THE JOURNAL
From left: Mr Lenny Kravitz, wearing Gucci, at LACMA Art+Film Gala in Los Angeles, 4 November 2023. Photo by Mr Michael Kovac/Getty Images for LACMA. Mr Michael B Jordan in Los Angeles, 15 August 2022; photograph by Mr Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images. Mr Glen Powell at CinemaCon, Las Vegas, 24 April 2023. Photograph by Mr Alberto E Rodriguez/Getty Images for CinemaCon
It is the great Catch-22 of being built like a demigod: you’ve lifted the weights, guzzled the protein shakes and dry-scooped the creatine, but now you have nothing to wear. Pumping iron often means outgrowing your wardrobe, but when the burly or muscular man then looks to clothe his new build, he might find he is not so well catered for. It is reason enough to avoid any form of heavy lifting, as the actor and model Mr Luka Sabbat succinctly explained in a viral tweet last year. In response to a tongue-in-cheek prompt asking why more men don’t build muscle, he replied: “Clothes don’t fit right, Fits would be mid…”
I have always loved fashion, but my early venture into the gym made me feel like I had been forced to opt out. When I first started to lift weights, it was in pursuit of looking good naked, but I found my clothing options limited and my wardrobe in need of a clear-out. The shoulders of my favourite short-sleeve satin shirts no longer aligned with my natural shoulder lines and my newly developed biceps and pecs meant movement was so constricted I couldn’t raise my arms. Sizing up was of no help either when the problem was proportions.
I have not worn jeans since then, either. Slim-fit pairs don’t go past the bottom of my thighs, and the ultra-wide 1990s hip-hop denim simply isn’t me. A particularly embarrassing experience was walking into a suit shop for a shirt ahead of the Bafta Television Awards a couple of years ago. The assistant looked at my chest with wide eyes and said, “We don’t have anything that will fit those here.”
Does it have to be like this? Do you have to choose between muscle and style? Can you stack up and serve looks? I would like to think my current wardrobe is an answer to that. Over the years, as my body and style have evolved, I have found that you can indeed have it both ways, and I’ve picked up some strategies and go-to styles that mean I have not had to abandon the bench press.
“Alterations are not just for suits. I take near enough every item to the tailor now. It provides a freedom to look at clothes imaginatively”
The first is finding a reliable tailor. Stylist Ms Otter Hatchett says this is crucial for the more muscular man. “When buying tailoring, buy a size or two up so that you can move comfortably and then get your tailor to alter so the fit is perfect,” she says. “Unless, of course, you can afford bespoke suiting, in which case, do that.”
You can guarantee that the wrestler turned actor Mr Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson follows this rule. Despite his bodybuilder size, he never looks like he’s suffocating or unable to move. The velvety amethyst Ralph Lauren suit in a classic cut (rather than a slim fit) that he wore to the Red Notice premiere in 2021 was a perfect example.
For my own red-carpet moment, I eventually settled on a glossy brown Martine Rose suit, although the two sizes closest to mine were alternately too small and too baggy. A great tailor can defy these restrictions. With a larger size and more material, they can shape a garment to your proportions, tailoring them to the width of your shoulders or accounting for the flex of a bicep, allowing movement, comfort and the reassurance that you won’t burst out of your suit.
I’ve also found it works to opt for softer shoulders to account for your width, and a higher waist on the trousers can reduce the length of your torso. Meanwhile, tapered hems mean your calves won’t flare the base of your trousers.
Alterations are not just for suits. I take near enough every item to the tailor now. It provides a freedom to look at clothes imaginatively – not as pieces that must fit off the rack, but as a starting base from which you can engineer a more personalised design. It carries an extra expense, but starting from the assumption that most clothes won’t fit you means you have a sharper sense of what suits your shape and how to achieve it.
There is also the question of how much of your body you are happy to put on show, and whether or not you want to play down your muscles to achieve a certain look. “Skinny trousers and jeans put you at risk of looking like Johnny Bravo,” Hatchett says. “Super baggy trousers, while comfortable, will be unflattering, making you appear larger all over by drowning you in fabric.”
“If you’ve worked hard for your body, why not show it off?”
When I don’t necessarily want to project all my muscle, I opt for an elegant tracksuit, some of my favourites being made by Nicholas Daley and Wales Bonner. Not only are these easily tailorable, often just needing a hem for length, but their sizing tends to accommodate the fact that you will be wearing something underneath and so they run not so close to the body. I’m also a fan of Issey Miyake garments. The vertical pleating makes the clothes feel architectural and they tend to lay gracefully over my body in a way that doesn’t shy away from my size but allows me to move with some majesty.
There is a case, too, for being a little sluttier with fashion. If you’ve worked hard for your body, why not show it off? Sleeveless tops aren’t just for the gym. I have a number of knitted and intricate tanks that I like to pair with shorts and trousers. I also suggest allowing a sheer satin to contour your muscles or opening up a little by unbuttoning your shirt and letting your chest show.
Mr Michael B Jordan has this nailed. As someone who is often in incredible shape for his film roles, he’s not afraid to show it off with his clothing choices. Take the semi-unbuttoned sleeveless Chanel knit he wore for the Lord Of The Rings premiere in 2022 with wide, billowy trousers and a simple chain.
Likewise, the former basketball player Mr Dwyane Wade’s yellow knit tank top that he wore to the Prada SS23 show in Milan, which he paired with a black boilersuit, the arms tied around his waist, for added textural intrigue.
Consider these outfits proof that being stylish and being stacked are not mutually exclusive. If anything, I’ve found that getting bigger has made me more inventive and creative with my style and more in tune with the sizing and material of garments and how they fit on my body.
So my advice: bulk order those shakes, hire that personal trainer and push for that extra set without worrying that you’ll have to wave goodbye to fashion. You can alter clothes to fit your body, not the other way around.