In my new job I will have to attend black tie events from time to time. I don’t know anything about tuxedos, and need some help choosing one. What is considered necessary for a tux? What is optional? Is it OK if I hate cumberbunds, or do I have to wear one anyway? What about suspenders? Are there materials to stay away from. Any information appreciated.
You can’t go wrong with a good old style tux. That means cummerbund, suspenders (braces) and bow tie. You can now get vests and 4-in-hand ties, but I’d avoid that unless you see them being common at your events. A black set of accessories is classic and won’t ever look out of place. You can always add fancier accessories when you get more comfortable with the style.
Check out menswearhouse.com they have a fashon advice section with Tuxedo 101 that will give you a bit more info/advice. If you hate cummerbunds, they suggest going with a black vest and bowtie as the basic tux, can’t argue with that. Don’t forget your shoes, beat up shoes will look very out of place against a sharp tux. I hate patent leather, but you want a clean look with the shoe. My tuxedo shoes are kept in a box in the closet, only brought out for special occasions.
If you know someone in a Masonic Lodge, ask him where they get their tuxes. It’s not uncommon for a georgraphic area of lodges to get their tuxes from the same place (can you say repeat business?), of which the proprietor may also be a Mason.
Stylish tuxes often have slightly different cuts and styles, but the standard black tux is never in poor taste when formal attire is required.
-Suspenders are nearly a must as the lines of a tux are clean and not to be marred with a belt (no belt loops!)
-Cummerbunds are worn pleats up, if you elect to do so.
-A vest may be substituted for a cummerbund.
-Definitely pay the higher dollar for a tux shirt with no buttons and use studs only.
-While you’re at it, you’ll need a few stud sets. (Usually 5 or six studs and matching cufflinks)
-Don’t skimp on shoes and stockings. Your best pair of black shoes will rarely do with a tux. Buy one pair of shoes SPECIFICALLY for wear with your tux and keep them well maintained. Patent leather or chorfram is best. Black stockings(socks) are a must. They must be long enough so that they won’t fall or sag.
-Carry little or nothing in your pockets, of possible. A stylish writing pen in your inside jacket pocket is acceptable.
-Shave at least an hour before getting dressed. A blood spot from a shaving cut will ruin a tux shirt. And, chances are, you won’t have a replacement available. (Murphy’s law!)
This is more of a presonal preferance than a requirement, but I’d say get a tux with tails. They look cooler, and you might get mistaken for a conductor!
But, yeah, go with black cumberbund and bowtie, cause you can wear them anywhere. A white tux is cool sometimes, too, but can also make you look out of place. And remember: Only the jacket is white. Get white pants with it, and people will expect you to welcome them to Fantasy Island.
I bought my husband a Tux for his birthday a few years ago. I shopped around a lot. I found the price about the same at Men’s Warehouse and Nordstrom, but Nordstrom’s quality was far and away better. The salesman was very knowledgable and respectful at Nordy’s the Men’s Warehouse guy was rather condesending.
The tayloring was free for a year at Nordy’s not so at MW. The salesman teaches Hubby how to tie the bow tie every year, and every year, he ends up with a clip on :smack:
A tails suit is more often worn at a white tie event, where everyone else is wearing one, too. I personally wouldn’t wear one w/ a black tie or to a black tie event.
Since you asked for recommendations, I’ll say that it seems to me that cumberbunds are a bit out of style. A vest seems to me to be more contemporary, though a cumberbund is still acceptable if that’s what you want.
Black tie means Black tie.
Don’t try and do something “funky” or “different”. If your hosts had wanted that, they would have had a “come as you please” dress code.
As for what you should look for… rent some James Bond movies, preferably with several James Bonds. Compare and contrast the tux styles of Connery, Moore, Dalton and Brosnan, you’ll see that they each manage to look a little different, while still looking incredibly polished.
Here’s a cute tux-related story:
The first time I wore a tux, I was 18 and going to my girlfriend’s prom. I had a friend who was a semi-professional magician and he had worn a tux in many of his performances. I asked him for advice. He told me the secret to looking good in a tux was this: staple your tux shirt to your underpants. That way with all the moving around you do in the evening, sitting, standing, dancing, whatever, the shirt would always stay in the same position and not come untucked or otherwise appear askew. That evening I followed his advice, and it worked like a charm. I looked great and the heavily starched shirt stayed in place all evening. In fact, I forgot about the staples entirely, as they did their job so well they were completely unnoticable. After the prom was over, we went back to my girlfriend’s house. she and I got a little frisky, and started removing some articles of clothing. I was undressing her, she was undressing me. Soon it was apparent that this was not going at all well. As she struggled and struggled to remove my tuxedo shirt, I suddenly realized why she couldn’t do it and burst out laughing. Once the laughter had subsided and I explained the reason for her difficulty and my hilarity, I popped the staples free and we resumed our delightful evening. 
“You can put any old dog in a tux and he looks great.” – my friend the last time our husbands got in their tuxes and we were telling them how great they looked.
Not calling you an old dog or anything 
but most men just tend to look really great in a tux…I did see one once who looked like a penguin but his tux was too large for him so it was fixable.
Basic black – jacket and trousers of the best fabric and cut you can afford, ditto tux shirt, black cumberbund and braces, black bow tie and black patent shoes. Yum!
A tuxedo is like a suit in that it helps a lot to actually go to a store and get some measurements and try on a couple different ones in case something seems funky with a cut or something. I had to get a tux for music performances and I did it over the Internet, getting my roommate to help with some of the measurements (mostly just holding the tape in place so I could get it tight enough.) While it doesn’t look bad, I think it could be better if I had been able to get to a b&m store, though it wouldn’t have been as cheap. The biggest pain was that the store didn’t hem the pants (and I knew they wouldn’t, as they stated it up front on their website.) So these pants had something like a 48" inseam (this might be overstated, but they were really, really long.) I tried hemming them, which didn’t work as the hem either wound up being really bad or I managed to sew the pant leg shut, so in last-minute desperation I taped the pants to about the right length. I think I used duct tape, which I made sure to remove as soon as we were done. I got them hemmed when I went home for Christmas.
Along those lines, I only have the cummerbund and one stud/links set. I highly suggest the suspenders; I used a belt for a couple performances, and although it didn’t really matter, the suspenders just look better. They take a little more work to get to work, since you’ve got to button them into the pants and get the lengths right, but it’s worth it.