The United States is unique among the Western countries of my acquaintance in that people are sometimes married in the evening rather than the daytime, and that permits an "only in America" style of semi-formal dress for the wedding party which is the substance of today's essay.
Evening black tie does not offer a plethora of options but some are less than ideal for weddings, in my opinion. And if we ignore the completely outrageous, including most of what was worn at this year's Academy Awards, two of the three most common modes of evening clothing are fine for the guests but a little too casual for a wedding party. The top illustration, from the archives of Esquire magazine, shows both of them - the double breasted coat and the descended-from-the-smoking-jacket shawl collar on a single breasted. The groom in particular should be dressed more formally.
The second Esquire illustration shows perhaps the ideal form: the vested, black peak lapelled midnight blue dinner jacket worn with a turndown collar and French cuffed pleated shirt, black bow tie, and undecorated black patent leather oxford shoes.
The classic black tie vest may be the least familiar of these elements to most men. It predates the cummerbund, which was originally only for warm weather wear. It is shawl collared and low buttoning to show more shirt than day wear's familiar six button vest, with but three buttons of its own.
The black tie trouser is worn with braces. It has double pleats, a stripe down the leg that usually matches the jacket's lapels, and is never cuffed.
Now most of these elements may be found ready to wear with diligent searching (the vest is likely to be the most difficult) but generally only in black wool. The more elegant and "blacker than black" midnight blue will probably be found only bespoke but both H. Lesser and Smith's Woolens make appropriate cloth for tailoring. And if the schedule permits, a cost-effective house like the men from Hong Kong will generally be able to deliver exactly what is required for less than the cost of the best ready to wear stuff.
This attention to detail is important, in my opinion. After all, one is hopefully only married one time and the photos last a lifetime or even longer.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
The Black Tie Wedding
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13 comments:
This is a most necessary post, Will. I was married in North America, but my wife and I both agreed on a day-time ceremony and morning suits for the men. Would like to hear your take on the latter.
At my daughters wedding the Mass will be in the afternoon and the reception in the evening . Would I wear a white coat for church and then change into black at night or just go all black . I don't care what the wedding party is doing I am the father of the bride .
Will--loving the new translation feature. Your unique prose style retains a remarkable amount of its character even in Google-translated Spanish, and I learned some new Spanish vocabulary in the process.
Perhaps I'll take my ASW in Spanish from now on.
A wedding is always a formal event so you should never wear a black tie. Morning coat is always more appropriate.
Even a “normal” suit is always more appropriate than a black tie for a wedding. I know is not that unusual to wear a tuxedo in a weeding in United States but it does not mean it is the right thing to do.
EA
Vir, I did a post on daytime wedding dress last month.
Robert, more correct would be a gray or black morning coat for the MAss. Wear that or whatever else you deem appropriate in the evening.
El Aristocrata, in suggesting the morning coat you may be thinking of a normal European daytime wedding. The U.S. has post 6PM evening marriages and we are specifically talking about those today. Formal daywear would be inappropriate.
Dear Will,
Would it in be inappropriate in your opinion to opt for a more formal white tie outfit for the groom in post 6 PM weddings?
the post here describes a black tie post 6 PM wedding, just wanted to hear your thoughts on opting for white tie instead.
Will - although as an Englishman I'm not really accustomed to evening weddings in any case, I'd be interested to know what you think about white tie for an evening wedding? To me, it would seem like a better choice for a semi-public event at which ladies are present, and is more obviously akin to morning dress in its level of formality.
I suppose it is likely that only the wedding party would be prepared to buy or rent white tie so you would probably end up with guests in black tie, but that is no worse than most daytime weddings where only the wedding party wears morning dress.
El Aristócrata, wearing morning dress in the evening is incorrect. Furthermore technically speaking those events today that people do wear morning dress (race meetings and weddings) were technically speaking informal events, hence why morning suits were permissible.
http://www.cutterandtailor.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=96
This article details evening formal dress (and it's appropriateness for evening weddings), including some illustrations of the low-cut waistcoats Will mentioned.
http://www.cutterandtailor.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=117
Basically people in Europe usually get married in the morning or around midday and therefore morning dress or the stroller is appropriate but non matching lounge suits are also common. If there's an evening dance people usually switch into evening dress or lounge suits, but in my experience most wedding "breakfasts" (ie. lunches)turn into extended parties from which everyone retires exhausted late at night. In America people get married at all times of day and night and usually wear evening dress (at 11.00 am!). There does seem to be much more of a US passion for uniformity in the wedding party (probably dictated by the bride or her ma?) even when the uniformity comes from Rentatux and sometimes doesn't come off too well. Apart from a few de luxe evening weddings I've been to where white tie was worn I have to say the most attractive daytime wedding ensembles I've seen have been where the wedding party have actually gone out and bought (rather than rented) blazers,shirts,shoes, pants and matching ties (sometimes wedding specials). Participants seem to have been more willing to spend more generously probably because when it's all over they still have something and it's not going back to Rentatux.
SDear all,
I would rather wear a "normal" dark blue suit than a black tie in a wedding. No matter the time of the day.
A black tie should be wear always in informal events like awards ceremonies or huntings meetings but never in a wedding. Never.
How many times have you seen Prince Charles wearing a black tie in a wedding? None.
How many times have you seen him with a morning coat? Many.
Again, a weeding is a formal event and that is why you should never wear an informal suit. A normal suit, with a vent if you prefer, is always more appropiate.
EA
El Aristocrata - The mention of the Prince of Wales is not really relevant as he is English and so has almost certainly never been pictured at an evening wedding. Will has already said he is referring to evening weddings here.
That said, I certainly agree with you that black tie is not particularly appropriate for a wedding even in the evening. I would see white tie as being far better suited, hence my question to Will in my previous post.
Jake,
I would wear a morning coat before six and a tailcoat after it but I would not recommend anyone to wear a tuxedo in a wedding (no matter the time)
Thanks
If you're wearing a morning coat who can possibly attend your wedding without looking either horrendously underdressed, or making you look like you're in costume. A lot of these customs are irreversibly damaged.
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