Formal Wear Primer

[fabiovenhorst]

With a top hat? Didn't you know that...

Ah, who cares, it looks cool.

I know... but I don't have a black homburg, so...

Actually I did see men wearing dinner suits with opera hats and top hats in some old movies...

 

[Awesomest Guy]

Double-breasted dinner suit.
View attachment 47910

Just a tip, with DB jackets, use the keeper button to hold the sides strictly symmetrical to each other. Lovely top hat, by the way. I would also recommend a self-tying bow. Black Tie Guide has a lot of good material on the subject.

 

[F. J.]

[...] Actually I did see men wearing dinner suits with opera hats and top hats in some old movies...

Yes, but they were usually wearing stiff-fronted shirts and stiff wing collars, as well as real ties.
Here’s an example from 1935’s Top Hat.

Note that both gentleman are wearing collapsible models. Mr. Horton’s is a shiny silk, while Mr. Astaire’s is more matte and is probably either a duller silk or merino wool.

Though top hats were technically considered correct with black tie until the 1950’s, the practice seems to have died in the 1930’s.

All that said, that is a marvelous topper you are sporting!


Addendum: I just thought of this. The reason Horton and Astaire are wearing top hats is probably because of the film’s title more than anything. That said, it was still being worn with black tie in 1935.

 

[Dinerman]

 

[Awesomest Guy]

Glorious! I especially love the waistcoat with the tailcoat.

 

[fabiovenhorst]

Yes, but they were usually wearing stiff-fronted shirts and stiff wing collars, as well as real ties.
Here’s an example from 1935’s Top Hat.

Note that both gentleman are wearing collapsible models. Mr. Horton’s is a shiny silk, while Mr. Astaire’s is more matte and is probably either a duller silk or merino wool.

Though top hats were technically considered correct with black tie until the 1950’s, the practice seems to have died in the 1930’s.

All that said, that is a marvelous topper you are sporting!


Addendum: I just thought of this. The reason Horton and Astaire are wearing top hats is probably because of the film’s title more than anything. That said, it was still being worn with black tie in 1935.

Classic movie! I like it.

Stiff-fronted shirts and stiff wing collars are very hard to find here in Brazil. White tie and tails, are rarely required, even for more formal occasions.

 

[Dirk Wainscotting]

You might want to get your dress shirts from custom stitchers. They have amazing deals as wellas a premium quality fabric.

Go away shill.

 

[fabiovenhorst]

Now I have the black homburg!

Vintage Ramenzoni homburg

 

[Dirk Wainscotting]

Looks pristine.

 

[Mathematicus]

I may have the chance to get a tailcoat from the middle 1930s - Italian made, very rare. The only problem is, it doesn't come with its matching trousers but my source has a large number of white tie trousers so a reasonably matching pair could be eventually found.

My question is: would be wearing white tie with slightly non-matching trousers still appropriate? Listening to my brain, I hear "don't do it, it's a mess" but I'd like to share some opinions.

 

[Dirk Wainscotting]

It's a gamble. I imagine that 99.9% of the people around you (those who don't frequent this forum at any rate) wouldn't know the difference. You could tell them that it's correct to have the trousers in slightly different cloth and they would believe you. The only misfortune wold be running into that one person who knows different!

Think about how you'll feel if you are constantly worrying about it. You have to feel comfortable with what you're wearing.

It's a pity the wearing of a tailcoat ended up as a suit of the same cloth, rather than previously when it was a garment paired with different trousers.

 

[fabiovenhorst]

 

[Hap Hapablap]

I may have the chance to get a tailcoat from the middle 1930s - Italian made, very rare. The only problem is, it doesn't come with its matching trousers but my source has a large number of white tie trousers so a reasonably matching pair could be eventually found.

My question is: would be wearing white tie with slightly non-matching trousers still appropriate? Listening to my brain, I hear "don't do it, it's a mess" but I'd like to share some opinions.

I recently had really GOOD luck buying a beautiful dinner jacket on eBay and then taking it to vintage stores to find matching trousers. I found a great match including: era, fabric, weave, color and even a grosgrain stripe very similar to the jacket's facing. I would probably NOT try to buy BOTH online if that's at all possible. Which might be hard. Double-striped white tie trousers are, for some reason, not just floating around as much as black tie ones seem to be. At least in my neck of the woods and the little bit I've looked on Etsy, etc. Also, because of the era, a lot of White tie I see is (beautiful) midnight blue, and many sellers don't notice that.

 

[fabiovenhorst]

Now with the customized waistcoat

 

[fabiovenhorst]

Black tie with the Ramenzoni homburg

 

[Patrick Hall]

Wonderful evening ensembles. Particularly impressive is the harmony between the bottom of your tailcoat and the points of your waistcoat. This is a grievously overlooked detail in most contemporary white tie, with many a marcella waistcoat protruding beneath the fronts of the tailcoat, and marring the balance of the ensemble. But I submit that both your evening kits would look more fetching with a narrower bowtie. Conventional wisdom is that a bowtie should never be wider than your face, so as not to overwhelm. Assuming neither your marcella nor your silk tie are sized, it might be as easy as adjusting them for a smaller neck size, though this will also result in them being slightly harder to tie. Also, I've always understood that the wings of your collar should go behind your tie, but that might be one of those "rules" that wasn't really ever a rule before the Internet.

 

[fabiovenhorst]

Melton & Co. top hat, white tie and tails - trying the new waistcoat recently arrived.

 

[Dirk Wainscotting]

I dare you to go to the pub in the entire ensemble.

 

[fabiovenhorst]

I dare you to go to the pub in the entire ensemble.

How about the shopping mall?

 

[fabiovenhorst]

Trying my new dinner suit
Peak lapels, single breasted