Well, it started in high school theatre. For a play I was in I found a really expensive tuxedo at a used clothing store for pennies. In order to be more accurate for the part, I learned to tie a bow-tie. Over the years I researched about style, history and really got into fun clothes. Anybody can wear tee-shirts and jeans, but how many people in college had a top hat? (aside from the mimes).
Then I leaned about the difference tailoring makes. I hung out with a crowd that did a lot of dinner parties, cotillions, murder mysteries, balls and just liked to dress up.
I own 2 dinner jackets, one 1940’s one 1960’s.
Trousers to match both.
A classic black tail coat.
2 victorian frock coats.
A white double-breasted dinner jacket.
And a formal Scottish kilt outfit.
Even the Masons don’t wear them here. I got Himself a beautiful stud set when he made Master Mason, figuring he’d need a tux (these) but they only haul out the duds at the Grand Lodge anymore. (The Prince Hall guys are ALWAYS in tuxes when I see them coming and going from their lodge. They also have ten times the young men the white lodges do.)
Really, when they let the Army go out in public in their jammies, it’s pretty much all over.
I have a similar set as a Past Grand Knight, and one for Past Faithful Navigator of the Knights of Columbus – the fraternal organization I alluded to above.
What I covet (hijacking the subject a bit) is a ring. I hold three “has been” titles: Past Faithful Navigator, Past Grand Knight, and Former District Deputy. I would love to find a good, solid ring that symbolized all three positions, but they don’t seem to exist. There’s no lack of PGK rings, and PFN rings, and I’d even seen an FDD ring… but nothing that captures multiple roles.
My husband worn Scottish Highland attire for our wedding (I wore the female equivalent). Is that acceptable?
Damn outfit cost around $2,000, and that was 20 years ago. Of course, he was a professional bagpiper, too, so it saw a lot of wear other than just our wedding day. At one point I believe he had three of those outfits, and used them all on a weekly basis.
Once he retired his pipes, he didn’t wear any of that again. He’s been t-shirt and jeans ever since.
The only time I’ve ever worn one was for my wedding, and for that the wedding party rented Victorian-era tuxes (tails, watch fobs, etc). We were going for a “deck of the Titanic” style of affair.
Despite attending dozens of weddings, formal parties, and dinners, in 30 years I have never seen anyone “sincerely” wear a tux that wasn’t associated with a kitchy, costumey event (proms, themed parties, etc).
This could be a regionalistic Pac NW thing though, we don’t rub elbows at the Kennedy mansion with you Carnegies and Rockefellers.
Would work parties count as kitschy? The annual company holiday parties usually contain dudes in anything from snappy tailored tuxes all the way down the sartorial scale to buttondowns over slacks, with the very uncommon pair of jeans. Suits and/or blazers are the most common though, I think.
Why do you care? If people think you’re trying to be hip, well, then let them. If you want more formal clothing to come back into style, then you may have to start wearing it first in order to get the ball rolling. If someone asks about it then you can explain your reasoning and maybe every once in a while some guy will buy a suit on a lark because of that cool looking fellow who was really rockin’ the tweed and start wearing it once and awhile. You probably can’t get a movement started by yourself. (Although you never can tell with the internet.) But you can put it out there and see if anyone reciprocates. I, personally, prefer t-shirts, flip-flops and cargo shorts. (Risky attire in Minnesota, I’ll grant you.) But, I will make an effort now to dress up a little more and perhaps that will encourage some latent gentlemen to open their closets and wear their formalwear with pride. Who cares what the hipsters think?
Well, once they actually hear me talk, I think the chance of them thinking I’m a hipster pretty much goes out the window. Especially if politics are involved.
Every man in the wedding party (including the Father of the Bride) is wearing a tux at Elizabeth & Anthony’s wedding in For Better Or For Worse. It’s a daytime, outdoor wedding. **Warning: ** The wedding color scheme is teal & lavender.
This might spell the death blow to the tuxedo. (There are many of us who take a dim view of the strip for reasons other than fashion mistakes. But that’s another subject entirely.)
Personally, I’m glad to see gentlemen make an effort from time to time. Tuxes, morning coats–or even really nice suits.
Morning dress is appropriate for the most formal type of daytime wedding. The appropriate dress for the most formal type of evening wedding is white tie and tails. A tuxedo is appropriate attire for an evening wedding one step down in formality, and is appropriate for guests as well as the wedding party; guests may also wear dark business suits if they prefer (unless the invitation specifies black tie, then they should make every effort to dress as requested).
A number of posters have mentioned tuxedos and tailcoats as if they are the same thing; they are not. A tuxedo is a dinner jacket, or the entire ensemble worn with a dinner jacket. As a matter of fact, dinner jackets were originally considered to be informal evening attire. A gentleman who dressed up for the evening wore a white tie and tailcoat. Those men in old movies who were wearing dinner jackets at supper clubs likely thought of themselves as being dressed informally, not all dressed up.
I’d say, however, that in this day and age it’s quite rude to one’s guests in most social circles to specify black tie. “Black tie optional” or “Black tie or suits” or whatever is fine, but essentially demanding specialized clothing most people no longer own is rude unless you have reason to believe your guests will own it.
In other words, you should wear a tuxedo if you are invited to an evening wedding where black tie is specified, but whoever sent out the invitations is an asshole.
This is completely in keeping with the same kind of attitude that makes people think they’d rather have a president who’s dumb and ignorant and seems like the kind of guy you "want to have a beer with’ instead of someone who is smarter than you. The PRESIDENT IS SUPPOSED TO BE SMARTER THAN YOU. THAT IS WHY HE IS THE PRESIDENT AND YOU ARE NOT.
There used to be a time when people understood this. Roosevelt, Kennedy - these guys were aristocrats and that was understood. It was admired. People aspired to be classier and wealthier because of their leadership.
Nowadays it’s a slob’s world. The slobs rule everything. It’s cool to look like you just got out of bed, and wear pajamas to work, etc. The whole country has become like that Will Ferrell sketch where he comes to casual day in short-shorts and a belly shirt and shows off his balls and his fat hairy torso to everyone. Soon that’s not even going to be funny, because it’ll be the accepted form of work wear, if things keep going the way they are.
My ancestors shot aristos, and left the homeland when they couldn’t kill them all. And I’ve never admired a single Kennedy, for any reason other than “Wow, he nailed Marilyn.”
Slobs of the World, untie!
Your guerrillas will be tripping over their shoelaces when they’re sent out to terrorize those snooty evening weddings no one’s supposed to have any more. :dubious:
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There’s no lack of PGK rings, and PFN rings, and I’d even seen an FDD ring… but nothing that captures multiple roles.