Formal Dressing in San Francisco

The recent Diamond Jubille of the San Francisco ballet was as formal as affairs usually get in the United States. The black-tie event and fundraiser included a $1,000 per seat (and up) dinner in City Hall, a performance by America’s oldest professional ballet company, and a party after the performance. There were more than a thousand people seated for dinner and three thousand at the ballet itself.


The attendees included hundreds of formally dressed women but only a few men turned out in white tie. They got my vote for best dressed.


A large contingent wore classic black tie. A few men, like the gentleman in the photo, dressed it up in appropriate fashion.

And of course, too many attendees wore ordinary suits, some without so much as a necktie. But they were better dressed than a few others, whose quest to be different didn't earn them any style points.

I will not grace this site with their photos but among the worst dressed was one man whose dinner jacket sleeves fell to his knuckles. Most people noticed only his orange four in hand necktie.

Worst of all was the dinner jacket accompanied by a gray and black four in hand and matching vest. They were worn above black vinyl trousers. The horror.

Photographs are courtesy of Drew Altizer Photography. © Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.

What to Wear

Location, occasion and time of day combine to determine the best color palette and style for a man's dress. We don't dress the way English aristocrats did in the 19th century, but many of the guidelines developed then are still effective in social and professional settings today.

Location boils down to country vs. city. The best country colors reflect the browns, greens and accent colors of the daytime countryside. The closer we get to the center of a large urban center, the more our palette should shift into dark grays and blues. And in suburban areas between the country and the city, the most effective colors are in the middle of this spectrum - mid grays, mid blues and tans.

Time of day, or rather daylight and night (the usual dividing line is 6 PM), also plays an important role. Black and white are problem colors during the day but very effective in the dark, which is why semi-formal and formal evening clothes follow that lack of color scheme.

Finally, location and time of day are modified by the formality of the occasion. A dinner jacket might be the best choice for a charity ball but a polo shirt and trousers are probably better for informal entertaining at home in the California summertime. Even then, black gabardine trousers, black moccasins and a white polo will be an effective look that's based on tested principles of dress.

Similarly, during the day a man can adapt his clothes to his surroundings more effectively by thinking about the occasion. Navy blue pinstripes are perfect for a call on an urban law firm, but won't play as well as a camel hair odd jacket and gray flannels at an office outside the city.

Instead of wondering what to wear, think about the location, the occasion and the time of day.

Consider the Black Suit

Consider the black suit. By this, I do not mean the Men's Warehouse "Since you'll only have one suit it should be black so you can wear it to a funeral" suit. Nor do I recommend the City of London black worsted with white pinstripes. But a black suit (similar in style to but hopefully better made than the three button version from Brooks Brothers to the left) has a place in your wardrobe if you're young, urban and plan to spend some of your nights clubbing in less formal places like LA or South Beach.

Know that a black suit worn during the day has been controversial and ideally to be avoided since the lounge/business suit replaced earlier forms of day wear. Charcoal and navy blue are preferred. The place for black is at night.

Night is when people go to urban clubs to see and be seen. And while a man in traditional dinner kit would look out of place, Hollywood has given us an alternative in the black or midnight blue suit, stripped of most of its frills and worn in place of black tie for evening.

Stripped means that the jacket and trousers should not have the silk trimmings of a dinner jacket and trousers. The jacket should preferably be one button with a peak lapel, but could be two or three button and notch lapel. Preferably without flaps on the side pockets and either no side vents or two of them. A sheen of mohair in the cloth adds to the evening look, as do cloth covered buttons.

Wear it with highly polished plain black oxfords and a silver silk tee shirt or polo in summer or a cashmere mock turtleneck in winter. A pocket square shows savoir faire. If you can't stand the thought of going out without a necktie, wear a plain white dress shirt with french cuffs and a Macclesfield or satin four-in-hand necktie. Avoid Clooney style, with an open neck. It just looks sloppy having your collar flapping around and all.

I'd rather you wore something else during the day, but if you can't get home to change for the evening, a black suit can work for you from morning to night. Bring some cologne and a night-time top or shirt and necktie in your briefcase so you can transform yourself quickly at the office. It's not cool to wear exactly the same clothes that you wore all day.

Once the sun sets the black suit is in its element.