I have a function coming up this saturday which requires formal dress. I’m a 22 year old university student who never dresses up so I don’t know much about this sort of thing.
I currently have a black suit (actually, it’s more like a tux I guess) that I’d normally wear with a white dress shirt. However everyone wears this sort of thing so I’m thinking I might like to throw some colour in. I’m just wondering if this is doable - would a dark blue or dark purple shirt still look presentable?
Again, the pants and jacket are jet black. My hair is short and black (usually spiked) and my dress shoes are black. Oh, and I’m a pasty skinny white kid.
I guess I should add that if a colour is okay what sort of tie would match it?
Men’s Wearhouse alum here - not that it means much, I learned early on that men will buy anything a woman tells them looks good. Sometimes they’ll sew it to their body and wear it until it degrades naturally.
So, here’s what might look good! Since you’re really white and your hair and suit are dark, why not go for a dark yellow shirt (no, not gold) and a long tie that has that color and some darker colors in it. See if you can find a vest that is black as well, or else someone may mistake you for a server of some ilk. Same goes if you opt for bow tie.
And it goes w/o saying, we want pics of the final draft, if’n you know what I mean.
Yellow? I don’t mind being a little crazy, but yellow? I dunno, seems a little off to me. Won’t have time/don’t have the money to get a vest, unfortunately.
“Formal” in Toronto for an evening dinner engagement usually means a black tux, white shirt with French cuffs and winged collar, and black bow tie. A cummerbund matching the bow tie is often worn, but is not necessary. A vest is occasionally worn rather than a cummerbund, but a vest is more formal than what is usually worn at formal evening dinner engagements in Toronto, if that makes any sense at all. A pleated shirt is often worn, but is not necessary. A coloured shirt is seldom worn, and I would suggest should be avoided. Studs are usually worn, but are not necessary. If a fellow wants to accent, it is usually though the cut of the tux (single v. double breasted, or peaked v. notched v. shawl lapel), or for more dramatic accent, through muted colour in the bow tie and cummerbund. Generally the older one gets, the less one is inclined to accent, for men’s formal attire is about the elegance of fine fabric, subtle style and exemplary fit, not about flash.
Lots of fellows don’t own tuxes or can’t fit into their old tuxes, so it is not unusual to see a person in a non-tux black suit at a formal engagement (but not at a white tie formal engagement – that is a different kettle of fish entirely). As long as you don’t go pimped out in a 1960s frilly shirt, you’ll do fine in a black suit. If in doubt, take the more conservative path until you see what seems to work.
I forgot to mention, one of the reasons that basic black and white is preferred for the gentleman is that it provides a background against which his dinner companion will be resplendent in her gown.
Well I won’t any female accompanyment so I don’t think those concerns come into play
Perhaps I should mention the nature of the event a little more. It’s actually our annual engineering department dinner/dance. It will be all students; its certainly not a white tie engagement.
In my experience, engineering student formals aren’t really all that formal…I’ve been to 5 (McMaster), and most guys are just wearing a suit and tie, although the tie quickly comes off or ends up around the head. Any and all colour seems to show up, though the guys wearing a nice, full tux tend to get some attention.
