You've Dropped The Weight. Great. Now What Happens To Your Suits?

In the age of Ozempic and rapid physical change, it's time to consider what a newly svelte body means for a closet full of bespoke clothing—and when it's worth starting over.

- Eric Twardzik

IT BEGAN WITH the birth of my son in June 2023. Five days of hospital food during my wife's recovery, the scale suggested, had led me to shed the same number of kilograms. In the weeks that followed, a dramatic drop-off in restaurant visits and better eating at home turned an accidental weight loss into an intentional one that topped out at around 11kg.

All good—until that autumn, when I realised that my custom-made tweeds and flannel trousers were falling off me. Fortunately, much of my tailored wardrobe came from a Boston-area clothier that still offers complimentary alterations on its garments for life: a quaint policy that I severely tested over the next half year as I brought in dozens of trousers, jackets, and suits to be cut down, staggering them in batches so as not to completely gum up its tailor’s shop.

During the same period, I also shuttled a number of my bespoke suits back to its Manhattan-based maker, Paolo Martorano, who slimmed them accordingly. He has since grown accustomed to shrinking customers, telling me this winter that the proliferation of medications like Ozempic has put a strain on his tailors, who are now tasked with increasingly difficult and time-intensive alterations owing to the dramatic results these new weight-loss treatments achieve.

“This is like your second shot at a first time. I don’t know how many situations you could apply that to in your life, but maybe your closet is one of them.”