Hawaii: Buying Suits In

By the time Elias attended his first evening gala at the Moana Surfrider, he wasn't wearing his Chicago charcoal. He wore a custom-tailored, light-colored linen suit with a subtle, reverse-print Aloha shirt underneath. As he stood on the veranda, a local businessman nodded in approval. "Nice suit," he said. "You look like you actually live here." Elias smiled, finally feeling the cool breeze he'd been missing. The Perfect Suit - HONOLULU Magazine

: At Black Tie Affair , he discovered that "Aloha Formal" often meant a high-quality, muted-tone Aloha shirt tucked into tailored slacks—a look that commanded respect without the need for a jacket. buying suits in hawaii

Over the next week, Elias’s journey to "suit up" local-style took him across the city: By the time Elias attended his first evening

The air in downtown Honolulu was a thick, fragrant soup of sea salt and roasted coffee as Elias stepped into the quiet refuge of a Bishop Street tailor shop. He had come to Hawaii with a suitcase full of dark, heavy wool suits—his mainland "armor"—only to find that in the 85-degree humidity of Oahu, his professional uniform felt more like a medieval torture device. "Nice suit," he said