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Pick one of the following fit issues to get Topper's thoughts on achieving the right fit:

THE MEN'S FASHION GUIDE: FIT

'FRONT OF HOUSE' MUST BE FRONT OF MIND

Topper’s view is well reasoned common sense. If you are investing in a high specification jacket cut from fine materials, you want the whole garment to work as a seamless, perfectly fitting ensemble. You are not purchasing an approximation. Precision should be your watchword and that should extend to the details it’s easy to rush, in our eagerness to 'buy something, anything' that fits even roughly.

Topper says: "Flapping lapels and straining buttons risk having a man look as if he’s struggling with a sailboat in a rising wind. The front of your jacket is the front you present to the world. Make it right." And you can make it right every time by making a moment to follow Topper’s advice.

There are a number of styles of big and tall jacket around, many boasting different button and lapel fit styles. But, irrespective of the style you choose, fitting your body type accurately and comfortably is, as we have seen, extremely important.

Initially, make sure that the buttons are falling in the right places. As a rule of thumb, for a two-button jacket, the top button should never fall below your belly button. (Not even if you are a navel man!) The same holds true for the second button of a three-button jacket.

Now, having got buttons buttoned down, let’s look at other issues that can interfere with perfect fit on the front of your suit jackets.