The REAL guide to renting for prom.

[Jovan]

I'm not sure about the etiquette surrounding that. Best to look on Google, I suppose. Or start a thread here.

 

[dhermann1]

As I posted in another thread, I went to the event in a dark suit and was very much in the majority. (I did wear my newest vintage tie.) One guy at our table, from Connecticut, said he was in Manhattan the day before and had stopped in at Brooks Brothers and tried on a tux. He told them he needed it altered in 2 hours, and went to his next business meeting. He came back 2 hours later and it was ready! He looked sharp as hell.
To address the notch lapel versus whatever issue, I think a much bigger difference exists between the cheap and the nice tux. A really high quality tux, with nice material, nice tailoring, looks great, and a cheapo makes you look like you're in the band. There was exactly one peak lapel tux at the whole event. Single breasted. The guy looked like he was used to wearing a tux on a regular basis. Tres cool. I think my next tux will definitely have the peak lapels, I'm still undecided on single or double breasted. According to the tux website I was perusing, the double breasted is the most informal. It took me a moment to absorb that, but it makes sense. Anyway, I DO like that 40's double breasted look. Decisions, decisions!
Here's the page with us in front of the Waldorf:
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?p=331487#post331487
Yeah, my tie is twisted. drat!

 

[Edward]

My tux is a notch lapel affair - I bought it from www.clermontdirect.co.uk for exactly twice the price of hiring an identical suit from Moss Bros. The cloth is of a very fine feel / standard, and it looks great on - every bit as good as what I'd have paid twice the price for from a retail outlet. The lapels are notched whereas previously I'd only ever worn shawl before. I may well go for shawl the next time round as it's a nice little distinction further away from a lounge suit, but it certainly doesn't look at all cheap (now, one of the sets of tails I picked up for buttons to have around as a costume piece, it does look cheap on those - I'm planning to have them relined in some interesting fabric and used for something quite else). The overall cut of the suit to my eyes seems fairly classic, not changed much since the 30s. FWIW, the torusers have belt loops - not a traditional thing, i know, but very convenient and given to a more comfortable wear IME than without.... though I may well start wearing braces with them instead. I also have a single breasted white tux jacket with a shawl collar, very classic.

I tend to prefer a single breasted suit in general (though I might pick a db lounge suit up eventually), and I definitely agree with the dislike above of a db jacket worn open.

Re the "rules", the one thing that I had gathered differently was that classically a cummerbund was only to be worn with white dj in the tropics.... I don't claim to be any fount of knowledge, though, so may have picked this up wrong. I intend eventually to pivk up a black cummerbund to go with my white jacket as I think that would look good - traditionally I never liked them and wouldn't wear one with a black jacket, but I now tend to the view that a tux looks naked with neither, and I'm not convinced that either black or white waistcoats looks quite right with the white tux jacket. Now I think about it, maybe this is because I'm thinking of all those noir movies where they were wearing white jackets in the tropics where a waistcost was too damn hot! With the black one I'm still wearing a black moleskin waistcoat at the minute - sounds improbably, but the shade is spot on and the different texture works rather well with it. I might eventually repalce it with something satin fronted, though.

I read recently (I believe in Wikipedia when looking into white tie wear) that white tie fell out of favour as the normal formal evening wear (as opposed to the semi-formal black tie, which would have been worn for a formal dinner at a friend's house, say) in the 1930s, after the King turned up at some event of other in black tie. Personally I think it's such a shame that there are so few opportunities nowadays to wear both white tie and traditional morning dress..... I do like my various casual looks rather a lot, but it's a real shame that unless I go to Ascot, get married or am part of a (tasteful) wedding party for someone else, I'll not have a real opportunity to wear morning dress. Oh well, that's veering OT....