How to Dress If You’re a Thin, Tall Man

“Oh come on!” you say to yourself, while rummaging through the jeans rack at the Gap. “Just one pair of 32×34, that’s all I’m asking for!”. Men that are both tall and thin, it seems, are such a minority that clothing manufactures don’t bother to produce anything that fits us properly. Unfortunately, I’m not going to tell you about a magical store that produces stuff that fits right, but I am going to give you few tips on what to look for and what to avoid.

Shirts

Wearing shirts that are too tight will make you look like Ichabod Crane, especially if you’ve got skinny legs. Going the opposite way, towards bagginess, looks equally ridiculous. The best route for dress shirts is to get something slightly fitted, taking special care to make sure the arm length is right.

Avoid stores like Bananna Republic and Express, who sell shirts in small, medium and large. Medium tends to fit good across the body, then screw you in arm length. Large has the exact opposite problem. Go to a larger store like Nordstrom or JcPenny, they’ll give you a much better selection of sizes and styles to choose from. Remember, when it comes to looking good it’s the fit that’s more important then anything else.

Pants

Stay away from anything that tapers. Straight leg pants are the safest way to go. A good boot-cut pair of pants can look great, giving you just enough of a flair to look a little broader without making you look like a flower child. Pleats look better on tall men than plain-front pants. Try and find high-rise pants, and avoid pants that sit too far below the waist line. Part of looking good is proportions, and you don’t want to lengthen your torso too much.

Pre-worn jeans are in style, and can be used to the tall man’s advantage. Look for horizontally striped “bleaching”, especially near the upper thigh or where pleats would be on dress pants.

Shoes

Often, being tall and having large feet go hand in hand. Anyone with size 13 or 14 feet knows that it can be a pain in the ass to find anything even in stock in those sizes at a shoe store, regardless of whether or not it looks good. Chuck Taylor’s look great if you’re between size 8 and 10, but start to look like clown shoes in larger sizes. Avoid shoes made from a material that doesn’t retain it shape when it gets too big. Also shy away from thick or wide-sole shoes, and look for something with a slightly tapered toe.

Vertical stripes

Avoid these like the plague, they make you look even thinner then you already are. For dress shirts you should try and stick with solid colors or checkered patterns. The stripe rule also applies to pin stripes on suits. Everybody in the 1930’s was really short, so they look pretty cool in pinstripe, but you’ll just look lanky and awkward. Vertically striped pants are a fashion that everyone, short or tall, should avoid.