If you're a tall guy, you've experienced this very moment when you go to put on a shirt that looked like perhaps it could be long enough, but no surprise, you get the crop top affect that no guy desires.
Oftentimes in the clothing world, designers fail to realize that tall men do in fact exist. You'd think with them all over the runways, that stores would be filled with sizes for tall guys, but alas, that is hardly the case. If you are over 6ft US, shopping in a department store can be hell. If major retailers even have longer or tall sizes, designers assume anyone tall, must also be big so you end up with a long big and boxy top and/or having to go to a big and tall store or shop online. So how are you even supposed to style yourself to begin with?
Style Advice for Tall Guys
1. Start viewing your height as a good quality if you don't already. Most women find a taller guy appealing, you can easily see and reach everything you need, you always get to ride shot gun, and people assume you can automatically do things like play basketball or model. Not bad, a?
2. Stop and go get professionally sized immediately. Go to a tailor or suit maker and have them take your measurements. Not only will this help you to know what sizes you actually need, but it will also help you with online shopping which odds are, you will have to do at your height. If you know your measurements, you know what shops and brands can accommodate you or you can request clothing to be tailored to your size before it's sent. Also by getting to know a tailor, he or she, will have your measurements on hand if you are a regular customer and they know what you need done to suits and other clothing rather than having to have someone new figure it out every time.
3. Your already have length on your side, so unless you are really keen on looking longer/taller than you are, you can help visually cut your height by wearing contrasting colors between your shirts and your pants/shorts. This helps visually cut the line of the body. For the same reason, you'd want to avoid any type of vertical stripe in your clothing. You DO want to wear horizontal stripes and patterns because there is no danger in making you appear shorter or cutting the body at your height.
If you are going to wear shorts, avoid shorts with short sleeves. The more skin you are showing, the longer you will appear to be because all you see is a lot of limbs. Do shorts with long sleeves, short sleeves with pants, or shorts with the sleeves rolled no higher than 3/4 length. If this matters not to you, then don't worry about it. This is strictly a proportion thing.
4. You can get away with wearing a jacket that goes to the knee or a duster. Unlike your shorter counterparts, you have the height to pull this off without the jacket cutting off the length of your leg.
5. If you are short waisted, avoid tucking in your shirt or wearing shirts that cut at the waist because your legs will look much much longer than they already are. Try wearing t-shirts untucked or that go a few inches below the waist to give yourself a more proportionate look. You can also cuff your pants with no problem, because it will help visually shorten the length of your legs.
6. Get your suits (and just about everything else) tailored! One of the worst looks on a taller guy is either the, "I've clearly outgrown these clothes," look because your suit is too short in the arms/legs or the "I'm wearing my dad's suit" look because you're wearing something so big and baggy just because it fits your height. It's just the nature of the beast that at your height, it is going to be nearly impossible to find a suit that fits you right outside of a specialty shop.
If you have any fit issues like broader shoulders, obviously longer arms and legs, or you are a really slim tall guy, these can be solved by going to a tailor who can let things out, or take things in accordingly. If you can find a suit that "fits" your height, but it baggy and bulky, they can take that in, but if you start with something that is already too short for your limbs or too tight, there won't be much if anything they can do to help.
7. Go for smaller prints and avoid head to toe prints. Big huge bold prints attract a lot of attention, and work well for shorter men, because their is less of them to be overwhelmed by a print, but a subtle or smaller print will actually be more proportionate for your body. Your height already gets you a lot of attention (I mean, how many people today have said to you, "you're tall," as if you didn't already know that). Opt for thin stripes, small checks, and smaller polka dots.
8. Learn to fake clothing length. If your long sleeve shirts or casual jackets (not suit jackets) are too short, roll up the sleeves to create a 3/4 length or just below it. If your shirts are too short, wear a longer one underneath and create a layered look to avoid showing off your midriff.
9. Accessorize proportionately. I hate to say it, but a teeny tiny watch on your wrist, is going to look dumb. You need one proportionate for your size. Go for a bigger face and wristband. The same goes for your bags and any jewelry you happen to wear. Don't go overboard and get something so big, it then becomes clown like, but you do want to go for a larger size accessories proportionate to your body size because smaller pieces are going to make it look like you're trying on kids accessories.
If you are very slim, use caution with this, however, because though you may physically be very tall, as a much thinner guy, you may need smaller accessories that won't swallow you up like slimmer belts and smaller jewelry. Either way, if you look in the mirror, and the accessory is really super noticeable or it looks tiny on you, size up, or down appropriately.
10. Try rocking a bolder shoe. Again, already being tall, every other part of you is easily noticeable and unlike your shorter contemporaries whom one would advise to wear more monochromatic looks from head to toe to visually obtain a longer line, you've already got this, so calling attention downwards, to your shoe is something you can easily explore. It may even get people's first words to you to be nice shoes, rather than 'wow, you're tall.'
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