I don’t usually wear suits, in fact I own only one suit, a suit that I wore 40 pounds ago. That being said, with my very own marriage date rapidly approaching I realized I should get a suit. This was my third stop in my search for the perfect suit.
My initial impression was one of frustration, I was looking around and all the suits said “slim fit”. If you have ever seen what I look like, you would conclude that even at my leanest I was never a “slim fit” type of guy. My upper body has always been muscular with big arms and broad back and shoulders. My legs are like tree trunks, except the third one, that ain’t no damn tree trunk. 🙁
In the past I had a tiny 27-28 inch waist, so suit jackets that fit my upper body came with a pair of pants so huge that they would basically have the back pockets side by side (or overlapping) after they were hemmed. So I had to have this 1 lone suit that I own tailor made. At 175 pounds it fits perfectly.
At 220 pounds not so much. I no longer have a problem with the waist, at 36-40 inches depending on the cut, the 48 inch suit top matches just fine. However my shoulders are still broad, and though I have become somewhat soft in the mid section, I am still quite heavily muscled.
While at Macy’s, for a long time no one helped me, I was basically flying solo. At some point 2 older gentlemen came over to me, they looked at each other, silently fought for the client, then one walked away. I was helped by an older gentlemen, based on the way he looked at me, licked his lips and how he spoke, I concluded this gentleman was probably gay or bi. My son looked at me and whispered in Spanish “why is he looking at you that way daddy”, I smiled and signaled for him to relax and that I would explain later.
The gentleman helped me pick out and try on several suits, none of which really worked with my build. At one point he comes over and puts his hand on my stomach and says “We gotta work on this little pouch here”. Again, my little man’s eyes open big, and he looks at me and asks “why is he calling you fat and touching your stomach pops? Aren’t you offended or embarrassed.”
I’ll admit that part of me felt offended, not because he touched me, but because he put me on the spot like that in front of my son, and a lot of people that were there. I felt somewhat embarrassed and a little annoyed. Especially since I have been training really hard and have dropped over 25 pounds. But since he’s old I let it slide, I also thought it was a good lesson for my son to see that violence is not necessary when one feels offended, you can choose to laugh it off.
After a few more suits he gave up and I continued looking on my own. At one point a woman comes up to me and asks me if I was being helped, I stated somewhat and she started showing me other suits. The gentlemen pops up and they start debating why I would or would not look good in pleated pants, he believed they would make me look bad and much bigger still. Again with my weight. Seriously dude, why are you so concerned with my physique?
I found it mostly funny, but a part of me felt slightly annoyed. In any case I didn’t find a suit. The search is still on!
Just a life long New Yorker sharing the journey through my lens. Please take note of a post’s date. The views I express here are subject to change and evolving as I grow and learn.
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