"Which side do you dress?"

I was asked this question today - to my continual amusement - whilst I was being measured for a suit.

This question itself probably isn't that strange, but I thought it worth mentioning, as this is the first time I can remember being asked it. And given that the person asking it was on her knees in front of me, with a tape measure in hand.

All of which is probably less interesting to you than the answer I gave her.

I will confess that I immediately thought of the line from Fry and Laurie:

"The side nearest the window, usually."

But instead I plumped for the less amusing, but more honest:

"To the left."

So there's something you didn't know about me before today.

The whole experience (of being measured for a suit, not of being asked the question! You're being silly.) was something I'd been looking forward to for some time, as I'm unaccountably excited about getting my first made-to-my-measurements suit. The word for which, by the way, is "bespoke" - meaning that the suit is made to ones own measurements. Apparently "made to measure" - counterintuitively - means something quite different (altering an already-made suit to ones own measurements).

Come to think of it, it'll be my second bespoke suit, as my skydiving jump suit was built especially for me.

Oh, and it'll be a lounge suit. I love the sound of that phrase - evocative of lounging around clubs looking effortlessly, sexily cool. That means it'll be a two-piece suit in what I hope will be a slightly more relaxed cut than the really formal sharp-edged business suits you might see every day (how am I supposed to know what you see every day?).

For the record, I went for a dark blue cloth, with a lighter check. The lining will be "bright and bold", and in fact will be a surprise to me, as apparently the tailor reserves the right to pick the one he likes the most. Despite the fact that he's not the one that'll be doing the lounging.

It's to be a two-button jacket (although I would naturally never be gauche enough to fasten the lower button) with a fitted cut, notched lapels and a double vent.

I've also done "The Necessary" and asked for working buttons on the jacket cuffs (in case I ever need to interrupt my lounging to roll them up and get my hands dirty), and declined to have belt loops on the trousers ('cos they're made for me, so I shan't need a belt).

Now I just have to wait for the tailor to do his work (7 to 10 weeks!) and we'll find out exactly how bad my taste and/or body shape really are.