SLIM FIT DRESS SHIRTS

These days, it's not necessary to be a really ridiculously good looking anorexic male model to recognize that fitted dress shirts are in style. Whether you're particularly skinny, fairly average, or a macho athlete, you've probably noticed that when you wear a dress shirt it fits just a bit looser than you'd like. You tried tucking it in and pulling all the fabric to the back and it looked pretty good in the mirror - but 5 minutes later and you're wearing a sail again.

So, you need a slim fit. Every brand these days has one although they come in various names. Banana Republic offers both "Slim Fit" and "Fitted" options. Ben Sherman comes in "MOD Fit", "Union Fit" and the extra aggressive "SOHO Fit". Express calls it the "Modern Fit" and Gap calls it "Fitted". Brooks Brothers is famous for their "Slim Fit", which, if you try one on, you'll discover is really not that slim at all, although rumor has it they recently started offering a "Super Slim" option (good luck finding that one in stores though). The list goes on and on. Luckily, we make it our job to try them all on and spec them out for you. A comparison of their relative slimness follows at the end of this page.

But, before we get to that, let's cover what exactly you should look for in a slim fit dress shirt. Consider this your "checklist" when slim-fit shopping.

1.) Check that the midsection is not too loose around your waist. You want there to be 4-6 inches of extra fabric. This means when you pinch it off on the side, it should be 2-3" of folded fabric. Any more and you look sloppy. Any less and you better be in great physical condition as well as be wearing the shirt with a very slim pair of pants.
2.) Check that the chest width is not too loose. Again, you want to have 4-6" of extra fabric. If it's too tight, you're going to be constantly pulling on the button at your sternum which will result in some weird lines across the shirt. Too loose and you'll just look sloppy.
3.) Narrower sleeve width. Too many men forget the sleeves. Getting them the right fit is a little tricky, but you''ll usually know it when you feel it. Sleeves should be cut close to your arms without restricting movement (too much anyways).
4.) All the other obvious stuff - the collar, the sleeve length, the shoulder width and the length should fit you - but of course you already knew that.

Behold, our ranking of the most "Slim Fitting" dress shirts you can purchase off the rack. Our metric for "slim-fittingness" is Midsection Width minus Collar Circumference, so the slimmer fitting shirts are on the top of the list. To keep things fair, we only rank shirts sized Large or 16-16.5 (or 42 if you're not from the states).

Rank	Brand/Size	Midsection Width	- Collar Circumference
1.	Ben Sherman Large SOHO Fit	2.25
2.	Esprit Large Slim Fit	2.625
3.	DKNY Large Slim Fit	4
4.	Kenneth Cole NY Large	4
5.	Proper Cloth Large Super Slim Fit	4
6.	Zara 42 (16 US) Tailored Fit	4.25
7.	H&M Large Regular Fit	4.375
8.	Thomas Pink 16.5 Slim Fit	4.5
9.	H&M Large Slim Fit	4.625
10.	Burberry Large Classic	4.75
11.	DKNY Large Refined Fit	5
12.	Hugo Boss Large Fitted	5
13.	Zara 42 (16 US) Regular Fit	5.25
14.	Ben Sherman Large Union Fit	5.375
15.	Charles Thrywit 16.5 36 Slim Fit	5.375
16.	J. Crew Large	5.375
17.	Tommy Hilfiger Large Custom Fit	5.375
18.	Proper Cloth Large Slim Fit	5.5
19.	Express Large 16-16.5 Modern Fit	5.625
20.	Charles Thrywit 16.5 35 Slim Fit	5.75
21.	Gap Large 16-16.5 Fitted	5.75
22.	Gap Large Classic Fit	6.25
23.	Lacoste 42	6.5
24.	Brooks Brothers 16.5 35 Slim Fit	7
25.	Proper Cloth Large Classic Fit	7
26.	Sean John Large 16.5 36-37	7.25
27.	Charles Thrywit 16.5 35	7.875