Same Suit for Different Body Types?

[NorCalJosh]

in several months (june of next year), i have the privilege of being best man in my friend's wedding. His fiancee and him have decided against an ultra fancy wedding, and as such, the groomsmen will be wearing black suits with some unknown color of shirt underneath, unbuttoned, no tie. this raises a couple questions, things i've never thought of in my relatively short life and never planned on thinking of. first of all, the groom would like to make himself different in some way, ie pinstripes on his suit and not ont he rest, or vice versa.

the problem is the groom is about 6' and weighs about 140 on a good day. i told him pinstripes would make him look ridiculous. i know this because i read cosmo. so... i guess the questions would be something like this. there will be the groom and 5 groomsmen, ranging from short and stumpy (5'7, 180, not fat) to average american male (me, 5'11, 175) to larger (6'2, 230 or so). is it going to be possible to fit all 6 of us in the same cut/style of suit without someone looking retarded? and more importantly, where would we even start looking for something like this? the groom would like to buy the suits for everyone, and he is not looking for a hundred dollar kmart special, but if possible he'd like to average around 500 per suit. i know very little about buying such things, since my non work outfit has progressed little past the douchey frat look in the 3 years since i dropped out. any help would be awesome.

[swede123]

That's what rentals are for. Go to a nicer tux rental place and you'll find lots of non-tux looking suits that you can rent for a wedding.

By the way, I'm a moron with reading comprehension issues.

Swede

[Aloysius]

NorCal - first, that's generous of your buddy to buy you all suits.

Pinstripes would not be flattering on the groom's frame, it will only empahsize his lankiness, and he is already really skinny (whoah 140?).

You can just go to Brooks Brothers (price range fits) and get basic charcoal-grey suits that are the same color fabric, but in different cuts that will flatter the groomsmens' different body types.

-Al

[Evan]

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a suit with an unbuttoned shirt and no tie does not equal "ultra fancy wedding" to me.

Swede

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His fiancee and him have decided against an ultra fancy wedding

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[NorCalJosh]

swede- we could do a rental, but he'd like to do it for the guys and can afford it within reason, so i wouldnt argue with him.

Al- 140 is being generous. everyone has told him that pinstripes would be a bad idea on him, so i think we can assume we've changed his mind about him wanting that. knowing next to nothing about suits, if all of us get different cuts, will we look like a random mismatched assortment? or is it possible to get like a general style and just get them individually tailored or something like that?

[Aloysius]

NorCal - you just want to make sure that the suits you all get are the same fabric color and style (meaning single vs. double breasted, 2 vs. 3-button, etc). Different styles can be more or less flattering depending on body type (heavier guys should avoid double-breasted suits for example), but you have to kind of make a style-choice and go with it, as you would if you were renting a bunch of tuxes.

Some suit-makers, I believe, sell different cuts of suits they produce (I think Brooks Brothers basically just sells an American Cut suit, which is a very standard middle-of-the-road cut).

Different cuts can be flattering on different frames (there is also a Full Cut, not tapered at all, and a European Cut, which tapers at the waist), and I don't think different cuts will impact the overall uniform look of the groosmen too much. But really, a decent tailor can make any American Cut look good on any body type.

So as long as the suit style, fabric and color is the same for all the groomsmen, it should be fine I think.

-Al