The Great Hall at the DIA seats roughly 300 for a dinner or holds up to 500 for a standing reception, in a space with a ceiling far above anything domestic. Very tall rooms have a specific effect on how people look in them, and it’s the opposite of what most men assume.
Height shortens people
Not literally, but visually. Against a great vertical volume, every figure in the room reads as smaller and wider than it would in an ordinary space. In a tall room, proportion can read differently in photographs than it does in a lower space.
What counteracts it
Anything that lengthens the vertical line. A jacket that isn’t too short, a trouser that reaches the shoe properly, a single color top to bottom rather than a contrast at the waist. A dark, continuous line often reads more cohesive than a strong contrast at the waist.
Which is a fitting instruction, not a shopping one
Ask to be looked at from a distance, in the suit, standing straight. Proportion is a distance judgement and it cannot be made in a mirror three feet away, which is the only place most men ever see themselves dressed.
Also for Detroit: A Hundred People in Kresge Court. More on wedding suits, or plan your visit to our Oak Park showroom.
