Technically an upside down pyramid is the male equivalent of a perfect female hour glass.

I bought two £6 shirts, a pair of plain black trousers and a belt in Asda last week for my new job and they've been bang on.

I am a bit more built around chest/shoulders but am relatively short so regular sizes don't fit. I have to go for a larger chest size jacket with short sleeves and short trousers. Frustratingly most trousers are regular size which means they need alterations by my mother. Regular jackets have sleeves that hide most of my hands.

It can be a complete PITA to find something that fits, particularly in the fashion world of tall thin men.

Trousers fit, shirts fit, suit jackets don't.

For suits, I'd always suggest going to a proper tailors if you can - places like Slaters usually make adjustments etc. for free.
And you're more likely to get a fitting by someone who's been trained, instead of standing in the mirror thinking "This looks ok, but it doesn't feel right".
http://lifehacker.com/suits/ might be of interest.

I'd also suggest having a look at High and Mighty as well. I suspect I'm a hell of a lot bigger than you are (not in a good way), and they've always been excellent for finding the right fit etc.

Word of warning (from a relative who works for Clarks) :

Do not wear them until you have personally put at least 3 or 4 layers of polish on them.

Apparently they come out of the factory unfinished and if worn straight away, will only last a matter of months - instead of the 10 years my last pair managed.

Wow. Didn't know that. Why so? I thought most people just wore them. I tend to apply a layer of liquid polish. Won't wear them this week. I'll polish everyday.

Cost-cutting, sadly: they're having to find ways of producing quality whilst remaining competitive.

Oh and I would use an old fashioned hard polish rather than liquid to start with tbh. Get the first few polishes correct and they should be practically indestructible.

Right new issue: with winter coming up, I'm looking at buying gloves. I tried ages to look for Batman ones from TDK (didn't like the plain rubber marigolds look of BB) before I realised that I didn't need motorbike gloves (which is what they are).

The problem I have is that normal glove sizes don't fit. I have large hands but stubby fingers so a pair of large gloves fit the hand but there's slack at the tips of the glove. Medium fits the fingers better but is very tight across the hand.

Is there any place that will sew together bespoke gloves? Or any places that do in-between sizes?

Don't know about sizing, but I have these and they're the bollocks.

http://eu.dakine.com/p/gloves/ski-snowb ... onco-glove