Bow Ties Sydney, Australia - Le Noeud Papillon - Specialists In Self Tying Bow Ties


With over 2 million page views, Le Noeud Papillon's blog continues to provide lovers of bow ties with unique stories and content relating to menswear through interviews with industry icons and vignettes into topics relating to suits, shirts, shoes, ties, designers, weavers and much more.

To see the latest products we are working on, visit our online store on www.lenoeudpapillon.com

Want to search the blog for something or someone you've heard about? Use the search bar below to search for all related content.

Google Le Noeud Papillon's Blog

Translate This Blog

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Here Is What I Mean About The Trousers.... AND... Buying Trousers For Overweight Or Oversized Men


Following on from my previous thread about the window pane check I thought I ought to explain in detail what I meant about the trousers. So often men dress with low cut jeans or trousers which have the problem of a) running the risk of showing rear cleavage if you bend over too often and b) letting your stomach / waist line hang over your pantaloonies.

Nobody wants to see a man in my shape show either of these potential wardrobe malfunctions and there is a very simple way to overcome it. a) you raise the waist line in the trousers and come up higher towards your belly button by increasing the rise and b) increasing the size of the waist band. a) is important because as men age they can no longer expect to be as appealing in skinny pants as they were in their 20's and b) is delightful because it acts almost like a naturally embedded cummerbund to hold you in. 

I cannot take credit for increasing the waist band to 3 inches. Credit is due to the design team at Zegna for showing off their designs in April at the Zegna Wool Awards in Sydney and also to pioneer Lucca Rubinacci who has been sporting similar styled trousers (albeit much more elaborate) for the last two years. These small changes in designs are extremely functional for larger men.

And whilst we are on the topic of larger men....This week I was in the city because I needed to replace some jeans which I absolutely adored. The brand was called Isaia and I had picked them up on sale about 6 months ago. The size on the inside of the trousers said 40 /56. I understood this to be 40 inches 'AMERICAN' or '56' European. I tried on three pairs in this exact same sizing tag at VOI in Sydney and none fit me. I went to David Jones and again I was presented with the same problem. I was told that the highest Nudie goes to is a size 38 and that they usually sell out very quickly. The same was said of Levis. The Mavi jeans were not stocked in 38. As far as I knew, Ksube was the same. When I confronted the sales team they said 'you have to go to High And Mighty '. 

There are two ways for retailers to deal with larger sized clients. Either they force their customers to lose weight (not a bad thing and I am working on it regardless) or else they adapt to the market place. Something tells me that if every time you put a 38 on the shelf some rather jolly chap like me snaps them up, then perhaps it's time to take heed and cash in on people who eat too many hamburgers. If you also find it very difficult to find larger sizes and know where one might 'go where everybody knows your name' (Cheers reference), then leave a comment below. It would be an absolutely stellar post if we could give a guide to larger men as to where they can go to purchase good clothes either physically or on the web.

4 comments:

  1. I avoided my local tailor for years because they are an old family and make their trousers with quite a high rise. After trialing them with a couple of pairs (they are cheap), I have grown to love how comfortable they are (especially with braces), even more so than trousers from H&M. I'm firmly of the opinion now that larger guys should a) wear braces and not a belt, and b) should avoid casual clothes such as jeans, shorts and t-shirts, and stick to trousers and shirts. With a bow-tie of course.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I recently discovered your blog as I have a black tie event to attend and want to mix it up with a black velvet bow tie. In fact, there's a large butterfly Holland & Sherry Mayfair in my cart as I type this!

    As a larger gent in my mid-30's I also struggle with finding high quality, modern jeans in my size and in frustration I turned to the web some time ago with some success. I currently have in regular rotation a pair of G Star Radar, Diesel Zatiny,Evisu HT M's and Boss Orange jeans, three of which I purchased online after the continual frustration of "sorry, we don't stock anything above a 36" and similar comments from high street retailers. The Diesel's I bought in the US on a recent trip, I bought the G Star's and Boss jeans online from Mainline Menswear (http://www.mainlinemenswear.co.uk/) in the UK and the Evisu's direclty (http://online.evisu.com/). Prices at Mainline are very good and shipping is fast from the UK, taking 5-7 days on average to arrive in Australia. They also have a good returns policy, though I'm yet to make use of it.

    True Religion jeans are available directly (http://www.truereligionbrandjeans.com/) and they go up to a 44w. Personally, the cut/style of True Religion jeans doesn't suit me but they may suit others. They ship to Australia via Port51, a 3rd party shipper that performs this service for a number of other US-based retailers.

    If you're into selvedge denim, there are a couple of niche manufacturers that I've found so far. These are:

    Noble (http://www.nobledenim.com/) will also build you selvedge jeans to your specifications/size
    Gustin (https://www.weargustin.com/) who have a crowdsource model and make jeans up to a 38w

    Would love to hear of other's finds!

    ReplyDelete
  3. there are local brand that do size 38 and up...
    give them a go ie. gazman

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am working on this subject and would like to make pants/trousers for oversized/overweight men.
    I would love to hear what our biggest problems are as well as what you think the solutions can be I am sure that you have ideas.
    Let me hear from: davidgabs@yahoo.fr

    ReplyDelete