A smart bespoke office suit or bespoke wedding suit is a thing of beauty. The fit is everything, and with a bespoke suit, you get a superior fit that you simply wouldn't achieve when buying your suits from high street stores. Not all occasions call for the same level of formality, however. You might have your sleeves at their full length during the wedding ceremony, or during an important work meeting, but when you're sitting at your desk or enjoying the wedding reception, you can make your suit look less formal simply by rolling up the sleeves. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as it looks. Rolled up sleeves are something of an art form. Here, we describe how to roll your sleeves up without making your bespoke suit look less perfect:
Keep the cuff button open
One of the big mistakes that people make is to assume that the cuff button should be done up when they're rolling up their sleeves. Rolling your sleeves will make them progressively tighter and tighter against your arm as you add layer upon layer, and with an open button, you give your arm the space that it still requires. The fold will also look much neater. With your button done up, you'll soon find that you can't roll the sleeve as high as you might like or that the sleeves end up looking creased, crumpled and uneven.
Roll your sleeves more than just once or twice
If you don't roll your sleeves up much further than your wrist, you risk looking like you rolled them up just because they were too long. When you've paid for a beautifully tailored shirt, you certainly don't want to give the impression that it doesn't fit you properly. Aim to roll the sleeves up to just below the elbow, perhaps even a little higher, so that it's clear that this was a deliberate style choice and not a response to long shirt sleeves.
Choose your sleeve rolling method
Usually, people choose from three methods. You can flip the cuff up, fold it once more and tuck the edges in. You can fold the cuff up and then keep folding over and over again until you reach your desired sleeve length. Or you can flip back your cuff and then pull it up as high as your elbow, before rolling the rest of your sleeve up to follow it.