I want to look smart at V&A and I accept the dress code. Equally, I want to pack as lightly and efficiently as possible.
Do you think a blazer and brown chinos, with dress shirt, tie and dress shoes would be acceptable? As opposed to a suit. If I go with the chinos plan, I can wear the trousers and shoes on the plane without needing to carry them separately, which makes life a bit easier.
Also — all my suit trousers appear to have shrunk, ahem. I don’t want to buy a new suit, but I don’t mind buying some new chinos.
The other night I went through my wardrobe trying things on in preparation. My lovely dinner suit trousers didn’t fit. My very expensive Saks Fifth Avenue suit (which I bought in 1999) trousers didn’t fit. My regular suit that I haven’t worn in about five years did fit but not comfortably.
Who knew that quality materials shrink so much. Though, oddly, they didn’t shrink lengthways. Only widthways. Oddly.
Plus I could actually use a new pair of chinos, so I don’t mind buying some. And it will be nice to be comfortable about the waist — especially if I’m having ten courses!
My DH must buy his clothes from the same place you do? He seems to have the same problem it’s either that or he says I’m shrinking them in the wash
Shame about the DJ…chinos sound a good all round investment, just get the next size up
I thought that we had already determined from a careful, literal reading of the dress code that if you wore a dinner jacket you did not have to wear trousers.
You know, I had the same problem a few years back. Two months using MyFitnessPal, and I lost 18 lbs and was back into the pants I wore 10 years before. You have time.
Or, you can just replace your wardrobe. That works to. And a lot easier. Because, while the MyFitnessPal plan worked well, I was quite hangry for those two months.
I used MyFitnessPal to lose about 28lb before our trip in 2012, once I got into it I was ok, I got used to the smaller portions. I have never been able to do it since, and now I need to lose 10-15lb and am really struggling with it!!
Maybe once you book your trip it will help as motivation. I’m finding the thought of being able to do more and feel less exhausted and overheated if I reach my goal by trip time to be a great motivator.
The desire not to have my mum tum hanging over my bikini should be a fairly powerful motivator but we’re going to the beach in August and it hasn’t been so far
Let me clear. My trousers have all shrunk. Around the waist. Not along the leg. This is clearly an environmental issue and I cannot be blamed for it.
I have posted photographs of my toned beach body on another thread, so there is ample proof that I am not responsible for my trousers no longer fitting.
In other news, I went to my favourite shop to buy some suitable chinos. They literally had nothing above a 40-inch waist. Not just in the shop. In the whole chain. They did a search for me. This is tyranny.
I’m a 42-inch waist. Which is why I like going to America. In America I’m thin. People come up to me and say, “I’d love to have a figure like yours.” In Britain, they say, “We have nothing above a 40, fat boy. Stop eating pies and come back to us in a month.”
I actually have a problem. I’m a 31-inch waist. In order to buy a belt that fits a 31-inch waist, you have to buy a men’s Small. But in every store I shop in, they don’t carry men’s small. All belts start at Men’s medium, which starts at a 32 inch waist. Now, to buy a belt, I have to go to the KID’S section of an Old Navy and buy a boy’s XL. It fits me great.
I have the same problem with underwear. They sell men’s underwear for waist 28 to 30, or 32 to 34. Us poor 31-inch-waisters either have to wear baggie drawers (the 32 to 34) or drawers tight enough to turn any guy into a soprano.
For a few years (until I lost the extra weight) I did move up to about a 33. When it came to finding clothes that fit, it was nice. I just wasn’t happy with how I looked or felt.
Oh, and just so it is clear, I was in no way implying it was YOUR fault that your trousers shrunk. Nope. Not at all. But MyFitnessPal isn’t about you. It is this amazing technology that causes, through diet and exercise, your trousers to return to their former size. I don’t know how they do it. The miracles of the 21st century!
My husband has the same problem. He is a true 29 and most real suits only come as small as a 30x30. He gets so frustrated because the department stores rarely carry 29 waist shorts or pants or size small shirts. Mediums look horrid on him.
@profmatt, I could mail you some lovely American trousers with a stretch waist if you wish. My father calls them his Sunday pants because they always go to a buffet after church service and he doesn’t have to unbutton them after lunch. Belk sells them.
it’s either that or he says I’m shrinking them in the wash 
