Men's clothes: where do you shop when you have a bubble butt

[Circe]

Okay, y'all, I am at my wit's end. My husband hates shopping. Haaaaaaaaaaates it. As a result, anytime I point out that, you know, he has no clothes, I feel like I'm trying to take a dog to the vet: it's for his own good, but somehow, I'm the bad guy.

A big part of the problem is that a lot of high-end men's clothing just isn't cut for him: he's basically the male version of me, so he's, well, curvy, if you can apply the term to a dude; bubble butt and hips even though he has a medium build. Taking him to the places where I shop, like Brooks Brothers or Saks or Bergdorf's has gone terribly: he walks out fuming over how they cut for old men with no protruding bodily features, orders some Dockers online, and calls it a day.

The thing is, he's rising high enough in his profession that we need to find a place where he can buy nice business wear. So ... any of y'all have any tips? Places where men with "non-WASP" body types have success in shopping?

P.S. - Don't even tell me that the high end stores will tailor. We tried that, and, a) the salesman said it wouldn't be that successful on his build, and, b) this caused the husband to decide they were incompetent to the point that now he rants if I so much as mention the name of the store in passing. Good times!

P.P.S. - We're in NY, so if you know of a bespoke tailoring place you'd recommend, I'd take that, too. Any amount of money is worth getting out of the hell that is shopping with my husband!

 

[davi_el_mejor]

Re: Men's clothes: where do you shop when you have a bubble

Oh Circe I know his pain all too well! I have a huuuuuuuuuuuge bubble butt and hips and thighs compared to the rest of me and the male populous.

Dress pants are the worst!

I have to buy 3-4 inches bigger in the waist to get something that fits around my bum. Even then they look painted on.

Don't ever get pleated fronts, they will only make him feel worse. Flat fronts is what I like to look for.

I've had mild success at The Gap with their straight or relaxed fit. The straight fit is ok, hugs the contours but still looks painted on. The relaxed fit is roomy but practically hangs straight off the butt so the back of the legs look a little funny.

 

[slg47]

Re: Men's clothes: where do you shop when you have a bubble

I would definitely suggest a good tailor. My stepdad basically has to get all of his pants/jackets taken apart at the seams and completely rebuilt so that they fit correctly.

 

[CNOS128]

Re: Men's clothes: where do you shop when you have a bubble

Hi, Circe. My husband has the opposite problem (no butt), and hence, has very few clothes. In a past life when he worked 23-hour days and couldn't afford to take an hour to go buy a suit, but still needed to dress well, he went to tailors. The one that comes to mind is Tom James: http://www.tomjames.com/US/. They will come to your home or your husband's office and build him a suit, or a wardrobe, or whatever.

 

[canuk-gal]

Re: Men's clothes: where do you shop when you have a bubble

HI:

Made to measure.

cheers--Sharon

 

[pennquaker09]

Re: Men's clothes: where do you shop when you have a bubble

bonobos.com

 

[LGK]

Re: Men's clothes: where do you shop when you have a bubble

I got no suggestions but I do sympathize! DH actually will *not* go shopping. I have to buy clothes for him, which he then tries on at home and has me return any rejects. It's ridiculous. I cannot remember him once going into a dressing room... I think the last time was buying a suit for his mom's wedding... like a decade ago or something. (Also see: the last time he wore anything except jeans.) He thinks if his dad settled multi-million dollar deals while wearing paint stained jeans and tennies, he should too . Drives me batty...

With your guy that sounds wretched since dress clothes are much harder to do that with- he *has* to participate. So I really got nothing for you, just following the thread to see if anyone's got any good ideas.

 

[JulieN]

Re: Men's clothes: where do you shop when you have a bubble

http://magazine.wsj.com/fashion/fashion-style/male-order/ Obv, ignore the Hermes suggestion at the beginning. I've always understood Brioni to have a lot of cachet, but it seems that there are no NYC stores.. If you don't want WASP, it seems Italian is the way to go.

 

[CJ2008]

Re: Men's clothes: where do you shop when you have a bubble

http://magazine.wsj.com/fashion/fashion-style/male-order/ Obv, ignore the Hermes suggestion at the beginning. I've always understood Brioni to have a lot of cachet, but it seems that there are no NYC stores.. If you don't want WASP, it seems Italian is the way to go.

Some great resources in that article - look through the comments, too, for more ideas.

 

[pennquaker09]

Re: Men's clothes: where do you shop when you have a bubble

I'm half wasp, half African American (where the butt comes from) so I know the feeling! I'm probably smaller than your hubby, but most of my formal and dress clothes are Ralph Lauren. That's what I got married in. However, for pure disclosure, it was Purple Label. I've also had a lot of success with Hugo Boss and Micheal Bastian.

Nate gets the majority of his suits from Brooks Brothers, but he also gets made to measure. It's a combination of his build and his height. He's 6'5" so it's just easier that way. If I'm not mistaken, their made-to-measure event is usually around this time of the year and that's when he buys his suits. For the last year or so, he's also been going to Billy Reid. It's on Bond Street. The suits are beautiful, but they come at a cost.

