Past Proportions

I have come the the conclusion that in the past people were a different shape. Not just smaller, it's a fact that the average height of people is increasing. Not just width either, again, it's a fact that the average person is a lot fatter than they were in the past. But people were of completely different proportions in the past. This isn't a fact but a conclusion I have come to based on: 

Vintage clothes do not fit me. Take, for example, jackets. If I get a vintage jacket to fit in one proportion it will either be too short in the arm by at least 2 or 3 inches, too wide and too short in the body, or too large across the shoulder. Also they will be, if they are from the 70s, made only from man-made fibres that will last until the end of time. Remember that scene in Terminator 2 where they simulated a nuclear explosion and even people who know about nuclear explosions said it seemed pretty accurate, well they were obviously wrong. Skin would burn like that, bones would turn to dust, cars would melt and concrete buildings would disintegrate but all those people wearing rayon jackets, nylon trousers and polyester shirts would have been protected. So indestructible are these clothes that they could withstand a nuclear war while protecting their occupants. Clothes made from these man-made fibres will last forever, which is a shame because no one in the future will fit into them.

You'll be assuming that if old clothes don't fit, to prove my theory correct, new ones must? No, they don't fit either but hey don't fit in a completely different way. New clothes still have an arm length issue, still too short but not to such a great extent. Bodies are still too big but in the case of shoulders they have reverted from being too big to too small. It doesn't stop with jackets. I can buy vintage trousers with a correct waist size as long as I am willing to rock this latest, short trouser trend. With new trousers, it is almost impossible to find anything less than a 30inch waist. At least leg length with modern trousers will usually be a little more appropriate, but that's not something to take for granted. T-shirts are never long enough and shorts never short enough. I'll admit, the shorts length is more of a personal preference rather than them not fitting, I suppose. 

So when it comes to purchasing clothes, because I don't have the money to pay for all of my clothes to be tailor made or altered to fit, I have to choose where I want them to fit. I will concede, I have obscenely long arms. They are not proportionally correct and yes, if I am not careful to keep a beard to a minimum I do look like an ape. So I have decided to give up on clothes fitting my arms. I usually go for fitment on the shoulder, if I can't stand the baggy body any longer I will save up to have it altered. For someone who takes pride in their appearance, and puts a huge emphasis on the way clothes fit, like I do, this is obviously not ideal.

I have had similar conversations with many men, none being happy with the way off the rack clothes fit. So who are these people that these clothes are made for? Who are the real life mannequins for new clothes? They can't be the lithe, tall models that the catwalks are full of otherwise I might have a chance at them fitting. I am far from being a model thanks to my face, but my body isn't too far from this current tendency for skinny models rather than the buff Men's Health style figure. They also can't be the male equivalent of the female models; high street stores, like Topshop, are constantly criticised for only making clothes for slimmer ladies. Whereas if you find an ever more elusive pair of 28 inch waist trousers in Topman, you will have struck garment gold.

However, if I wanted a pair of 66 inch waist trousers I would know where to go. Jackamo. I've seen the adverts: 'Fashion for real men'. I take offence to that. Not only because I wouldn't fit into a single item of clothing they sell, and contrary to popular belief I am a real man, but mainly because not a single item of clothing on the advert could be described as 'fashion'. Many of the items Jackamo sell aren't actually too bad (amazingly none of the good items are featured in the advert), but they also don't show them being modelled by any fatties; that does help increase their desirability. Realistically you could kit your ample proportions out with some fairly decent clobber in Jackamo; and it would fit.

So why can't I? Why are there specialist stores providing clothes that fit 'larger' guys and not slim ones? Why, when in this world of adaptive, flexible manufacturing and internet shopping, where there is a market for literally anything, is there not a shop or outlet providing me with a pair of 28 waist 32 leg trousers, a slim shirt with extra long arms and a jacket with a 36 inch chest and 21 inch shoulders? 

Maybe I am being a tad unreasonable and in all honesty I would be happy if I could just get hold of smaller sizes more easily. It can't just be me, there has got to be a market there. Almost every men's clothing site sells out of the small and extra small clothes first. Sale racks are universally devoid of anything smaller than a medium. Now either all the larger guys are buying their clothes from Jackamo leaving all the big sizes available in the shops that I go into, there are just a lot more smaller, slimmer men buying clothes or, and I think this is the real problem, clothing manufacturers aren't making enough small clothes.