When it comes to looking good in a suit, Italian men are the sartorial gurus. They recognise fit, cut, quality fabric and how to style the overall look. With our Italian overhaul this week, in celebration of our BrandAlley Renaissance Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show, we wanted to offer you guys a little something special to help you compete with those Italian icons.

In the UK, where better to look than Savile Row? With this in mind, we took a trip to our favourite suitmakers, Kent & Curwen. Here, we lusted over their incredible craftsmanship as we chose the pick of the bunch for our model, Henry, to share with you.

Henry, how have you found the suits you’ve tried on today?

They are incredible, I need one in my life. I honestly feel more confident, powerful and stylish, and in fact more wealthy too – it’s like a dream suit!  

Every part of the suit has been considered and you can tell a great deal of attention has gone into it all. The cut is great and it’s made from a top-quality fabric. I love the contrasting details that make it feel really special and unique.

So you’d wear these suits again?

Oh absolutely. They’re really versatile, so I could see myself getting a great deal of use out of them. You could wear a suit jacket with jeans for a casual dinner, or smarten it up for the West End.

Many of the suits were lightweight, which is great for the summer – especially if you have to wear a suit for work.

With Henry’s powerful words lingering, we interrogated Jason from Kent & Curwen, to suss out this top tailor’s savviest advice for suit shopping. And, more importantly, for online suit shopping – which allows you to click around for the best possible suit, even in your pyjamas.

Finding the perfect suit

The key starting point is to pick out your favourite jacket shape – whether it be from your existing wardrobe or in a shop. Take its measurements and then go straight to your computer with these statistics. Now you can begin to hunt around for different fabrics, different qualities and best of all, the top prices.

Conveniently, Kent & Curwen are on on sale with BrandAlley today so here’s our top tips on how to measure up so you know exactly which one to invest in.

Taking accurate measurements

Shoulder
Measure: shoulder seam on the left to the shoulder seam on the right, across the centre back of the jacket

Chest (measured the whole way round)
Measure: do up the top button and measure across the front middle from one armpit seam to the other armpit. Double this number. Note: the label always shows a size that is 2” smaller than the actual measurement

Back Length
Measure: the back of the jacket from just under the neck lapel to the hem.

Sleeve
Measure: shoulder seam to cuff in a straight line.

Front length
Measure: tuck your tape measure right up beside the top of the front lapel and measure in a straight line down to the hem.

Waist
Measure: From one suit edge to the other, making sure to cross the top button.

Then it just comes down to personal preference. Things to look out for include:

• Shape or number of pockets
• Shape of lapel
• Working cuff (offer the option to roll sleeves) versus fixed cuff
• Shoulder pads versus no shoulder pads
• Vents: double vent, single vent, no vent
• Lined versus non-lined – this is usually a matter of summer or casual, versus smart or winter.

With up to 75% off Kent & Curwen, go and start measuring that jacket you love to get your sizes, and refresh your look at BrandAlley!