn’t work for women’s figures.

You will look appealing in your suit when you do three things:
1. Select your most flattering neutral colour
2. Maximize the vertical line
3. Minimize the horizontal lines

The key points for wearing women’s suits well:
1. neither the bottom of your jacket nor the sleeves end at your widest point.
2. the suits sits on your neck and shoulders naturally
3. there is no fabric pulling anywhere
3. the suit creates one long uninterrupted vertical line

The widest point of women’s body can be
Bust
Abdomen
or Hips

Unlike men, women have many more physical features to take into consideration when choosing the best fit:
Face shape
Shoulders
Bust
Waist
Hips
Legs
You choose what you want to emphasize and what you prefer camouflaged, so to speak.

A well-fitting suit has everything to do with proportional dressing based on a scale that very few stylists either respect or are even aware of. I teach it in my Summer School of Style program.
Here are two examples
½ + ½  and  ¼ + ¾

Most women wear ½ + ½ skirt suits, even though they would look stunning in ¼ + ¾ pant suits. The former is perfect for petite women and very unflattering for large women whereas the latter fits long-waisted women beautifully.

The basic rule for waists is:
–       If you have a defined waist  (curvy & semi-curvy) show it
–       No waist? Keep the lines straight and clean
Ignoring this rule makes curvy women look boxy (and wider) in straight lined jackets and women with no waists wearing belts, look like Obelix.

Sleeves can be either bracelet length (just above the wrist bone) or full length (just covering the wrist bone), not the ¾ length (halfway up the forearm) that Jackie O. popularized.  Albeit it may seem formal, it isn’t business formal.

The moment a woman shows skin in a business environment, typically by wearing a sleeves dress or top, a fully clothed man looks more professional. Showing skin can be interpreted as a sign of vulnerability.
A suit is a shield. Use it as such.

You choose your neckline, your collar, and lapels (if any) based on your face shape, your shoulders, your bust situation, and your height (or width). There are too many combinations to consider to give you examples of each but here are some.

Omitting the bow, this suit of a flattering colour is perfectly fitting. The neckline is ultra flattering – respecting the width and the length of the face.

You do NOT need to button your jacket. Busty ladies can (and perhaps should) wear their jackets open all day long, whether standing or sitting.

When you do button your jacket – partially or fully – nothing should pull the fabric in any direction. When it does, it looks unappealing, signaling that you put on extra weight (, which springs the question why? what’s going on?) and you get unwanted attention.

At any rate, you should be able to move freely in your jacket. When you try it on, hug yourself while touching your opposite shoulders. If the seams hold, it’s the right size. If the jacket is too tight in the hugging situation, go one size up.

Pants should always be straight/slim or flared, potentially full, never skinny, even if you are.

You need pants of two different lengths – for high heels and flats. Decide what shoes you will wear the pants with and hem them. Or buy two pairs and alter them differently – one for heels, one for flats so that the hem is ¼ to ½ inch from the floor.

The bottom of the trousers should fall on the top of the heel. This will allow a slight brake in the front. Cropped pants are not considered formal. Even if you have incredibly sexy slim ankles. If your ankles are on the fuller side, flare will cover them just fine.

Wear cuffs on the bottom of your pants only when your legs are much longer in proportion to your torso. They are leg shortening on petite women. Better avoided. Wide hem makes your legs look longer and leaner.

Midrise is ideal for classic pants for most women. It doesn’t cut your gut when you are sitting as high-rise might or give you a muffin top on your midsection as low rise would. Your jacket should ALWAYS cover your waistline when you raise your hands.

You can ask your tailor to insert small hidden sections of elastic for extra comfort around your waist whether you sit, stand, or walk. Don’t tell anyone. Pants should be comfortable in any position whether you sit or stand.

Your pockets should never gap. If they do, the pants are two small for you. You can either not use the pockets or even leave the stitches in to prevent gapping.

“Every woman has weapons. Color is one of them.” Edith Head, the prolific costume designer with 8 Oscars under her belt, knew what I know now. I love colours so I teach about colours to change people’s lives for the better.

The topic of colour is too vast to cover in a single tweet, so I will just say: black ain’t it.
Contrary to what fashion houses and retailers try to convince you of in the bombardment of their ads and fashion shows, black is NOT a universal colour solution for everyone.