Tailoring a (Wedding) Suit in Singapore - Part 2

After my suit making experience last year, I was all geared up to make my wedding suit this year. As it turns out, my wife and myself are not going the typical route of engaging a bridal studio. Not going to explain too much about this – let’s just say we prefer to get our own vendors who are definitely worth our money.

Initially, I thought of looking for a reputable tailor to make my suits. However, upon knowing that my wife’s gown designer – Ted Collection – does suits as well, it seemed like a logical choice for them to handle my suits. After all, I would not have to worry too much about the design aspect, and how to match our outfits etc. Logistically, it would be definitely be easier for us when it came to our fitting sessions.

The only stumbling block is the slightly higher prices. Of course, it depends on how you see it. The money spent is for two made-to-measurement, custom-designed, one-of-a-kind suits in this world =)

Having settled the suits, the only problem was the need to find my own shirt and cravat-tie. The cravat-tie isn’t exactly common to find and buy in Singapore. Lucky for us, I could simply borrow them from Dickson Menswear because I made a suit with Mr. Wong last year. He has a pretty good selection too! For the shirt, it is almost impossible to buy shirts of the colour I want off-the-rack.

The hunt for my shirt led us to many tailors, partly because the colour of the fabric I was looking for is pretty difficult to find.  We pounded the pavements and hit the jackpot – Marcella at The Cathay. Wanting to confirm that the fabric colour was indeed correct, we decided to get a fabric swatch from Ted Collection before making the order with Marcella. Happily, we noted down the fabric’s serial number.

As our luck would have it, we headed back to Marcella the following week and was told by the store that they have decided to revamp i.e. cut down on their fabric selection. Yippie. The fabric was no longer available. What a letdown (at that point in time)!

That very evening, we hit the jackpot again – Clothesmith at 111 Somerset. I have to say that Clothesmith deserves a special mention here as we were pleased with the service, the fabric selection (they had the colors we want) and the advice they gave regarding matching the colour of my shirt to my skin-tone etc.

Overall, Clothesmith gives off a good vibe. Having said that, the steep price was the only reason why we put it on hold. In the event we really couldn’t find the fabric was want elsewhere, Clothesmith will be our backup choice.

By now, it was a do-or-die situation. Our last hope lies with Peninsula Shopping Centre, where a crazy selection of tailors exist. One fine day, we dropped by the shopping complex, and went into each of the more popular and recommended tailors.

After all the effort put in, we located the fabric with the specific colour we were looking for! One tailor arrogantly proclaimed “No tailor here would have this colour! You’ll have to buy it from Chinatown and bring it here!” *laugh*

Dreamland had fabrics that are of a similar colour to what we want. Tessuti Collezioni’s fabric swatch was the exact one we saw at Clothesmith, but at a lower price! After a short decision-making process, with some last minute Google-ing on reviews on Tessuti, we were satisfied and decided to confirm our order with Tessuti.

David – Tessuti’s tailor – is a more quiet guy in general. He was the one who took the measurements and assisted in the design of the shirt. As I mentioned that I’ll be wearing a cravat-tie, he suggested that the collar to have a wider spread so that the details of the cravat-tie can be seen. Settled on a double-cuff, slim-fit shirt with matching buttons for the shirt.

June, on the other hand, is a more colourful character. Chatty and fun to be with, although I think her brand of humour/sarcasm may not rub off the right way with everyone. Nevertheless, my wife and I had no problems with that and enjoyed her company.

Payment was a deposit of 50%, and another 50% on collection. Three weeks later, I returned to try on the shirt. It was perfect. The fabric was sleek and smooth in a satin-like manner. The shirt fits perfectly, and the colour certainly wow-ed everyone who saw it on that day.

Verdict : Great service and workmanship (I checked the seams at the inner side of the shirt) from Tessuti.

Suit
Ted Collection [ Yap | Don | Alice ]
Address : 277 Balestier Road
Tel : 6227 9577
Website : [click here]

Shirt
Tessuti Collezioni [ David | June ]
Address : 3 Coleman Street #03-17, Peninsula Shopping Centre
Tel : 6337 2320

Honorable Mention
Clothesmith [ Clifton ]
Address : 111 Somerset Road #02-10
Tel : 6235 9767
Website : [click here]

Tailoring a (Wedding) Suit - Dickson Menswear Mr. Wong

Exactly three weeks after I had my first appointment with my tailor, I went back for a fitting session. To be honest, there was no major problems when I first tried on the suit. Overall, it looked great when I first tried on the suit! However, we took our time to go through the details, after which we decided there were some minor alterations to be made :

• The pants was a wee bit loose, so I requested for the waistline to be reduced by half an inch.
• The shirt came with single, instead of double cuff. I was informed that it’ll be changed, before I even noticed it.
• Turned out my left and right arms (not my shirt sleeve) were not of equal lengths. Minor alteration had to be done to achieve an even, symmetrical look.
• A second fitting session in one week’s time, which should also be the final session. Will post another update in a couple of days!

By the way, I finally have a tailor-made suit to call my own! Till now, I have not revealed who my tailor is. He is none other than Mr. Wong from Dickson Menswears.

His shop, with a cute little yellow signboard, is located in Suntec City near Carrefour, at Basement 1, beside Pizza Hut.

Mr. Wong has already moved to Bras Basah Complex. (Bras Basah Complex #01-31) His trademark signboard was nowhere to be seen when I visited his new store. If you have made suits with Mr. Wong, cravats are available for rental, each at $20 deposit.
Return the cravat to get back your money!

If you’ve been roaming around Singapore Brides or HardwareZone looking for information on tailoring a wedding suit, no doubt his name would have appeared on your radar. Despite reading mixed reviews (people tend to have an issue with his attitude it seems) on his services, I decided to give it a try, and he did not disappoint us at all!

