Casual Friday’s took the world too far into the slovenly direction. So the pendulum began to swing back to more buttoned up, more polished ways of dress. Plus, pop culture characters like Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother and Jacob Palmer in Crazy Stupid Love demonstrated just how sexy a suit can be when worn properly. But many men are intimidated by selecting the proper suit. Here’s everything you need to know.

In the world of suits there are several different types of construction. The three main styles of are classified regionally: American, British and Italian.

The Americans
An American style suit is the most casual type. The American suit jacket has medium shoulder padding, two to three buttons and one center vent. The slacks are flat front with narrow legs. The overall silhouette is lean and with the right fit it can be very slimming.

The Brits
The British style, is more traditional with a few extra points of flair. The jacket cut has minimal shoulder padding, moderately tapered sides and generally two side vents. Instead of flat front pants a British suit has pleated pants. Due to the extras touches included on a British cut suit I don’t suggest it for the fashion beginner.

The Italians
The Italian style, in typical Italian fashion, is the most grandiose of the three cuts. The jacket is strongly padded in the shoulders, has noticeably tapered sides and a wider lapel. Customarily, all Italian suits were double breasted but in today’s fashion the double breasted suit has become its own category. The double breasted suit is easily recognizable by its two parallel rows of buttons. When fastened some of the jacket overlaps itself like the manner a pea coat buttons. The double breasted suit is created with more excess fabric than other cuts and because of this men of short stature can be swallowed whole and seem smaller. It’s also not flattering on men of portly proportions but can be extremely elegant on the tall and slender, as if they needed more choices!

When choosing a style of suit you should take your own body into account and purchase accordingly. For example, if you are a man that has sloping shoulders you may want to choose a suit that has ample shoulder padding.

If you aren’t making six figures or more a year you will more than likely purchase an off -the-rack suit. (Although, online options and more inexpensive bespoke opportunities are launching every day.) When selecting a suit if you’re unfamiliar with jacket sizes the numbers may seem confusing. The number is a measurement of your chest and after trying on a few sizes you can easily figure out your own. Or ask the sales clerks and they will be more than willing to make all your measurements for you and prescribe the appropriate size.

Suit pants, thankfully, are sized just as slacks or jeans with the exception that there will probably not be a length. Quality off-the-rack suits will be sold with pants that have excess fabric for length to allow the buyer to get them tailored to his own specifications. Some stores may have their own tailor to do these alterations or they may be able to direct you to a reputable tailor. When altering the pants the tailor will ask if you want the pants cuffed or not. The style of cuffed and un-cuffed suit pants see-saws back in forth almost yearly. I personally think that the appearance of an un-cuffed suit pant makes a cleaner silhouette that is more pleasing to the eye. Some fashion gurus suggest that if the suit pants are pleated, as with the British style, the pants should be cuffed. I have also heard it espoused that no cuffs in pants make for less break and therefore give the appearance of longer legs. I suggest that while at the tailor you allow him to make whatever modifications he deems necessary to your jacket in order to get the best fit.

There are a few more items to perform before your suit is ready to wear. Most designers will have cloth tags stitched to the suit sleeve. These need to be removed with a careful cut to the stitching of the tags. You may also need to cut open the pockets which will have three to four stitches that keep them sealed. Your tailor may perform these tasks for you.

Our last word of warning is to button your suit jacket appropriately. In a two button configuration only button the top button. In a three button if one button is fastened it should be the middle, if two are fastened the bottom button should be always undone.