It’s hard not to make an impression when you’re 7 feet 1 and 325 pounds.

Noelle Monares works to make sure it’s a stylish one.

Those suits that Heat center Shaquille O’Neal wore while sitting on the bench during games 3 and 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, nursing his deep thigh bruise? The one with the brown vest, cream jacket with ivory and brown window pane design and the brown tie, and the navy blue one with the salmon pink pinstripes and salmon dress shirt?

All courtesy of Monares, a designer for Elevee Custom Clothing, of Van Nuys, Calif., which counts about 1,500 pro athletes among its clients.

Working with O’Neal is not only an outsized experience, but it also has added pressure, says Monares — who at just 5 feet has to stand on something to take his measurements.

“Him being who he is, he always needs to look fresh and clean, and he’s a trend-setter,” said Monares, a bubbly, brown-eyed 24-year-old, in Miami recently to organize O’Neal’s closet, pairing suits with shirts and ties.

All that TV airtime O’Neal got nursing his injury spurred numerous phone calls to Monares asking if the suits were hers.

“It’s unfortunate,” Monares said with a grin, “but he does look good sitting on the bench.”

Monares, who has no formal design training, became O’Neal’s designer almost by accident. Lamar Gayles of Phenomenal Designs in Chicago has also designed clothing for Shaq.

Monares, who counts Philadelphia 76er Allen Iverson and Golden State Warrior Baron Davis among her clients, felt awkward approaching O’Neal, whom she knew personally because she went to high school in Los Angeles with Macoriah Nelson, younger sister of O’Neal’s wife, Shaunie.

Shaunie asked Monares to do some work for her husband late last year.

Each O’Neal-sized suit requires six yards of fabric, compared to four yards for a typical man, Monares said. The company’s fabrics include Egyptian or Sea Island cotton, handpicked from Italy and France and with thread counts in the 120 to 150 range, much like a bed sheet.

Unlike other custom clothes, which can take six to eight weeks, Monares said Elevee, which does its work in-house at a 20,000-square-foot facility, can turn suits in two weeks.

Monares’ first order from O’Neal was for 52 shirts and 20 pairs of pants. She says she has made about 20 suits for O’Neal since late last year.

With so many pro athletes on their roster, the company’s dozen designers keep careful computer logs of what they’ve made for their clients so that athletes on the same teams don’t show up in the same fabric, Monares said. The process gets tricky when athletes are traded, she said.

And of course, their tastes can change.

“Right now he likes suits with vests,” Monares said of O’Neal. “He likes light-colored suits. … What makes the suit is the tie. I build around the tie. It pops it. A lot of times it will bring it together. The color combination can make it say, ‘Wow.'”

Sarah Talalay can be reached or 954-356-4173.

SUIT SCOOP

Elevee Custom Clothing suits come with shirts, ties and socks and run $1,595, regardless of the amount of fabric.

Individually, shirts run $250; ties $100 and socks $20.