New Suits

Sunday was our first day to navigate Bangkok on our own. We started by going to have final fittings done on the suits we bought.

This ain’t JC Penney’s. When we were in the other day, we first were given several books that had pictures of different styles of suits that had been taken from a variety of fashion magazines. They were put together in page protectors, and you pulled out the pages that had something you liked. The tailor then made notes about what to put together (this collar, that pocket style, how many buttons, vents in the back, etc.) and then you stood up to be measured.

Although it’s very professional, it is somewhat disconcerting to hear your actual true measurements – not the ones you put on your driver’s license – called out while an assistant writes them on a chart.

Oh well, as Popeye says, “I yam what I yam.”

You don’t want to fudge because you want the suit to fit right.

Then you look at fabric. Walls and walls of it. Blacks and blues and greys and browns and taupe and whatever else you can imagine. We each wanted a suit with two extra pairs of pants, and he was able to immediately pull out a dozen options that all went together for us to review.

So we got measured, and then on Sunday we had to go back for a final fitting. The suit is kind basted and loosely sewn together and they pin you up (carefully!) to make sure everything is flattering to you and fits comfortably. They’ll be delivered to our hotel on Monday evening, all ready to go.

Afterwards, we wandered around on our own and re-learned a lesson that we’ve experienced before, but forgot.

Always, always, ALWAYS bring both the camera and an extra battery. Even for the most mundane trip to the 7-Eleven, because you never know what’s going to pop up.  Our camera battery ran out mid morning so we missed a lot of photo ops during the day.