Tuxedos

Tuxedo, Chiang Mai: it is a different garment, not a darker suit

The most common mistake is treating black tie as a black suit with a bow tie.

The distinguishing features are specific and they all exist for the same reason: black tie was designed for artificial light, and the details are there to catch it.

Satin or grosgrain lapel facing. The lapel is faced in a lustrous cloth that reflects light while the body of the jacket absorbs it. This is the single most identifying feature.

Trouser braid. A strip of the same facing material runs down the outside seam of each trouser leg.

Covered buttons. Faced in the same material rather than horn or plastic.

No belt loops. The waist is covered by a cummerbund or a low-cut waistcoat, and the trousers take side adjusters or braces.

A black suit has none of these, and in photographs taken under event lighting the difference is not subtle.

Midnight blue

Worth considering seriously, and not a compromise.

Under artificial light, midnight blue reads as darker than black. True black tends to flatten into a shape with no visible structure, while midnight blue holds depth and shows the cut. It was widely preferred for exactly this reason before black became the default.

In daylight it is recognisably blue, which is a consideration only if the event is in daylight, and black tie generally is not.

Lapel

Peak lapel is the more formal and the more common choice, and its upward line suits most people.

Shawl collar is softer and slightly more relaxed while remaining entirely correct.

Notch lapel on a dinner jacket is a modern shortcut. It is widely sold and traditionalists consider it wrong. If you want a garment that will still be correct in twenty years, choose peak or shawl.

Covering the waist

Black tie requires the trouser waist to be covered, by either a cummerbund or a low-cut formal waistcoat. Never both, and never neither.

This is why the trousers take no belt: there would be nothing to see it, and a belt buckle under a cummerbund creates a lump.

Cloth and climate

Traditional black tie cloth is barathea, a fine wool with a tight, slightly pebbled weave. In tropical heat, a lighter-weight barathea works better than the traditional winter weight. Ask for the weight in grams rather than the Super number, because weight and weave decide whether you can stand in the jacket for four hours. A finer yarn around Super 130s drapes well and can be woven light without reading thin. See the fabric guide.