In the lead up to a wedding, a couple’s time can be spent refining venue details, floral choices and dress adjustments, but at times the grooms’ suit, can be overlooked and starved for attention. Join Melbourne Wedding & Bride’s Alice O’Brien as she sits down with Germaine Joseph, owner of Tailor On The Road, to discuss the importance of tailoring a suit and how it bleeds into becoming an extension of the groom himself.
To tailor a suit is to pour meaning into what first started as a pile of random fabrics. In the fashion world, a designer can adjust a suit to fit a person’s body to their individualistic measurements, but more so, their individualistic style. This is tailoring; the making of a garment reflective of the wearer, not the brand. This belief is seen in Josephs’ approach to his Tailor On The Road business – a made-to-measure tailoring house rooted in a lifelong connect to the craft, because that’s what tailoring is: craftsmanship. Joseph’s belief is “the suit should feel like a natural extension of who he is, refined for one of the most important moments of his life.” Joseph is referencing the all-important groomsman’s suit. The suit in which a person will stand before an altar and be announced as married. This suit should be more than one selected off a random rack that’s a random colour with random tailoring, not at all made to fit the wearer. Of all the suits, this one in particular needs to be personal, as this day is filled with the most personal type of love: romantic.
“A groom’s experience deserves the same level of thought and care as every other part of the wedding,” Joseph points out.
This is why Joseph “works closely with grooms to create pieces that harmonise with the broader narrative of the day.” Joseph creates this personalisation by not reinventing the silhouette of a groom suit, but through intentional tailoring choices.
“A well-chosen detail has the power to anchor you in the moment making the suit feel like yours, rather than just appropriate for the occasion,” Joseph explains.
“Beyond how it looks, I want him to feel present.”
Photography courtesy of Bhargav Boppe Photography.
Personal Touches
There are countless ways to weave a personal touch into the creation of a suit. Here are a few of Josephs’ favourites:
Embroidery: One of the most intimate ways
“Placed beneath the collar, inside the jacket or along the lining, grooms often choose to include initials, wedding dates, or a short phrase of significance,” says Joseph.
Colour: Power role in storytelling
“I’ve worked with grooms who’ve incorporated tones that reflect their cultural background or tied to personal milestones; the tie, buttonhole, the stitching,” says Joseph.
Lining: Most expressive canvas within a suit
“Some grooms select bold, patterned linings that reflect their personality; others opt for something more sentimental,” says Joseph.
“It’s often the moment the jacket opens that this hidden story is revealed.”
These are three creative ways to turn what might seem like a repeated classic suit design into a tailored vision speaking to who you are as a groom, as this suit will act as “a personal artefact of the day,” Joseph points out. It’s the smallest element which can create the biggest personal connection, from a tiny pair of cufflinks to fabric chosen with secret intention.
Branching or Keeping Tradition?
After establishing how to personalise a suit, there then can come the question of why?
“From the outside, the suit remains refined and familiar, but within the lining, texture, finishing touches tells a story that is entirely the groom’s own,” Joseph explains.
Groom suits tend to follow a similar silhouette to each other, and grooms aren’t necessarily moving away from this tradition, but rather following a more personalised redefinition of it.
“Grooms are beginning to understand that a formal aesthetic can be expressed through deep navies, rich burgundies, warm neutrals, or textured fabrics,” Joseph notes.
Tailoring a suit is about expressing “individuality through the nuance; in colour, fabric and detail, allowing the suit to feel both timeless and distinctly personal,” Joseph says.
Act of Balance
So, if a groom is feeling drawn to a more personalised suit, but worried about branching away from tradition, Joseph advises the two can rather be balanced without sacrifice. When all the guests turn to face the bride as she walks down the aisle in a wedding dress so beautiful it’s worthy of every pair of eyes, there’ll be the secret knowledge that the groom’s suit holds just as much power within its seams. Take the time to individualise, tailor and personalise your suit with a knowledgeable tailor, like Joseph, as a once in a lifetime day deserves a once in a lifetime suit.