Fabric is the essential component of a good suit. Even the best tailor cannot make up for mediocre cloth. Quality suits are made of wool. It's the best fabric because it breathes, wears well, tailors best and responds particularly well to cleaning, pressing and altering. It is uniquely both cool in summer and warm in winter. Wool is also hygroscopic, and capable of absorbing water up to 33 percent of its weight, yet it never feels damp because it quickly sheds moisture back into the air.

A century ago the businessman wore a dark blue serge sack suit (the cloth of which weighed in at between 16 and 22 ounces per yard compared to today's average 8-9 ounces), a starched high-collared dress shirt, hard black derby and ankle-high button-top shoes. The outfit was stiff, heavy and cumbersome.

If there has been a major trend in men's clothing during the last century, it has been toward comfort. Clothing has become both lighter weight and softer. In fact, today, tailored clothing is incredibly more comfortable. Oddly enough, it is not the styling that has given us this freedom - because the style of garments hasn't changed as much as you might imagine - but the fabric and construction. Technology has provided us with cloth that is at the same time lightweight, wrinkle-resistant and durable - ideal, in fact, for today's custom tailored garments.

As our environment becomes more climate-controlled, technology has provided us with even lighter weight suitings. As an example, a worsted suiting of fine Super 100's merino wool, which weighs just 8 ounces per yard can feel better, have superior strength, and a soft hand (the cloth maker's term for how a fabric feels to the touch), and often outperform heavier cloths.

A Weighty Matter

Since it takes four yards of cloth to make a typical suit, an 8-ounce cloth produces a suit weighing about two pounds, while a hefty serge weighing perhaps 16 ounces tailors into a suit of at least four pounds! Technology has made a measurable difference in comfort and weight.

The dimple is the valley in the top of your tie just below the knot. It's not an option - it's mandatory. The dimple is the sign of a meticulous dresser. The closer to the center of the tie the dimple is formed the better. Here are several tips to achieve the prefect dimple:

1. In the final steps of forming your tie knot simply hold the little end of the tie tight while gradually pulling down on the large end of the tie. A dimple should form nicely as the tie fabric is snugged up and the knot takes shape.

2. Poke your index finger into the tie as if you were poking it into your chest. With your thumb and remaining fingers pull up on the sides of the tie thus creating a dimple.

3. You can "train" your tie to form and hold a dimple more easily by folding or creasing the tie lining before you tie the knot for the first time. Fold your tie in half vertically in the area where the knot is to be formed by folding the face of the tie into itself. Then rub the back of the tie over the edge of a table, dresser, etc. to crease the inner lining. Your dimple will then naturally form in the creased area.