I am not a kid anymore and am looking for a stylish sport coat, slacks, sweater and shirt. I am a fairly conservative dresser, but I wear a 50 XL. I don’t want to shop in big-and-tall stores, nor do I have the money for a personal tailor. Women’s designers seem to have embraced size inclusivity in a way men’s designers have not. Why, and where can I go to find what I need? — Chris, Boston
You are correct in observing that we don’t talk enough about size inclusivity when it comes to men’s wear, or demand that it even exists — which is just plain old silly.
I think it goes back to old-fashioned gender stereotypes and the idea that it isn’t manly, somehow, to dwell too much on your body (other than perhaps when you are working out), even though that is patently untrue. There is also a misperception that suits cover all sins; as Anne Hollander postulated in her … umm … seminal book “Sex and Suits,” the male suit as we know it was created to smooth any body into the shape of a Greek ideal.
Part of the problem, said Corbin Chamberlin, a journalist who covers the issue, is that despite the recent trend toward oversize looks on the runways, much of “men’s fashion is still clinging to the outdated ideal of the slim, controlled silhouette.”
Case in point: Years ago, when Hedi Slimane was still at YSL, my 5’11”, fitter-than-normal-sized husband went to try to buy a suit, and could barely raise his arms in the jacket, the sleeves were so tight, and the armholes so small. When he raised an eyebrow at the salesman, the guy looked abashed, and started talking about how they could let out a seam here, another one there. He had clearly had a lot of practice with the issue.
Compounding the issue, Mr. Chamberlin said, is the fact that as with women’s wear, you rarely see a larger body in an ad campaign, and “when larger bodies are left out of campaigns, runways and store displays, they’re not just underserved — they’re erased.”
Still, in 2016, IMG Models established their “brawn” division (it’s the male equivalent of the “curve” division for women, a linguistic effort to move away from the ick term “plus-size”). And there are designers whose sizing extends to the larger at all price points. Ralph Lauren has a big-and-tall line. So do Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, J. Crew and Old Navy. Prada goes up to XXXL, and Gucci to a U.S. size 50.
Jacob Gallagher, our men’s wear reporter, suggested looking at brands such as Todd Snyder and Bonobos — though he also pointed out that often, no matter what the line, the more expansive offerings are available only online, so they are always something of a gamble (free returns are your friend).
Especially because, Mr. Chamberlin said, larger sizes are often just proportionally upsized versions of clothes made for slimmer builds, meaning the fit is not really designed for the bigger body. That’s why he recommends looking at brands such as TurnBlack, which he called both “sculptural and wearable.”
I am hopeful that the current love affair between athletes, who are about as far away from sample size as you can get, and fashion may change that. Indeed, according to Vogue Business, which tracks runway sizes for both men and women, the fall 2025 men’s shows reflected an increase in midsize models — which they identify as E.U. size 48-54, or U.S. 38-44 — from the 1.3 percent of the spring shows to 4.8 percent, a fact they attributed to more models with a “muscular build.”
Unfortunately, this was not true for official plus-size male models, who made up only 0.3 percent of all models. As with women’s wear, which is backsliding when it comes to size inclusivity, it seems men’s wear is reverting to — well, form.
Your Style Questions, Answered
Every week on Open Thread, Vanessa will answer a reader’s fashion-related question, which you can send to her anytime via email or X. Questions are edited and condensed.
Vanessa Friedman has been the fashion director and chief fashion critic for The Times since 2014.
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