Tailoring doesn’t have to be all buttoned-up – the right suit can set you free.
There’s an idea floating around that tailoring isn’t comfortable. But who said a suit has to be restrictive? Break free from outdated rules with our Moss London stretch suits. Designed for motion, they’re woven with just enough elastane to hold a strong shape yet let you move freely.
Carve out a more relaxed style with stretch tailoring in unconventional colours. A suit in cappuccino and khaki is more flexible than you think, while a twisted yarn stretches a black and white check suit beyond the traditional.
What’s more, the addition of a little stretch gives our Moss London skinny fit even more hug for extra streamlined style.
For full movement, wear your suit with a stretch shirt. Cut close around the back, chest and shoulders, our stretch shirts are designed to give as the body moves and bounce back to their original form.
A good suit has the power to make your style go further.
One of a suit’s many powers is its versatility. To prove it, here are some key suits for the season, each with a trio ways to wear them.
NEUTRAL
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, a sandy-toned suit will have you on surprisingly solid styling ground. Bag a three-piece in a neutral shade and prepare to power through all your spring/summer dress codes with ease.
Your new neutral-hued friend will get along with most other colours, but will really come into its own worn with blue. Try a button down denim shirt to play down the formality of your full three-piece, or lose the waistcoat and wear your jacket open over a tropical print for a relaxed summer wedding. Need something in-between? Your neutral jacket will have your back for any smart-casual event worn together with navy chinos and a crisp chambray shirt.
PATTERN
Some men are wary of patterns for fear that they offer limited styling options. Not so – as illustrated here. Yes, your patterned suit will work hard at the office paired with a white shirt and a tie that matches in tone but, with the right styling, a checked suit will put in the extra hours in the evenings and weekends too.
Make your grids work for tricky smart-casual by swapping your shirt for a tonal tee and adding spotless white trainers. Or try cuffing your trousers and tucking in a polo shirt as a step up from your usual jeans and jumper combination.
BLUE
You’ve likely got a blue suit of some description in your wardrobe, and for good reason: they are universally flattering and a trusty option for just about any occasion. But blue can also make a statement in this season’s light, bright shades without losing any of its famed versatility.
A wedding is an obvious occasion to pull out a pastel suit. Keep things modern by partnering yours with a soft-hued shirt and a paisley tie to bring out those tonal shades. Not heading to any nuptials? Go all out on a night out with a bold and bright shirt, or style with a striped t-shirt and casual turn-ups to add French Riviera-style to your weekend-wear (even if your plans are not quite so jet-set).
We sit down with Brit actor Dino Fetscher to discuss dressing for the part and shutting out your inner critical voice.
Getting dressed is a ritual we all partake in to set ourselves up for our day, and the right outfit can instantly make you feel more confident and capable, no matter what you do for work. So who better to delve into the transformative power of what we wear than someone who literally gets into costume to do his job?
In the third edition of our series, The Interviews, we talked to actor Dino Fetcher about how what we wear affects how we act.
Dino, tell us about the role of your costume as an actor. What effect does getting into costume have on your work?
It’s a massive part for me, definitely. It’s weird, with costume it’s not just a superfluous extra addition to your character, it feeds so much into the creation of your character. I see a costume as another character; before you even get to things like script or text, it tells a story about what time of year you’re in, your social class, what’s happened.
Straight away from rehearsals you always try to have as much costume as you can, because things like shoes or a top, it’s amazing how they can inform you physically and lead to other choices with the development of your character. So yeah, in that regard they are definitely important and an essential part of the whole process.
That’s interesting because it’s very natural for us all to make assumptions about people based on what they’re wearing, so we’re all essentially wearing a costume that tells the world something about ourselves.
Yeah, exactly. Well, with clothes, I always think everything you put on, there’s an intention behind it. So, it says a lot about your psychology, it’s like why did you choose to wear this top? Is it to impress someone? Is it for comfort? And that when you’re thinking as an actor from that psychological point of view, you can think about the choices that led your character to need these kinds of clothes and why they might wear these kinds of things.
Which of your costumes has been the most transformative?
I’m doing Humans at the moment and my costume is made for me. It’s a bit of a nightmare because it’s made from neoprene, so it’s skin tight and we had so many fittings for it, but it was so important to get just right. And now that it is, it informs so much about my physicality. It allows me to suspend my disbelief, to elevate it to a much higher level so that I can really be in the moment, and really believe even more that I’m in that world, totally submerged.
It literally is so tight, it holds me – we have a choreographer and we work very physically to get the perfect kind of posture – so it gives me tension in my shoulders. It’s not very comfortable, but for the role it’s perfect because it really helps me imaginatively feed into that character.
Do you have any rituals that help you getinto character or prepare yourself before you go on set?
I’ve been doing ten minutes of meditation every day, which for me, is about always being in the moment. That’s the most important thing for acting, being present, being able to shut your ego up, that voice that’s criticising as you go.
