As the summer
weather slowly begins to appear here in dear dreary old England
These events are a great time for a man to
demonstrate sartorial prowess. The first thing to do is find out the dress
code. If it’s not on the invitations, just ask someone who is involved with
organizing the event, not one of your friends. The usual one is “Black Tie”,
which I’ll explain in detail further down, but it might be as vague as “Smart”
or “Formal Dress”. If it is one of those descriptions, do NOT interpret this as
a smart pair of jeans and a blazer, or as one person I saw at a winter ball
(yes winter) did with a pair of chinos and jacket. The best option would be a
dark suit. If this is your first suit go for navy or grey as these are more
versatile colours than black and can be worn at interviews, work, funerals and
weddings equally. White is the best
colour for the shirt; it can be double or single cuffs and should have a plain
front. Make sure that the tie is sensible and demure. Belts break up the clean
line of a suit, but braces (suspenders) are not only fashionable they are a
practical accessory that will keep the trousers up without visually cutting the
body in half. Shoes are always good in black, as long as they are polished.
As
most proms and balls will be in the evening, avoid like the plaque light coloured
suits. Light grey is a perfect colour for summer but not for the evening so leave
it to formal day occasions. If you are planning on using the suit for other
things, it’s also safer to avoid the modern trend of suits with stain “tips” on
the edges of these suits; this seems to be a strange merging of Black Tie
evening wear and business wear.
Black Tie is the
most common dress code for balls so here is a guide as to what that entails if
you are unfamiliar:
The Black Tie
dress code refers to a black, one button jacket with either a Shawl collar or
peak lapels in satin or grosgrain, trousers cut for button on braces with a satin/grosgrain
piping down in the seams. The notch lapel, seen on most usual suits, is
acceptable but it will look inelegant compared to the others. The shirt ought
to be a white, pleated, Marcella, (pique) or even plain with a fly front (covered
buttons) with a turndown collar; wing collars should be reserved for White Tie
events. To cover the waist, either a low cut waistcoat to match the jacket or a
black cummerbund to match the black bow tie should be worn. The bow tie that
you wear with this ensemble should be a self tie one; it is not rocket science gentlemen.
Footwear should either be highly polished plain black leather or patent leather
shoes. The key term in this is Black; the ONLY acceptable alternative is midnight
blue. It is ok to wear a ivory or white dinner jacket but only in the Tropics.
This goes for accessories too, it’s not the ‘80s anymore, don’t have matching, brightly
coloured bow ties, cummerbunds or waistcoat; it looks silly. A white pocket
square will complete the outfit and here is a little leeway to add a splash of
colour to the look if it is insisted that you have something that matches your
date’s dress.
This is the only
ensemble to wear for a Black Tie Only/Required event. If the invitation has
Black Tie Preferred/ Optional as its dress code, you can wear what I have
mentioned above. If you have to choice and
really don’t want to wear a dinner suit and bow tie, then you may wear a dark,
formal suit (3 piece or not) a plain white or blue shirt and conservative tie.
Shoes should be appropriate but black is always a safe bet.
If you feel that a
suit or following dress codes in some way diminishes your unique sense of
creativity, avoid the event all together. It would be rude to the host, not to
follow suit (pun intended). Comedian David Mitchell gives a great explanation
for this in this podcast here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66c7el1E11o,
he is right; Black Tie is a gift to men as it requires very little effort once
you know the rules. For more information, go to www.blacktieguide.com.
The most important thing to remember is fit.
It is better to wear a well fitting dark suit and long tie than a poorly
fitting dinner suit and bow tie.
Examples
of a cummerbund, low cut waistcoat, shawl collar and peak lapel jackets. All
images from http://www.blacktieguide.com
