How to Get the Right Fit

So yes, they're all about the fashion. But it really gets Beznovsky's blood boiling to hear customer horror stories about glasses that didn't fit and "should never have gone on their faces," he says. If your frames fit properly, they won't pinch your head or slide down your nose. They shouldn't rest on your cheeks, fit tight against your temples or cover up your eyebrows. Consider: Are they wide enough for your face? You don't want a frame that fits so tightly that the sides, or temples, bow out away from your head. If you have a wide face, look for a frame with an extended hinge that will give you some breathing space on the sides.Do the frames complement the shape of your face? Rule of thumb: Opposites attract. For instance, a person with a square face should look for circular and oval glasses. Frames with crisp, straight lines look good on round faces. People with oval faces can wear virtually any shape.You might be limited in your choices. "Some prescriptions allow us to only fit certain frames," Milman says. Consider how the frame you want will work with any customized lens -- i.e. thick -- you might need. Bras Brenda Coulter has sold bras for a dozen years. The owner of Intimate Designs in Independence is obsessed with finding the right fit for women, which is why she carries sizes rarely found elsewhere, especially in larger cup sizes.

Most of the women who walk into her shop walk out in a new bra of an entirely different size because they'd been wearing the wrong one, she says. Her fitting process is personalized and takes up to 45 minutes. Her advice: Measure around your rib cage with a tape measure. Coulter adds two to four inches to the measurement for a starting point for the band size.When the bra is on, make sure the back strap is level with the front. It should run evenly around your body and not ride up in the back. If you're constantly tugging the back strap down, you need to go down at least one band size.On an underwire bra, make sure the wire goes completely around the bust, including around the sides under the arms. There shouldn't be anything popping out of the cups underneath the arms; if there is, the cup is too small. The wires in the middle of the bra in front should lie flat against your chest. If they stick out, the cup is too small.Move around in the bra. Swing your arms around and over your head. The bra, and everything inside it, should stay firmly in place.Check your bra size at least every six months or so. Breast size changes as you gain or lose weight, get older, have babies, go through menopause. Suit Jackets There's just one place to start when finding a suit jacket or sport coat that fits properly: the back, or the yoke, of the coat.

If the jacket doesn't fit across the back, from shoulder to shoulder, all the tailoring skill in the world won't fix it, says Keith Novorr, owner of Michael's Fine Clothes for Men downtown. A properly fit coat will lie flat against the chest when buttoned. If it's too tight, the lapels will puff out. "So many, many men are walking around with an ill-fitting suit," he says. His measuring rules of thumb: For sleeves: There should be four inches from the bottom of the thumb to the bottom of the sleeve.For jacket length: Old rule of thumb: A man's hand, held at a 90-degree angle toward his body, should touch the bottom of the coat. Now, because everyone wants to look taller and thinner, jackets are tailored longer: About an inch longer than the bottom of the fingers when the arms are down, in a relaxed position.For pant hems: Holding a ruler against the back of each pant leg, use tailor's chalk to mark the pant 12 inches up from the floor. Drop down 10 3/4 inches from that mark and use that as the bottom of the hem. Measure both legs; many people have one leg that is longer than the other. Measurements will be more accurate if the man wears the shoes he'll use with the pants. Bicycles If the bike doesn't fit, Ariel Mendez knows he's probably lost a repeat customer.

The owner of Leawood Bicycles on State Line Road in Kansas City has worked with bicycles since the 1960s and knows by now that "the most important thing is it has to fit the rider. The rider doesn't have to fit the bicycle." Before he begins his custom-fitting process, he has to know what kind of riding they plan to do. Do they need a road bike -- lightweight and built for long distances? A rugged mountain bike with fat tires that climbs hills easily? Or a hybrid, which many of his customers buy, that combines the upright riding position of a mountain bike with the lighter weight of a road bike? Then, Mendez can fit: The saddle, or seat: Make sure it's comfortable. You don't have to use the one that comes with the bike. Look for one that allows you to sit so that your pelvis rests on a level surface. A woman's seat will likely be wider than a man's because a woman's pelvis is wider.Frame size: Stand over the bike, legs straddling the frame, with one hand on the handlebars and the other on the seat. Lift the bike off the ground until the frame touches your crotch. On a road bike, there should be one to two inches of clearance between the tires and the floor; two to three inches on a hybrid or mountain bike.The height of the seat: To find the correct height, sit on the bicycle, with one foot on the pedal at the bottom of a stroke, the ball of the foot resting over the center, or axle, of the pedal. If the seat is at the right height, your knee should be slightly bent, not straight.