* Please note that he works on an appointment-only basis, so you need to give him call to schedule a time first.

Our first impression of the shop? It is so tiny that you barely have space to walk in it, and all kinds of suits were on display there. Once there, we had a nice, long chat with Mr. Wong, who took his time to explain to us how does tailoring a suit work, and what kind of package he offers. We didn’t have any problems with him, unlike some others who did.

Despite not having to make a decision on the spot, I made up my mind to enlist his services. The primary reason being that he came across to me as having the traits of a “old school” tailor. During our conversation with him, he would include snippets of information about how things used to work in the past, and that nowadays people prefer so-and-so and don’t like this-and-that. Also, he would explain why certain parts of a suit are made a certain way, and how a suit is to be worn etc.

All these, I feel, are value-added little things which didn’t make me feel as if he is just out to make my money. I ended up taking a package from him, which includes the suit jacket, a long sleeve shirt, and two long pants. The choice of my fabrics for both the jacket and the shirt sort of increased the price a little, so do confirm the pricing before deciding your fabrics, just in case. Total cost? S$450. Only a token deposit was required at this moment, and he said any amount will do (any.. wh.. what?) – we handed him S$50.

* The suit was made in 2010

Now, I understand that the price is not the cheapest – you can definitely get the same deal at a lower price if you were to visit Peninsula Plaza or Chinatown. Would the level of service be the same? At the end of the day, all I can say is that it was money well spent for myself as everything came out the way I wanted, and right on schedule too.

One important thing to note – it’s highly recommended you have something in mind before tailoring a suit at Dickson Menswear. He isn’t exactly the type to give you ideas, although you could take a look at the existing suits in his shop as a guide. After all, you’ll need to know the anatomy of a suit prior to customizing it! (refer to my previous post for more information)

It has been two weeks since I’ve worn my suit during my brother’s wedding. I’ve made a final trip back to Dickson Menswear to collect my second pair of pants that was tailored as part of the package. Once again, the experience was hassle free. Tried on the pants, and paid the remaining balance of $50 after confirming all was OK – in just 5 minutes.

Mr Wong did give a final piece of advice – keep one pair of pants together with the suit, and not wear it. This is to ensure that there is always a brand-new suit ready to be worn, as the fabric of the pants was made to match the suit’s fabric.

All in all, it was a satisfactory experience throughout the few appointments that I had with Mr. Wong. Good luck with your suit-making experience!

Dickson Menswear (S) Pte Ltd
Bras Basah Complex #01-31
Tel : 6836 9078

Tailoring a (Wedding) Suit in Singapore

If you are a normal guy in Singapore like myself, chances are you will probably have little need to wear a suit on a regular basis. Just as I have recently discovered, the process of tailoring a suit can be pretty mind-boggling if you did not do your homework prior to visiting a tailor. Lucky for me, I was well prepared for the onslaught!

Going for off-the-rack suits may be a little easier when it comes to decision making, but a made-to-measure suit at the tailor is definitely worth considering. Nothing beat a well fitting suit to bring out the best in you, right?

Over the weekend, I have made a visit to a tailor to make my very first suit. Meanwhile, I’ve put together a little Suit 101 for the average guy who knows next to nothing about a suit, listing the possible choices you’ll have to make while at the tailor. I guess that’s all for now! I’ll have to wait till end of this month before I go for my first fitting session at the tailor.

Good luck hunting for your perfect suit, and happy reading!

Suit Tailoring 101

1. Colour & Material

Take your pick! For obvious reasons, black is classic and most versatile, going well in a variety of situations. Also, you get to choose from a variety of texture and materials.

2. Single-Breasted vs Double-Breasted

In the case of a single-breasted suit, when the jacket or coat is buttoned up, there is only a narrow overlap of fabric. Most of the suits you see here in Singapore are single-breasted. Check out Wikipedia’s detailed explanation for single-breasted and double-breasted.

3. Lapels

Lapels are the folded flaps of cloth on the front of a jacket or coat. Basically, there are 3 types of lapels – notched, peaked, or shawl. Notched lapels is the most common and versatile. See here and Wikipedia for more information. Below are Notch, Peaked, and Shawl lapels respectively.

4. Number of Buttons

You can have 1, 2 or 3 buttons depending on what style you like. Compared to a 3-button suit, 2 buttons create a deeper ‘V’ at the front of the suit, providing a illusion of height for you. From what we understand from the tailor, 1-button jacket is more casual. While it is fine as a dinner jacket, it is not formal enough for a business suit.

5. Front Pockets

Typically, one breast pocket and two at the waist level. Waist pockets can be horizontal or slanted, and with or without flaps. The tailor can make flaps that can be tucked into the pocket, hiding it.

6. Flaps

You can choose to have the front flaps of the jacket to be rounded at the bottom, or straight.

7. Vents

A vent is an opening at the back of the suit. Suits have either single, double, or no vents. While the single vent is the most traditional, one thing about it is that when the tail panels are pulled apart, you see the part of the anatomy people would rather not show. My personal preference is a double-vented suit.

8. Long Sleeve Shirt

A basic, white shirt should do the trick. You do get to choose what type of collar you’ll like, what shirt material, and whether you’ll like your shirt to be single or double (french) cuff.

9. Pants

Just when you thought it is all over, there is the pants to worry about! I would go with a flat front as it looks better, though pleated front is a possible choice. At the pants leg, a simple rule is that flat front and cuffs do not go together. What is a cuff, you might ask? See Wikipedia here. You have a choice of making the opening of the pants front pocket slanted, or straight down. Also, would you like buttons on your back pockets?

10. Accessories

You’ll probably need some little things to help bring out the look. Perhaps a tie, or a set of cuff-link?

11. Resources

Tailoring A Single Breasted Suit