Focusing on the story really helps me too, because I think when I was less experienced it was really easy to be in that moment before the scene and you’re thinking ‘how am I going to say this line’ or ‘this is an emotional bit’ but if you’re focusing on that I think you’re completely in the wrong area. If you put all your energy and focus into the story, why the character is saying this, like what’s actually happening, it comes naturally I think. So that’s what I do – I tend to take ten seconds before, just shut people out and really put myself imaginatively into that situation.
We all have roles to play off-set too, so have you learned anything from acting that’s influenced how you take on real life?
As an actor you only have yourself and your imagination, so every character I’ve created has always come from me and comes from what I’ve imagined into it. Lots of times you’re presented with characters who are far from you or who think differently to you or behave differently to you, so it’s my job to understand why that’s the case, to really get inside their head to delve deeper to ask those questions, to figure out a way for me to believe why I would say that.
Then you play them for so long, they never really leave you, they stay with you, so I feel like every character I’ve played has taught me something about myself in my day-to-day life. I played a detective called Alec in a show called Paranoid and he was sort of calmer and a lot more mature and pensive than me, so I did that for six months and it did make me sit back in situations where I may be hot-headed or passionate about something, maybe to just take a second and stop to think about it. So, I think it lets you question yourself a lot more and inadvertently makes you learn a lot more about yourself.
And what about what you wear – does that have any influence on how you act off set?
Yes, totally. I think clothes, say so much and they can make you feel a particular way. It’s like if you were caught out in your joggers and a hoody and you bump into an ex and how you feel about that versus going to an event in a suit. A nice suit immediately gives you a stronger sense of confidence and allows you to kind of be a different version of yourself.
When did you last feel most powerful?
When I’m in a place where I don’t care about what people think of me, when I’m in a place where I’m not self-conscious and I feel no judgement, that’s when I feel truly powerful and I feel like I can do anything.
But it is tricky in an industry like the acting world because it’s hyper-critical, very hyper-critical and tough and competitive, but I think it’s my life’s work really, always working to that place of being free so you can kind of soar. Be it in performance or in life, being able to shut that critical voice off. You know, I think we all have it, but yeah that’s when I feel most powerful.
Hat-enthusiast and fashion influencer Galih talks to us about standing out, signature looks and pushing yourself to be your best.
The power of the suit is all about the boost of confidence you get from presenting yourself at your best. Whether we’re navigating boardroom negotiations or digital terrains, work requires us to put our best selves forward to get the job done.
In the second of our series, The Interviews, we meet Galih Richardson, one-third of the creative trio, The Outlanders, to discuss the power of dressing sharply.
As an influencer, you’re followed for your personal style and you’re rarely seen without your signature hat. Tell us why it’s such an important part of your look?
I think the hat is a very Outlander signature, and it’s just another way to create individual style in an outfit. So many people can wear a suit and so many people can wear workwear and all this sort of stuff, but when you add a hat to it, it finishes it off – it makes it a little bit more, it elevates the style and it takes it to another level.
You’re also often wearing tailoring. How do you feel when you put on a suit? Does it play any part in how you present yourself to your audience?
If you wear a suit, it’s a coat of armour, it’s your suit of armour. It becomes your layer against the rest of the world, you know what I mean, and it becomes your sort of signature power to push what you believe in to the rest of the world. It’s like your signature – your signature is yours, your body shape is yours and, with an outfit, if you’re wearing a suit, it’s got to fit, it’s got to be yours, it’s got to be your signature.
Do you have any rituals that put in the right mindset for your work? Is there anything you do that makes you feel confident or in control?
I mean meditation is huge because Outlanders is all about Asian influence and with us meditation is really important to centre yourself before a busy day. Or, if you’re struggling with something in life, to meditate yourself to centre yourself again. And also, you know, confidence. Believing in yourself and having the confidence to stand out. Standing out isn’t about showing off, it’s just about being yourself, I think that’s what’s important.
At Moss Bros., we believe in the power of putting your best self forward into the world. What have you learned about creating a look that’s authentic to you?
I think knowing you are an individual, knowing your body more than anything is the most important thing about dressing yourself. Everybody is different, I don’t believe in a small, medium, large, extra-large, I don’t believe in that. I don’t believe people can be categorised into medium or small or whatever it is. I believe that we are all individuals, so each of us has our own shoulder width and waist size, and we need to dress accordingly to that. If you need to buy an outfit, get it tailored, whatever it is. It costs so little to get each bit tailored, so to do that, that’s the important part.
When did you last feel most powerful?
Power to me is a combination of where you’ve been and where you’re heading into the future. Being able to see what you’ve done and to push yourself forward and to do better every day. I’ve come to realise that we’re born alone and we die alone but in between is all bridging those relationships with people who are close in your life and the last time I felt powerful was helping someone else who was close to me who needed help. That’s all it is. That’s the easiest way to feel powerful in life, because that way you know that during your lifetime you are sort of working on the relationships you have and you’re not alone.
