If the Suit Fits

Summary:
Wisdom for Wannabes host Jackie Morreale reflects on the concept of fit, both in clothing and in life. She shares a personal story about an old suit that no longer fits her, prompting a deeper discussion about how our clothing choices reflect our personal growth and aspirations. Jackie emphasizes the importance of understanding apparel fit standards and how they relate to our self-image. She also explores the evolution of personal style and the need to reassess our roles and goals in life, encouraging listeners to consider what truly fits them as they strive for growth and fulfillment.

Chapters
00:00 The Suit That No Longer Fits
02:04 Understanding Apparel Fit
04:18 The Evolution of Personal Style
06:19 Fit Beyond Clothing: Career Aspirations

Dedicated to Susan P. Ashdown, PhD, fashion industry fit expert and Emerita Professor at Cornell University's Department of Human Centered Design.

Hello, my name is Jackie Morreale and I'm the host of Wisdom for Wannabes, a new podcast series that seeks to find wise words on business, beauty and betterment.

I'm here today joined by an old friend: My pinstriped suit.

Let me tell you a little bit about this suit. This suit was something I bought 15, 16 years ago. It's from Brooks Brothers. I spent what I thought was a lot of money on it back then. I had it tailored to fit my body after I bought it.

The suit helped me get two corporate jobs. I wore this suit once a week for a corporate job for three years. We go way back.

15 years later, though, this suit does not fit. It does not fit my body. It does not fit my style. It doesn't fit where I'm trying to go as a creative person. It's unfortunately just taking up space in my closet.

The reason I'm having this conversation showcasing my old suit today, is because I had a wonderful conversation with my mentor and professor from undergraduate and graduate degree programs, who is an expert in the field of apparel fit. We had this wonderful interview that is now posted on this channel. She posed the questions:

What fits us?

How much of our closet actually fits us?

How much of our closet is just taking up space?

It's an idea that I haven't thought about for a while. It made me go back in time 15 years when we worked on this together. A study based on how the fit of denim jeans on college-age women would improve their body image, called Relationships Between Perceived Fit of Denim Jeans and Body Satisfaction. In it, with statistics we proved, that the better the perceived fit of the jeans, the better the wearer would feel about their body. How amazing is that? To be able to use something like fit of clothing in order to feel better about our self and our body as a person.

The issue here is, "Fit" is a major problem. Most clothes don't fit most bodies. Ready to wear is a broken system. Pretty much anything that you can buy off the shelf is not going to fit you unless you go through that extra step of investing in it and making sure that it's then custom tailored to your body.

Bodies are always changing. Between the shape, the size, our posture, there are so many different facets that change the way a garment can fit you from one day to another.

Years later, here I am holding onto this suit that's two sizes too small in the back of my closet because we have this beautiful history together. 

It doesn't fit me, it doesn't fit my body, it doesn't fit my style, it doesn't fit my career. It's ready to be passed on to the next person.

Traditional Suit Fit

​Let's talk a little bit more about fit in terms of the technical standards of apparel. Since this is a suit, it's pretty standard in terms of how we measure the fit.

When we're talking about a jacket like this:

1. A jacket should round around your neck and shoulders.
2. There should be about 1/4 - 1/2" of protruding collar from your shirt.
3. Your sleeve length is going to go to your wrist bone and from there a little bit of your cuff of your shirt, 3/8" will show and protrude from there.
4. There should be no pulling at the button.

Nothing should be too tight. Nothing should be too loose.

Wrinkles always show where something is too tight or too loose. If there's a big wrinkle on your button, it is likely too tight.

That's the very traditional version of what a women's or men's suit jacket should look like when it fits. No wrinkles, smooth lines, fitting the curves of your shoulder, fitting to the wrist bone, a little bit of protrusion around your neck as well as your wrist to show the shirt underneath.

It's a very traditional, centuries old way of measuring fit.

Again, nothing off the rack is going to look like that on you unless you are the fit model that the design was built around.

If you have that fit model body, you are in luck. Find your store and buy it in every color.

​Either way, make sure you customize the fit of special pieces as things change with your own body to make it an investment piece.

On Style

Let's talk about the style. I'm no longer a pinstripe suit wearing kind of gal. I've been there, done that, and looking for more creative ways of expressing myself through clothes.

I love to take it down to three basic questions, to determine if it is fitting me:
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• Is this fitting my body?

 

• Is this fitting my style?

 

• Is this fitting my lifestyle?

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Storytime! Learnings from Eric Carle, on Fit and Growth

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​I also do a lot of reading, and I was reminded of one of my favorite authors / illustrators of all time, Eric Carle, and this wonderful book that he wrote for children.

Eric Carle not only is a talented writer, illustrator, who changed the industry of children's books, but he was also a 40-year-old when he first published his book that everybody knows, 50 million copies have sold worldwide, his bestselling book, The Hungry Caterpillar.

Many books later, we have this wonderful book, A House for Hermit Crab.

As we go through the pages of this book, we find that it's about a hermit crab, who keeps outgrowing his own shell.

As he's physically outgrowing his own shell, he needs to then find new shells to wear, right?

But maybe it's not your style, so you're going to customize and make it your own.

Then by the time you have this beautiful shell, your body has again changed or your career goals have changed and you need a new sense of style and by the time you've built up this beautiful fit and home and second skin and even built a little rock wall around it... you realize that you are not growing while you're wearing this non-fitting shell.

Or jacket, in my case.

Maybe you find a friend who still has some room to grow and it's time for this to stop taking up real estate in my closet and it's time for me to move on.

​It's time for the next person who has those goals to take over and do what they want with it.

Fit for Growth in Your Life

If we think about clothing or we think about a home, it's our second skin.

It's our immediate environment. We have to be comfortable in our skin in order to grow.

Let's take it even further than that and say:
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• What about your role is fitting you in terms of your career aspirations, your career goals?
  

• Is it fitting you?
  

• Are your current activities fitting you? Are your current patterns fitting you?
  

• What do you want?
  

• If you want something that's bigger than what you currently have now, why would your current patterns take you there?

Something to think about. Is what you're watching or what you're scrolling fitting you, fitting your goals, fitting where you're going to be in the next 15 years? If it isn't, maybe it's time to donate it to the next person in line, and grow and figure out what your new fit is.

Thank you, Eric Carle. May you rest in peace. Thank you for creating all these beautiful books and making me think bigger about growth and fit.

And to Professor Ashdown, for always being there, with all your guidance in fit technology, and everything else that you've done.

​Have a wonderful day!

Continue Learning About Fit and Growth:

Wisdom for Wannabes Interview 6:
​Susan P. Ashdown, PhD (July 2025)

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A House for Hermit Crab
​Hardcover – August 31, 1991
by EricCarle (Author)

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