MW TUX (Men''s Wearhouse). Umm...?

[musey]

Let me preface this by saying I know NOTHING about mens' formal attire. This is also a really weird post that I can't seem to make flow very well. Sorry!!

We went to old standby Men's Wearhouse (which is calling itself MW TUX these days, apparently) today. We figured the fact that all men in the wedding had one within 1 hour of them was enough reason, and that they'd have a big enough selection to be happy enough with what we found. We did end up reserving a tux there and setting ourselves up in their system, because as far as I could tell as long as we give more than 21 days notice to cancel we get a full refund.


Anyway, FI is a smaller guy... 5'8" and ~150 pounds... so most everything they had to try he was drowning in. The jackets were fine and he picked a Tommy Hilfiger (this one) with ivory shirt, ivory tie and black vest.

They had pants a size too big, and they seriously looked like MC Hammer pants. He tried on what should've been his size, and they were tight on the waist but still REALLY baggy everywhere else. It's not a great look on him, because he's soo slim that it looks strange. I made a comment about trying flat-front pants instead, and they said they only carry pleated. ?? Am I the only one that thinks this is weird??


So, am I wrong in comparing it to his Express dress pants, which are flat front and NOT baggy at all? Are tux pants always pleated and baggy?? I'm so confused!

 

[musey]

Here are his express pants...

 

[musey]

This is about what the tux pants looked like... a little more balloony...

 

[Selkie]

I kinda think they are generally loose fitting in the hips and thigh, but shouldn''t be super baggy. DH is just about the same size as your FI, and was wearing a 30" waist at the time of the wedding. He rented from MW too. I''m posting a pic of him (in the middle) with his best man and nephew. I don''t know where their tuxes were from. But all the pants look loose in the thigh. Seen from the side, there''s a little more of a clown pant appearance, but the length of the jacket hides the baggy pleated hip look. I prefer flat fronts myself, but he likes pleated.

I don''t know why, if there''s anything that''s going to make a skinny guy look chunky...Regardless, I thought he looked really nice in the tux, not that I''m biased, of course!

 

[Selkie]

Just a thought, you can probably buy flat front tux pants separately. ETA: Yup.

 

[sunnygirl]

Hey Musey!

I totally see what you mean about the pants. (By the way, I love that you called them hammer pants hehe.) I think it has to do with the style of tux. Not every tux is like that - it just seems like more of an old fashioned style. We actually went to Macys a couple weekends ago when they were having a huge sale on suits/tuxes and he bought two tuxes that have a more modern fit with flat front pants and slimmer jackets. (He is going to return one once he decides which he likes best!) They look amazing! One is John Varvatos and the other is Hugo Boss Red Label which is their more "young, hip" line. And they were half off original price! Anyways, my point is they don''t have to be Hammer pants. Do you have time to check out other tux rental places to see if they have more modern styles?

Good luck!

 

[JulieN]

flat front is more modern. pleats definitely was the classic way to go.

I wonder if Giorgio Armani has flat or pleated...

 

[iheartscience]

No, tuxes don''t always have pleated pants! Random story, but when I was in NYC with my boss a few months ago we went shopping and he ended up buying a great tux from Hugo Boss with nice, slim flat front pants. I may have talked him into a bit,

but he was happy with it in the end! I would recommend Hugo Boss for sure for a modern, clean tux.

Can your fiance get his tux elsewhere and have the groomsmen still get their tuxes from MW? Just an idea!

 

[Neveah]

I had been told by many people to consider other stores than MW. Their tuxes don't photograph as well (apparently) and their selection is not as good, their ivory shirts look yellow, etc.

I went anyway and was not impressed. I too was not thrilled with the pleated pant.

Try Skeffington's.. they have locations everywhere as well and a much larger selection. I attached a picture of my hubby and some of his groomsmen, (tuxes from Skeffington's) we got tons of compliments on them. Good Luck!

 

[musey]

Date: 6/15/2008 11:15:37 PM
Author: Selkie
Just a thought, you can probably buy flat front tux pants separately. ETA: Yup.

