Here Comes the Groom
In personal styling, we are asked to get sh&^ done…and make it look good. Sometimes we are given ample time to get it done, but sometimes clients call us at the nth hour, panicked. We never back down…I mean never. Most recently, I had a groom contact me about finding him a wedding day suit. Peter was getting married in Thailand. One ceremony would be a traditional Thai ceremony and the other a Western one. His mother-in-law had him set for the traditional Thai ceremony, but after looking and looking and looking some more, he was still at a loss for his wedding suit look.
When he contacted me, we had less than a month.
He had some ideas. He knew he wanted a lightweight suit (hello, tropical temps in Thailand) and he wanted a festive blue — like a light, bright blue. Paisley prints scared him in general. He liked pretty traditional, classic style. He sent over some pics of suits that he liked. I mulled it over and decided we would need to take this show both online and in person. Finding a warm-weather, bright blue suit in the middle of winter was going to be…challenging. We would need to scour sale sites and racks. But, as I have said (and written) before: there is no crying in styling. Or giving up. We looked high and low — Brooks Brothers, J.Crew, Neiman Marcus, Hugo Boss, Billy Reid, Band of Outsiders, Rag & Bone…the list goes on. We looked at off-season sale websites, called retailers to scour racks. We came up with some pretty good options for him to try. We also scheduled an in-person shopping appointment at Nordstrom, Tyson’s Corner.
Although cotton and linen are great fabrics for warm weather, I knew right away that those fabrics wrinkle the second you put them on and would not feel dressy enough for the formal wedding. Still, I never discount anything 100 percent until I see it in person. We ordered a few on sale to try and as backup in case we did not find anything during our shopping trip together.
I arrived at Nordstrom and started pulling suits, shirts, ties, pocket squares and shoes. I found a beautiful deep blue Hugo Boss suit that I immediately sensed was the one. The blue was classic enough for work, but bright enough that with the right accessories would feel perfect for his wedding day. It was a lightweight three-season wool that would be fine for the slightly cooler temps in Bangkok in December-January. Plus — this suit would be in his closet well beyond his wedding day. I wasn’t interested in getting him something he would wear only one time. I also knew I wanted to do a rich cognac for his shoes and accessories to keep his look youthful and modern, instead of black, which also would feel to heavy for the climate.
I pulled a few other suits besides the Hugo Boss, set up a fitting room, and crossed my fingers until he arrived.
He arrived right on time and we hit the ground running. We tried on some of the cotton suits and, as I suspected, they just didn’t feel dressy enough. So on to the Hugo Boss. We held our breaths. He came out of the fitting room, and N’jeri and I squealed. Yes! This was our groom!
We pushed him a bit out of his comfort zone too, getting him a pair of gorgeous gradient-style To Boot dress shoes (“I am not sure about how the color gets dark to light on the shoe.” “Um, you are going to have to trust me on this. DO IT.”). We also decided to get him that bright, light blue — for his tie — and a fun, yellow paisley (yes, paisley!) pocket square that popped against the blue, and tied in the rich warm tones of his shoe and belt.
The tailor came up to make adjustments. The suit would be ready in plenty of time. Our groom was ready!
Fast-forward a month from his wedding day. I received two amazing thank you notes from Pete and his wife, plus pictures from the couple’s gorgeous wedding (hello there berry-colored pumps!) Man. I just love when it all comes together so beautifully. And special congratulations to the newlyweds! xxx
I had 18 months to get a wedding suit, and I blew it. Finding a great looking suit in November in DC that is appropriate for a tropical climate a month out from your wedding is no easy task. After doing the headless chicken thing, I contacted Rosana, who asked for some details of what I was looking for, and she then got the process started right away. What we ended up with was not exactly what I had envisioned, and I couldn’t be happier for it. Rosana pushed my comfort zone, which allowed me to stand out at my wedding, rather than simply looking like another day at the office.I received a lot of compliments and I felt like $28 million. Rosana was efficient, personal, and a pleasure to work with. I would recommend Rosana to anyone who is considering doing anything different with their wardrobe/fashion sense. - Peter Tantisuthorn