... Unfortunately, my father and brother in law did not have one within a travellable distance and so we swapped to Moss Bros.
It was interesting going there as a second choice, as John had already been measured etc by Debenhams and so we could compare the two.
Most big towns have a Moss ... Read review
Advantages: Many branches and a good choice Disadvantages: disorganised
...and so we swapped to Moss Bros.
It was interesting going there as a second choice, as John had already been measured etc by Debenhams and so we could compare the two.
Most big towns have a Moss Bros with a formal dress hire department. They supply quite a wide range of formalwear to suit most tastes. It is easy to only associate Moss Bros with wedding wear, but in fact you can also use it for formal dinners, a trip ... ...feel uncomfortable, there are alternatives. Moss Bros do a knee length frock coat- very Mr Darcy! And a slightly shorter frock coat called " the Goodwood". This was the suit that John chose and it looked very smart and blended well with the tail coats of the other men.
You can also get highland dress and white tie and even ordinary lounge suits, so Moss do really cater for most eventualities.
At last I am back after months away tied up with moving, wedding and finding new work!
It will probably not come as any surprise that I will write some reviews on my experiences surrounding my wedding to break myself back in gently! Don't expect great things, I am so rusty that I clank!
We had originally decided that the hire of morning suits for our big day would come from Debenhams. Unfortunately, my father and brother in law did not have one within a travellable distance and so we swapped to Moss Bros.
It was interesting going there as a second choice, as John had already been measured etc by Debenhams and so we could compare the two.
Most big towns have a Moss Bros with a formal dress hire department. They supply quite a wide range of formalwear to suit most tastes. It is easy to only associate Moss Bros with wedding wear, but in fact you can also use it for formal dinners, a trip to Ascot or receiving your New Year Honour!
The range is quite big and I would suggest calling in to the local branch and picking up a brochure so that you can peruse it at leisure over a cuppa, and decide which is the style and colour for you. it might also be worth checking if they have any offers at this stage such as bridegroom goes free. At the time of booking suits for our chaps, the offer was that if you booked four suits the fourth was free for the bridegroom. However, we were told that the offer would not be running at the time of our wedding, as it is one which comes and goes, so we booked there and then, and paid in full , three months early. We thought it was worth it to save seventy odd pounds!
The brochure is well presented and you can see all the different suits modelled to give you an idea of what you might look like in a penguin suit!
Traditionally for a wedding the men wear morning suits with or without top hats and gloves. The suits come in a choice of colour, the most popular being grey or black with striped trousers. We chose the latter for our male attendants and something slightly different for John so that he would stick out from the rest. More of that later, but those of you who have seen John dance will realise that he would have stood out whatever he was wearing! You can also get morning suits for boys from the age of five but my page boys were a bit younger so I had to sort them out elsewhere.
If you are not too keen on the tail coat or think it is not "you" give it a try before discounting it. It is a special day and you might surprise yourself. When we were planning our wedding John said that he felt formal dress was not "him". My retort was, " How often do you see me going round in a Victorian dress with bustle?!" It wasn't "me" either, but that is the whole point of formal dress. It is a one off for a special occasion. John liked his in the end, once he gave up fighting!!
If you try it on and you still feel uncomfortable, there are alternatives. Moss Bros do a knee length frock coat- very Mr Darcy! And a slightly shorter frock coat called " the Goodwood". This was the suit that John chose and it looked very smart and blended well with the tail coats of the other men.
You can also get highland dress and white tie and even ordinary lounge suits, so Moss do really cater for most eventualities.
Having chosen your suit you then have to choose your accessories. As part of your hire package you get a cravat and a waistcoat and sometimes a wing collar shirt, depending on the package you choose. We also had matching hankies. I believe you may also hire shoes, but somehow that did not appeal to us and John bought a nice smart new pair of Oxfords especially for the occasion. There is a good range of colours in the waistcoats and cravats so that you can marry up ( 'scuse the pun) to the brides colour scheme. We went for golds and ivory and burgundy. We could just as easily have had lilacs, silvers or greens. At this point you go into the shop to book your suits. Moss Bros generally ask for a deposit, but we paid everything in advance. When you collect your suits you have to pay a holding deposit of £100 per suit against damage. They do this by swiping your credit card. Assuming that the suit is returned in good condition they merely rip up the credit card slip. If you cover it in gravy I suppose they will cash it!
The prices were fairly comparable to the other hire shops we investigated. We paid £70 per outfit. This will vary a bit according to which extras you have. They measure the chaps in the shop and it does not matter if it is across several branches as they open a party booking where everything is organised by one store who collate all the information. John had been measured originally in Debenhams, as I said previously. That fitting had taken half an hour and the utmost care was taken with every detail. We were, therefore, somewhat surprised by Moss Bros which was less than five minutes and really was rather slapdash.
