Introduction

Tuxedo, dinner suit, black tie, cravat noir… Call it what you will, this formal code of dress is probably the smartest ensemble most modern men are expected to don during their sartorial career. With a lack of regular occasions to wear black tie nowadays, many younger gents may be unfamiliar with the art of effectively executing the look. In the United Kingdom, the tailored component of a black tie ensemble is known as a dinner suit. The name is self-explanatory; it was your uniform at the dinner table, and evolved as a more casual alternative to white tie (tailcoats and all). Black tie was exclusively an evening dress code, and remains so. Six o’clock or when darkness fell (whichever occurred first) was your cue to don your dinner suit. We’re all familiar with the look of a tuxedo (US vernacular) from black and white films, but how do you put this look together and what are the finer details of its component parts? With party season upon us, we examine how today’s gent can approach this distinct area of formal wear, and how this traditional form of dress has evolved to cement its place in the menswear wardrobe of today…

The Jacket

The first item to begin with is the jacket. This should be made from pure wool and is traditionally jet-black. Midnight blue also looks rather fetching and is ideal for gents who are more inclined to make a statement; this tone appears ‘blacker than black’ under artificial light, and was particularly favoured by the always dapper Duke of Windsor in the thirties. Burgundy has also made a return to the black tie sphere, with a number of design-led brands utilising the rich shade in recent collections, including Swedish label Acne and British stalwart Reiss. Whilst this may be stepping into smoking jacket territory, this modern twist on black tie is most definitely worth considering. The white dinner jacket was created for tropical climes, and as such, should remain there ? it looks distinctly out of place in the damp and dark surrounds of Europe.