My Repeat Buy: Nana Acheampong On Suits
Without even realising it, I have a rainbow collection of suits. It’s 18 and counting to be exact, taking up an entire section of my wardrobe. I’ve been a fan of tailoring since I learnt how to dress for my shape way back when. A great cut on a suit accentuates all the parts of my body I love while creating a striking silhouette – they don’t call it a power suit for nothing.
A suit is my failsafe option for looking polished and put together. Whether it’s a sharp or boxy cut, wide leg or tapered trousers, I am fully hooked on a tailored two piece.
My multicoloured suits are an instant mood booster. All of them together, hung up in my wardrobe by colour co-ordination, look glorious. When people ask me if I have a favourite colour, I honestly can’t answer because it depends on my mood on any given day.
My suits fall under the ‘high street heroes’ part of my wardrobe. From H&M to Topshop, & Other Stories to French Connection, all of my suits are from the high street. I’ve been loving Mango, COS and Jigsaw recently. There is also a pink suit I have my eye on at the moment from ME+EM, with the most amazing wide-leg trousers and fitted jacket.
The key to success is trying before I buy. I’ll have a little walk around the changing rooms to see how the jacket falls on me and check the trousers are long enough in the leg for when I am wearing heels (I’m always wearing heels). I need to be able to move around freely in the material and not find it constricting. Go on what fits and don’t get hung up on the number on the label.
A small alteration can make all the difference. That’s why I’ve made friends with my local tailor. I use the one in my local dry cleaner and it usually doesn’t cost me more than £20. I have big thighs and a small waist, so I generally have to size up in trousers to a 12, but then they are too big around my waist and need taking in. If I want the jacket to look more fitted, I will have extra darts added to accentuate my waist. If I want an oversized look for a jacket, I will jump up from a 10 to a 14.
Buttons are very important to me. The wrong buttons can ruin the whole look and feel of a good suit. Black buttons or buttons that match the colour of the suit I am buying are my preferred choice. Similarly, the lining of the jacket needs to match the colour of the jacket unless I want to make a statement with a bold contrast.
I like the versatility that a suit offers. It can be worn in so many different ways. When I want Olivia Pope vibes, I wear a whole suit with a fitted shirt and court shoes or boots. When I am going for a more relaxed daytime feel, I’ll swap in a t-shirt or a vest. In the evenings, I’ll have a delicate bra just peeking out from underneath a done-up blazer; or if I want to wear the blazer open, it will be a cropped bralet teamed with sandals. As a fan of colour blocking, I can often mix and match my suits together.
Believe it or not, I do also own tonal coloured suits. I do only wear them in autumn/winter, but some of my faves come in black, grey, camel and cream. You cannot beat a tux suit to bring the glamour for party season. I have both velvet and satin tuxedo suits from Reiss and Mint Velvet that I team with black sandals. They give me a YSL aesthetic at a fraction of the price.
My favourite suit would have to be my emerald-green jacquard H&M Studio suit. It’s from the AW20 collection and I know it’s a suit I will have for life as I’m still obsessed with the colour and texture. I love buying into special collections or designer collaborations on the high street because they are of a higher quality, and the smaller product run makes them feel more exclusive. Even though the green feels like an autumn/winter vibe, I have worn the trousers and jacket as separates in the summer with denim and lighter shades to totally rework the full look.
My purple suit from ASOS will always have a special place in my heart. It’s the suit I wore as one of the stylists on the BBC makeover show You Are What You Wear. The four-part series filmed back to back over two weeks, so I had multiple sets of the same suit on rotation. They would be taken from the set each day to be dry cleaned to ensure I had a fresh suit to wear every day for filming. It’s another suit I will have for life, albeit just for nostalgia at this point.
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