Hello everyone, and welcome to another tailoring review! On this shiok Saturday, I’m reviewing the fit and craftsmanship of the suit and shirt that I commissioned from Perfect Attire.
If you have not yet done so, do read Part 1 of the review here first, whereby I chronicled my experience of experience of having a 2 piece suit and shirt commissioned at Perfect Attire.
Without further ado, let’s see how the fit of the suit turned out!
Update: I’m pleased to offer curated tailoring packages from Perfect Attire on The Shiok Shop. If you’re looking for bang-for-buck deals, do check out the webstore.
Perfect Attire – the Fit
Given the numerous fitting sessions of Perfect Attire, my expectations of the fit was high. Thankfully, they did not disappoint!
The front of the suit looks good, so that’s a great start! Firstly, the shoulders fit well. They lie neatly, without any visible wrinkling or bunching. This is great, since the fit of the shoulders are probably the most important component of the jacket as they are almost impossible to alter once crafted. Secondly, one can see slight tapering at the waist, making my waist look smaller than my shoulders. Thirdly, the jacket is of the right length as well, ending near the middle of my crotch – long enough to not expose the dress shirt underneath (a pet peeve of mine). Lastly, I found the jacket to be of a comfortable snugness. There are some wrinkles emanating from the jacket button, but in my opinion they are still acceptable and gives the jacket a fitted look. It’s certainly nowhere near as tight as a Tom Ford suit would be! Furthermore, the length of the trousers is perfect for a no break look, with the trousers just barely touching the tip of my dress shoes. The trousers drape cleanly as well, with few wrinkling seen throughout. Kudos to Perfect Attire on that front!
The sleeves fits great! The sleeves are of the correct width, and that the sleeve pitch is near perfect – evidenced by the lack of wrinkling throughout most portions of the sleeve. We also don’t see the presence of the dreaded shoulder divots here – one of the cardinal sins of tailoring, in my opinion. The sleeve length is spot on as well, ending at my natural wrist-bone, and short enough to expose a quarter inch of the shirt fabric. Elsewhere, the jacket collar fits well too, with it resting on the shirt collar nicely without an unsightly gap in between.
The area which impresses me the most is the fit of the back. As aforementioned in my previous tailoring reviews, I have a concave back which often results in unsightly wrinkles behind. Getting a clean back has always been a challenge for the tailors which I’ve visited, so I have to say I have to applaud Perfect Attire for being able to nail the clean drape of the back! Definitely one of the best fitting backs I’ve encountered thus far.
Lastly, I would say that the fit of the shirt is decent. The length of the sleeves is nailed, with the shirt cuffs ending at my wrist bone. In addition, the shirt is of the right tightness and is comfortable, and one don’t see wrinkles surrounding the shirt buttons. However, the fit of the shoulders are slightly off. My shoulders are differently sloped (one is higher than the other), and when this isn’t taken into account sufficiently, wrinkles can often be seen. While the fit of my left shoulder (right side of the photo) is perfect, there’s definitely room for improvement on the fit of my right shoulder (left side of the photo).
Overall, I have to say that the fit of Perfect Attire really impressed me, especially for the suit. I was particularly wowed by how they managed to nail to fit of the sleeves and the back – areas previously reviewed tailors have struggled with.
Perfect Attire – the Craftsmanship
In my opinion, the craftsmanship of Perfect Attire separates them from their competition.
I opted for a medium grey Drago Super 130s fabric for the suit, and I love it! The full wool fabric feels premium and silky to the touch, and when worn remains breathable – unlike polyester suiting fabrics. If you have not yet tried a full wool fabric (Drago, VBC, etc), I think this Drago Super 130s range of fabric is a great entrant into the world of luxury suiting fabrics.
Craftsmanship is apparent in the details of the suit. Firstly, there’s pic stitching on the lapel, which requires more man hours from the seamstress to execute. Secondly, one see the hand-pulling of the Milanese buttonhole, which is an artisanal beauty. As I mentioned in Part 1 of the review, crafting the Milanese buttonhole is a painstaking process – a single wrong stitch, and the seamstress will often have to start over. Lastly, there’s also the curved Barchetta pocket, which is also more tedious to make than a regular straight pocket. Combined, the various subtle artisanal elements elevates the look of the suit.
Perfect Attire offer fully canvassed suits, resulting in a lovely lapel roll (see cover photo). As mentioned in my tailoring guide, hand-canvassed suits will often have little dimples on the back of the lapel. These indicates the areas in which the tailor hand-stitched the canvas to the suit fabric. “Canvassed” is a term thrown around rather loosely nowadays – especially by affordable tailors – so one should definitely check certain aspects such as the aforementioned canvas dimpling and lapel roll to ascertain if the suit is truly canvassed. In addition, one can see that the collar is hand-set. The “fold-back” piece of fabric seen above is actually seam allowance, which allows tailors to re-cut the collar after a fitting if required – this is almost always done by hand. Furthermore, there’s also additional holes on the back of the lapel for a boutonniere to be secured.
The sleeves are functional as well! While functional cuffs serves little practical purposes today, it is often a sign of a well-made suit, showing an attention to detail and craftsmanship. I went for horn buttons – kissing, for enhanced elegance – and customised the colour of the last buttonhole to red. Unfortunately, it looks like the last buttonhole wasn’t cut properly, resulting in loose fabric edges around the buttonhole. Usually, this indicates that the button was stitched first then cut, rather than the other way around.
For the inner lining, I chose a black paisley pattern, which I think complemented the grey Drago fabric nicely. The contrast isn’t too drastic, but it still showcases a touch of flair. One also sees the monogram of my name in red, as well as the Drago “brand” patch stitched on the inside of the jacket.