Yeah, I''m thinking this may be our best route as well! FI said "I''ve been wanting some nice dress pants, anyway" but I don''t think he was thinking of a pair with a satin stripe

Thanks for the reference pic, Selkie! They really do look normal in the context of a wedding photo, but in person it''s just so weird!!

 

[musey]

Date: 6/15/2008 11:16:40 PM
Author: sunnygirl

Do you have time to check out other tux rental places to see if they have more modern styles?

We do, but our rush is because one of FI''s groomsmen is going out of town for the next two months. He''ll be gone past the deadline MW gave us for coming in to get measured.

and there are no MWs where he''ll be (Hawaii). I''m gonna have to figure out if there''s wiggle room on this.

 

[musey]

Date: 6/15/2008 11:47:07 PM
Author: thing2of2
No, tuxes don't always have pleated pants! Random story, but when I was in NYC with my boss a few months ago we went shopping and he ended up buying a great tux from Hugo Boss with nice, slim flat front pants. I may have talked him into a bit, but he was happy with it in the end! I would recommend Hugo Boss for sure for a modern, clean tux.

Can your fiance get his tux elsewhere and have the groomsmen still get their tuxes from MW? Just an idea!

It seems like this would work... They're giving us his rental free (it's a rent four get one free dealie, two groomsmen + dads) so we'd have nothing to lose with keeping the rental plan with them and him just buying his own anyway, I guess. Don't know if we'd wanna budget for it, though

 

[musey]

Date: 6/16/2008 12:04:53 AM
Author: Neveah
I had been told by many people to consider other stores than MW. Their tuxes don''t photograph as well (apparently) and their selection is not as good, their ivory shirts look yellow, etc.

I went anyway and was not impressed. I too was not thrilled with the pleated pant.

Yeah I was just not wowed by their selection at all, though I didn''t necessarily expect to be as I would hardly think of them as high end... but I figured it was just because I don''t know anything about this stuff!

Try Skeffington''s.. they have locations everywhere as well and a much larger selection. I attached a picture of my hubby and some of his groomsmen, (tuxes from Skeffington''s) we got tons of compliments on them. Good Luck!

I looked at their website and only saw locations in Kentucky and Ohio... "everywhere" for us has to include Los Angeles, Illinois and Seattle

 

[sap483]

From what I''ve found, most smaller tux places don''t mind taking measurements over email/phone/fax etc. So if you find a smaller tux shop with a better selection of tuxes near you, then you could always have the other groomsmen go to another tux shop or tailor and get measured and call in the measurements. That is what we ended up doing because we wanted a particular tux that not many shops carried. FI''s brother who is currently working in Kenya and another one of his groomsmen who lives in NYC had to send us their measurements. When they arrive for the wedding, they can go in to pick it up and they''ll make any last minute alterations.

 

[buttercup80]

I had a similar problem with MW - their salespeople were just not helpful in the least! FI and I went in, not really knowing much about men''s formal wear and their website is just overwhelming - plus it''s hard to get a real feel for something based on just a picture. The store close to us didn''t have samples of ANYthing to try on - and didn''t make any suggestions at all (looking at any other MW''s close by, ordering samples for FI to try, guidance as to which styles might look the most flattering, etc). . . They just said "look on the website."

We wound up going to Michael''s - where they were exceedingly helpful. Ask wherever you wind up about measuring guys out of town - my brother lives in Australia and Michael''s said he could just get measured the week before the wedding when he got into town. They also said that if he got measured by a tailor, they would use those measurements to have an idea of what he''d need.

 

[musey]

Date: 6/16/2008 9:26:50 AM
Author: sap483
From what I''ve found, most smaller tux places don''t mind taking measurements over email/phone/fax etc. So if you find a smaller tux shop with a better selection of tuxes near you, then you could always have the other groomsmen go to another tux shop or tailor and get measured and call in the measurements.

That''s really good to know! I wish that our MW guy had told us that instead of insisting that FI''s groomsman come in before leaving next weekend