The Measure Of A Man
The measure of a man is marked by his actions. There are certain firsts in a man’s life that stand out and inevitably impact his future conduct; rites of passage through which we pass that play an important role in our development from boyhood to manhood: our first kiss, first paycheck, first apartment, and first made-to-measure suit.
Mediocrity
I have a friend that until recently had never owned nor worn a made to measure suit. An intelligent man, incredibly funny and mildly successful professionally (although not as much as he would like), he’s a great guy and not bad looking at all. The problem is his confidence. Around the ladies he is a fumbling mess – shoulders hunched, afraid to speak up and show the same humour, intelligence and character we love him for. His dress sense was mediocre, his confidence was mediocre and his success in pursuits of business and pleasure were, to put it bluntly, mediocre. Success being a result of accumulated habits. His habits were clearly mediocre.
Doing what I do for a living (co-founder of made-to-measure menswear company gb conduct), I’ve often encouraged him to take more care with his approach to dress. As with most men, he buys high street off the peg: clothes that do a job, just not very well. Our bodies are as unique as our minds and character and should treated as such.
There are a number of body shape categories into which we may fall, but within these categories our sizes and proportions are vastly unique. Why then should a man of standards choose to knowingly wear clothes designed to fit the average man?
After one particularly embarrassing evening of fumbled speech and awkward lingering, with a dented pride and pounding head, he gave in to my gentle persuasion. At gbconduct we were trialling a soon to launch custom, made-to-measure suit service, to sit alongside the jackets we currently offer, so I offered to make him a (very well dressed) guinea pig.
His First Time
Four weeks later I arrived with the suit at his door. With the trousers and shirt tucked in place, he slid the soft maroon lining of the jacket over one shoulder and then the other and he turned to look in his living room mirror to see himself in the navy blue single-breasted wool suit with the customisations he had chosen. Wearing a suit showing the correct amount of cuff, tapered in at the waist and shaped to the contours of his body, he seemed to unconsciously straighten his posture. The improvement was marked not only in how he looked, but, more importantly, in how he felt. This is not a unique case. The first time any man wears his own made-to-measure suit he really feels like a man capable of achieving his desires. Smiling, he looked at me and, after a brief pause, said, “We’re going out tonight.” I obliged. That night was the probably the first time I’d seen him be his authentic self and genuinely have fun. I’d never seen him so decisive and direct around women before.
Style | Confidence | Success
This is why I love what I do. Once you’ve tried made-to-measure, you can never go back, nor would you ever want to. A well-fitted, quality suit is a statement of masculinity: I’m here to be taken seriously and I have the confidence to back it up. We at Gbconduct live by three words: Style | Confidence | Success. Correct style is a foundation for confidence and confidence is the platform upon which success is built.
The way we choose to dress belies the standards to which we hold ourselves: it is a small reflection of the larger way in which we live our lives. Made-to-measure makes the man.