 

[Jennifer W]

Re: Men's clothes: where do you shop when you have a bubble

I had a similar issue (DH is very slender, off the peg formal suits drowned him, looked comical). He was downright petulant about shopping for his clothes, and it got old early on in our relationship. I cast him adrift to find his own clothes and took no further part in the process.

A couple of things happened. First off, he didn't have me 'making' him buy this stuff, so his resentment at the difficulty of the process wasn't projected onto me anymore. Next, he became aware all by himself that he needed the clothes for his job and therefore had to take steps to procure them, dealing with all the hard stuff for himself. Funny that.

End point was that he found a tailor who makes to measure. It's expensive per item, but probably cheaper in the long run - a small number of very high quality, bespoke pieces that will last forever. I don't know if he's happy entirely, but he isn't whining anymore, so I'm counting that as a success (for me).

 

[vc10um]

Re: Men's clothes: where do you shop when you have a bubble

My FI has a bit of a behind (he claims it's from spending hours on his bicycle as a child!) and his suit from Banana Republic he purchased last year fits him AMAZINGLY well (so much so that we're going back soon for a plain black one to be his wedding suit!). There was enough space in the pants for his booty and the single-vent jacket has enough overlap that it doesn't pull completely apart when he has it buttoned (a problem he's had with jackets of lesser quality). They also have double-vent jackets which might help visually tone down a bubble butt. He's also had success with jeans from both Gap and Eddie Bauer.

 

[rhbgirl24]

Re: Men's clothes: where do you shop when you have a bubble

Great post everyone! Some very helpful things here. My husband has a horrible time, especially in dress clothes, but for another reason. He is 6'6" and stick thin! So getting things big enought to fit the height it ends up being twice too wide!

 

[february2003bride]

Re: Men's clothes: where do you shop when you have a bubble

Try Lands End. I've gotten DH a few suits there and they are quite handsome! And they have quite a range of sizes.

 

[jstarfireb]

Re: Men's clothes: where do you shop when you have a bubble

No suggestions since we haven't had to shop for pants in a while...but I just wanted to add that my husband and I both share the J-Lo Butt Syndrome. He's Chinese and I'm Eastern European. Go figure.

 

[geckodani]

Re: Men's clothes: where do you shop when you have a bubble

Okay, y'all, I am at my wit's end. My husband hates shopping. Haaaaaaaaaaates it. As a result, anytime I point out that, you know, he has no clothes, I feel like I'm trying to take a dog to the vet: it's for his own good, but somehow, I'm the bad guy.

Oh this made me laugh. I am right there with you! I think I will adopt Jennifer's attitude and make him go get them himself.

Oh wait, but he won't.

Sigh.

 

[allycat0303]

Re: Men's clothes: where do you shop when you have a bubble

Circe,

My husband has a bubble-butt too. It's funny because my sister and brother just say he has a HUGE butt, but I like your term more! To make him feel good, I say it's a *muscular butt* its not a total lie because he's very built...I'm just not sure why the butt sticks out so much. He buys all his suits at Hugo Boss or Ralph Lauren Black Label. At Hugo he gets a slim fit suit, and the tailor lets out the pants so that the pockets lie flat. Thank GOD for our tailor. The butt is non-appreciable in these suits.

Men hate shopping, I get that, but you can't go to work naked!

 

[Circe]

Re: Men's clothes: where do you shop when you have a bubble

LOL - I don't know why so many of my old threads are resurfacing, but I can't say I regret it given the awesome suggestions. Thank you, ladies! These are going on a list, and I am collaring my husband and making him go down the list next weekend.

And then I will take the dog to the vet.

 

[soocool]

Re: Men's clothes: where do you shop when you have a bubble

Well Circe, since this did resurface have your husband add this to the list and it may make trying on clothes just a little easier.

1. Try only flat front pants (no pleats!!!) Pleats make you look bigger, flar front makes you look slimmer.

2. No high waist because they also emphasize a larger bootie.

3.For jeans, something with a looser fit, like relaxed fit or carpenter jeans (with a boot cut) also makes you look slimmer

and ditto to whoever posted about bonobos http://www.bonobos.com/pants

 

[davi_el_mejor]

Re: Men's clothes: where do you shop when you have a bubble

Do they sell Bonobos in retail stores? I'm very interested in trying on a pair!

 

[partgypsy]

Re: Men's clothes: where do you shop when you have a bubble

I don't have any comment but I'm laughing at the term "bubble butt". when we were little we teased our little brother calling him "bubble butt". We just thought we made it up.

My husband has a super round butt as well. He's pretty muscular/built everywhere so he doesn't have to go custom or anything, but his jeans are always tight back there. He looks for wranglers, says they have a little more room in that department.

 

[soocool]

Re: Men's clothes: where do you shop when you have a bubble

Do they sell Bonobos in retail stores? I'm very interested in trying on a pair!

Some Nordstrom stores carry them. http://www.bonobos.com/nordstrom