To enhance breathability – especially in Singapore’s humid climate – I decided to go for a quarter lining, whereby the majority of the back is unlined. This is technically challenging, with most affordable tailors not even offering this option. Again, this demonstrates Perfect Attire’s high level of technical capability.
As per my preference, I went with brass side adjusters on the trousers. I personally prefer side adjusters over belt loops due to its cleaner look, and love the brass for a slight vintage vibe. Perfect Attire also allows one to customise the stitching on the ends of the pockets, which is interesting – I’ve not encountered this customisation option at other tailors before. To match the Milanese buttonhole and the last sleeve buttonhole, I again went with red for the contrast stitching on the pockets. I think it turned out to be a nice subtle detail!
I previously decided upon a simple blue contrast lining for the trousers, and I think it turned out quite well. It makes for a nice juxtaposition, but isn’t too fancy or wild. Of course, Perfect Attire has plenty of other lining options to choose from, including patterned variants if you’re feeling a tad more adventurous!
Moving on to the shirt, this is my first time trying Andreazza & Castelli fabric, and I must say that it is really comfortable. It’s 100% cotton, and has a smoothness to it that is reminiscent to Egyptian cotton. Furthermore, I think the black mother-of-pearl buttons on the pink shirting fabric makes for a nice contrast, and it also complements the grey tone of the suit.
Perfect Attire gave me extra room on my left cuff for a watch, which is paramount to me as a watch enthusiast! In addition, I went with a monogramming of my initials (in grey, to complement the suit colour) on the French cuffs. I think it turned out rather nicely, and it is makes the shirt unmistakable for anything else other than a tailored shirt.
Lastly, Perfect Attire’s shirts features a spilt yoke construction. As compared to the usual single yoke construction, a spilt yoke construction often requires more fabric and labour. It also provides more comfort to the wearer when moving, giving the shirt more stretch to lessen the strain on the yoke.
All in all, Perfect Attire shone in their high level of workmanship, as well as variety of customisation options that one often don’t get at an affordable tailor.
Comparison: Perfect Attire vs Edit Suits
Like Perfect Attire, Edit Suits is located in the CBD area, and offers European full wool (VBC Perennial) suits at under $1000. As such, I shall be comparing Perfect Attire to Edit Suits for today!
On paper, both tailors offer great value. A half canvassed VBC Perennial suit and a shirt starts at $998 (after my promo code) at Edit Suits, while a full canvassed VBC Perennial suit from Perfect Attire (with a complimentary shirt) costs $950 after the promo code below. To my knowledge, you will be hard-pressed to find a canvassed European 100% wool suit for 3 figures elsewhere! That being said, I would say that Perfect Attire has a slight edge (value-wise) as you’re getting a full canvassed construction, though it costs a tad more.
In addition, Perfect Attire offers more customisation choices, with options such as a Milanese buttonhole, Barchetta pocket, contrast stitching and inner lining on the trousers etc available. However, where Edit Suits shines is in their convenience. As Edit Suits does not have a baste fitting process, clients only have to visit the showroom once to get measured. Thereafter, customers can either choose to have the garments mailed to their house, or pick it up at their convenience at Edit Suits’ showroom. Despite the lack of a baste fit, the fit of their garments are actually quite good, as I covered in detail in my review of Edit Suits. In contrast, due to the multiple fittings that Perfect Attire incorporates, the client invariably have to pop by multiple times. If you’re a busy professional, this would likely not be ideal.
While you can’t go wrong with either tailor, which tailor is better depends on your needs. If you like to customise, and have a limited budget, Perfect Attire would fit the bill perfectly (pun intended) given that they offer full canvassed suits from just $650 (and there’s even a free shirt with the promo code below)! However, if you’re a busy professional who prize convenience, and simply need a well fitting, no frills suit for work, Edit Suits would be the better option.
Conclusion – so Perfect Attire “shiok” or not?
Definitely. Firstly, I’m impressed by the level of craftsmanship demonstrated in the details of the garments – Milanese buttonhole, Barchetta pocket, hand-canvassed construction, quarter lining, spilt yoke on the shirts, etc. These are features more commonly seen at much more expensive bespoke tailors! Secondly, the fit (especially for the suit) is great as well. Thirdly, I also appreciated the wide range of customisation options that Perfect Attire offers. Last but not least, the value proposition is terrific – I think their prices for a fully canvassed VBC/Holland & Sherry/Drago suit may be the cheapest in town at $950. In terms of value for money, Perfect Attire is really hard to beat.
At Perfect Attire, a 2-piece half-canvassed suit starts from $650, with fully canvassed suits starting from $800. Fully canvassed 2-piece premium suits (VBC/Holland & Sherry/Drago fabrics) start from just $950. In addition, Perfect Attire is kindly offering readers a free shirt with any suit purchase! Readers are entitled to a complimentary house fabric shirt with a purchase of a 2-piece suit – simply flash this post to redeem the free shirt. If you’re looking for a well-fitting, well crafted suit fashioned from a premium European fabric, Perfect Attire is a great option that won’t break the bank!
Update: The Drago Super 120s series have been phased out. Currently, $950 entails you to a fully canvassed Super 130s pure wool house fabric, while those who specifically want Drago can opt for the Drago Super 130s series at $1300, also fully canvassed.
Curated package deals from Perfect Attire can be found here. In particular, I recommend the $950 Full Canvassed Drago Suit + Shirt package, and the $720 Back to Work package.
Interested customers are recommended to book an appointment online here prior to dropping by.
Read Part 1 of the review here, whereby I chronicled my experience of getting a suit and shirt tailored at Perfect Attire!
Location:
Oxley Tower Unit 03-38, 138 Robinson Road, Singapore 068906.
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