By Roger Stone

A well-dressed man wears clothes that suit him, clothes that are recognized as being the proper clothes for the occasion. He doesn’t go down the river in a straw hat, black morning coat and flannel trousers!

When you visit your tailor, be your normal self. Do not hold your breath when the tape is going round what is left of your shapely waist.

An experienced tailor knows what you are up to. He has already cast a professional eye over your manly form; he knows that you cannot keep up the strain for more than a minute or two and that your beautiful crescent-shaped waist will reassert itself while he is measuring you for trousers.

Vow that you will not eat potatoes and bread in the future and that you walk for at least two hours every day, but do not compress your waist.

Never mind if you have got an inch bigger in the waist. Very likely it isn’t your fault and you can comfort yourself with the reflection that many a man of the lean kind would welcome that extra inch.

Do not allow your tailor to blunder with regard to a ticket pocket. If this is made absurdly small, so that you have great difficulty in putting your fingers into it, it will stretch out of shape and “sag” away from the rest of the coat.

When ordering a coat from his tailor, a man should state whether he is going to keep his coat buttoned up or unbuttoned.