Part of the reason for using Moss was to make it easier with our male attendants living in so many different places. There was a co-ordinating branch who was supposed to make sure that everything was the same. Sadly, this is where things fell down a bit. John went to Plymouth to get his and three other suits. They had a suit missing, nothing could be done in time and so we were an usher short. My father had phoned from his branch to say they did not stock the cravat which was on our list. I spoke to a very thick sounding assistant who informed me that Moss had never made that particular cravat. She was somewhat nonplussed when I told her that we already had three! We resolved that particular crisis. Then we discovered that we had not been given enough cravat pins which entailed racing back to the shop the day before the wedding. The top button on John's shirt was hanging off so that had to be fixed. Finally we thought all was well and we set off for the rehearsal.
We were met there by our esteemed best man Mr Iain Wear, no less, and told him our tale of woe over the suits. When we got home he showed us his, and he had been given the wrong cravat. It was actually a very smart cravat, but apart from the fact it was a slightly different colour and fabric , it was one of those which you have to tie yourself. We had deliberately chosen "Cravats for dummies" i.e. ready tied on a clip, partly because we thought they looked nice and also to reduce stress levels on the morning of the wedding! Well, we all looked at this thing.. None of us had a clue. We decided not to lose sleep, surely someone coming might be able to tie up Mr Wear before the ceremony. As he arrived fully clothed, I assume he worked it out!
All in all, we were not impressed by the general level of care by Moss Bros. One of the wing collar shirts was not especially clean and all creased where it tucks into the trouser waist band, so we think it missed a wash, and one of the waistcoats had a button missing.
I do not intend to get married again, as I have been so wise in my choice of husband, but when my daughters get married I am not sure that I will rush to Moss. The men all looked very handsome and on the whole the suits etc were nice, I just thought too many mistakes were made. In Moss Bros defence though, when I moaned they gave me back the money I had paid for the suit which never materialised plus £25 for the less than perfect shirts and waistcoats. I would have preferred my extra usher, though!
Advantages: friendly staff, reasonable prices, suits all matched and fitted Disadvantages: not able to see all suits in store, not cheap if needing to return to different store
...review deals only with using Moss Bros for suit hire, not purchase** My first encounter with Moss Bros was a fortnight before my wedding. I had assigned my husband-to-be just one task in the run up to our big day: hire suits for the 4 ushers and the best man. Inevitably, as we went through a final list of things needed for the wedding, he looked sheepish and confessed that he had got as far as a list of chest, neck, waist and leg sizes (which he ... ...to my nearest branch of Moss Bros. This review is therefore focused on Moss Bros for hiring suits. First Impressions The Moss Bros shop I went into was clean, tidy and light. A friendly assistant approached me as soon as I started looking at the sample suits on display in a slightly quizzical manner. Choosing suits to hire The friendly assistant, on hearing my plight, provided a slim catalog to look through to decide on the type of suit I wanted. ...
MarieHHH 11.07.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Moss Bros
Advantages: Just the 1 - Lots of choice Disadvantages: Lots
We went to Moss Bros to hire suits for the 7 men in the main wedding party. We chose Moss Bros over Debenhams as they had the colour scheme we wanted whereas Debenhams didn't.
We ordered all 7 suits about six months before the wedding.
We are only planning on getting married once, but my advice to others, only use Moss Bros as a last resort!
PROBLEMS
1. About 6 weeks before the wedding grooms dad went in to be remeasured as he thought he has ... ...After about 10 phonecalls to Moss Bros the day before the wedding, they promised that we would have all the right bits by 10am the following day (the day of the wedding!).
So at 9am the morning of the wedding two of the guys drove the half hour from the hotel to the shop. Only about half of the bits had arrived. Moss Bros then said they would have the rest of if shipped up by noon (wedding was at 1.30pm), suprisingly the did arrive!
Overall, this ...
sweetpea237 17.09.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Moss Bros
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If you want smart clothes, go to MossBros. to name but one ? for similar prices you get smarter, better clothes.
If you want nice shoes, go ANYWHERE ELSE!! I mean come on, how many times can you rip-off a loafer. I honestly think their design team consists of a blind man and a photocopier ? all they do is copy other stores? styles. What?s worse, they can?t even do this well. Have you ever seen an original design idea in River Island? I rest my case.
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I must admit that I agree with Beat Box Harry when he said that River Island 'does not know what it wants to be!'
I could certainly not profess to know what style the shop actually is due to there being such a mixture of styles and colours. There are lots of smart clothes, modern clothes, casual clothes and some old fashioned items that I wouldn't be seen dead in! But there is not a particular product that you would go to River Island to buy. For smart clothes it's MossBros or possibly Next; for clubbing clothes it's Top Man; for casual clothes it's M2 or Richmond Classics- two shops in Bournemouth's town centre. However there are no particular styles and products that you would specifically go to River Island for!
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