Suit Hunting

27 Apr 08 - When was the last time you went shopping at Suntec City?

Chances are, if you have not made your home in the mountains, you would have stepped foot in this cavernous shopping mall cum convention centre in the last 1 - 2 months. As typical Singaporeans who have made the pursuit of good makan and good shopping our raison d'etre, Her Royal Majesty and I consider ourselves reasonably well-informed about the layouts of major shopping centres, including Suntec City.

As such, we were quite surprised to find out that there was a rather renowned tailor tucked away in a corner of the mall. We were strangely guilty that we had absolutely no idea of the existence of this tailor, despite the innumerable trips that we must have taken in the immediate vicinity of his shopfront.

Dickson Tailor, owned and operated by Mr Wong Ban Lee, had a steady following in online forums among bridegrooms-to-be who were scouting around for a good tailor for their wedding day suits. It was commonly mentioned in forum postings that Mr Wong's suits were of above average quality at reasonable prices. Acting on these recommendations, Her Royal Majesty and I dutifully made our way to Suntec City to get my suit done.

The tailor shop had a bright yellow signboard which was impossible to miss --- if you were looking in the right direction, that is. Unfortunately, Dickson Tailor was located behind the escalator, in the opposite direction from the rest of the cafes and restaurants at Basement 1. This also explains why we had failed to notice this shop throughout the years.

Rows upon rows of men's suits and pants lined up against the walls, forming a tiny corridor which only allowed customers to enter in single file. Mr Wong was serving another customer when we arrived, and while we waited for our turn, Her Royal Majesty quickly took the chance to browse through the many bridal magazines that were lying around. These magazines were in a foreign language (later we found out that this was Italian) and Her Royal Majesty had to restrain herself from squeaking in joy when she discovered several wedding gown designs that were not found in local magazines. Later, Mr Wong graciously offered to let us tear out these designs from the magazine, but we declined and instead asked him to lend us the magazine so that we can take pictures of the designs that we wanted.

The package offered by Mr Wong included a jacket, vest, shirt and pants, all at a very reasonable price. Some of the forum postings had stated almost the same price, but I had thought that this was only for the jacket. I also tried on some jackets and found a design that I liked, before having my measurements taken. The chosen design was probably not available off-the-rack at a major fashion retailer where most men, myself included, acquired their stock of office wear (read: G-X-X-X-X).

Throughout the process, Mr Wong also offered several suggestions about what was more popular and even agreed to lend me 2 tie wraps for no cost! I was starting to understand why this man was so widely recommended in the forums.

Next fitting will be in June, and hopefully, everything will be ready just in time for our photoshoot in July. Watch this space for more updates!

- Melvin