Below is an email from a customer who ordered all his groomsmen blue linen jackets for his wedding next month.

Alright guys, I messed up a bit. My plan was to have by groomsmen go fairly relaxed in khaki linen pants and white linen shirts. I was going to wear the same and wear one of your blue linen blazers on top. We all ordered pants and shirts through www.islandimporter.com. Turns out the pants and shirts are not the best quality. I think I can keep the for groomsmen because it doesn't really matter for them, but for me, I need to go a bit more formal and stylish. The relaxed look underneath a blazer looks bad. So, I'm looking for some suggestions. If I still want to go with navy linen blazer that I ordered from you folks, but don't want to wear a tie, would you suggest some quality khaki pants and a nice white shirt. If you have any suggestions, I'd much appreciate as I'm close to game day.

Really sorry to hear about your bad experience shopping for your wedding attire. If we were you we'd check out Tommy Bahamas, especially their Island Soft and Indigo Palms lines. They have nice beach/island wear that I think would work well for what you want at your wedding. I attended a buddy's beach wedding last August wore a relaxed blue cotton/linen shirt from TB, turned out great. And you may be able to find a TB retail store near you, which could help. You're on the right track in wearing khakis and a white shirt with your DressMonkey blue linen. I'd wear a cotton shirt underneath the linen however, but that's just my personal preference. You're also right on; a relaxed look underneath a blazer can look bad, sometimes. A "relaxed look" can easily be turned into a "formal, smart look" simply by doing the little things: tuck in your shirt, wear straight-leg pants instead of a relaxed baggy fit, and a fitted shirt that's slim in the torso. Keep in mind though that beach and formal don't really mesh, and a smart yet casual look will work better for you than a traditional formal getup.

Hope this helps!

More favorable reviews for us from the blogosphere...

From Rokovoko

If a bloke ain't exactly bespoke but has a style of his own, he may want to consider the affordabale custom-designed blazers at dressmonkey.com. For less than a lot of off-the-rack options, you can choose from. . .

Read the entire article, click here

From She Knows Best

Dress Monkey was founded by 2 guys in their 20’s which offers custom designed luxury blazers with affordable prize tags. Customize your own blazer by...

Read the entire review, click here

Came across this 2006 BW article about Saville-Row tailoring...Savile Row Never Goes Out Of Style

Made specifically for the individual, to his or her individual requirements, bespoke suits are cut and stitched by hand. On Savile Row, that's usually still done on the premises. Of course, such personalization comes at a price: The average suit can take 12 weeks to make and cost upward of $6,000.

The same can be said about the personalization sewn into our suits as well. What's funny, and the honest truth, is that I can easily take this article, use the find and replace command, and replace every time the journalist says "Savile Row" with "DressMonkey." As far as the price tag for such quality and service? Not so much. 4-5 weeks (not 12 weeks) and a few hundred bucks (definitely not $6,000) and DressMonkey lets you travel the 'golden mile of tailoring.'

"You don't need to be a celeb or a banker with twenty bank accounts to enjoy high quality and personal style,"...says the man behind the desk in his monkey suit.

Dressmonkey enthusiasts, your time is now! Well,l in about a month any way. You asked for it and we're delivering, full suits! Yes, you read that correctly, we'll have pants available for purchase in about a month. Though we wanted to stay blazer purists, the overwhelming outpouring of customers looking for matching pants with their stylish blazers was enough to sway us. Here's how its gonna go down...this, like most of this company's moves will be done in sort of a testing phase. We'll launch the availability of pants, though its up to you slack-ers (I should write for the Simpsons)...to contact us with your pants aspirations. More to come on that later...

We're also about to launch two new wools, and two new velvets! The wools are in the above picture, and the velvets will be our latest attempt at being green...Bamboo and Cotton blended into a ridonkulously soft and shimmery black and also brown velvet. This way if you are ever trapped in Sichuan province, being attacked by pandas, at least you have something to throw at them when they lunge for you. DressMonkey Velvets...protecting you from Pandas and the earth from you since 2006. I love it.

More later, sorry for the random post, I've gotta go get decked out for my 80's debutante ball...(I'm single, and I'm telling Shanghai that a young entrepreneur is back on the market...to the sounds of Pat Benetar)

Peace from the east!

AHOJ Slovakian Monkeys!

Jasné že už máte tenisky, jeansy, hodinky a dokonca aj headset navrhnutý podľa vlastného gusta, k dokonalej elegancii Vám však chýba superštýlové sako presne podľa Vašich náročných požiadaviek.

Read More (if you can)

We knew the Chinese love us, and we're hoping Americans will too. But the Slovakians??? Our international appeal is officially off the the charts!

Look here for Trendwatching.com's recently released 2008 Trend Report. Move over "Experience Economy" and make room for the "EXPECTATION ECONOMY."

TrendWatching says,

The EXPECTATION ECONOMY is an economy inhabited by experienced, well-informed consumers from Canada to South Korea who have a long list of high expectations that they apply to each and every good, service and experience on offer.

Their expectations are based on years of self-training in hyperconsumption, and on the biblical flood of new-style, readily available information sources, curators and BS filters. Which all help them track down and expect not just basic standards of quality, but the 'best of the best'.

We're actually dealing with these "expect-sumers" in a SF style chat room called StyleForum as I speak. If experiences like this in dealing with potential customers are any indication, I'd say 2008 will certainly be the year where individuals are leading the dance between customer and brand. And we at DressMonkey are excited to learn from this new trend of mature and savvy consumers!

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