Surprise NYE event invite....
- Thread starter stuman
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Just Google black tie and you'll find the answer 
If you wear a lounge suit you'll feel underdressed
If you wear a lounge suit you'll feel underdressed
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Definitely Tux rental is the way to go. Even if the event forgives you for not fully meeting the dress code, im sure your missus wouldn't after forking out cash for some posh event.
Just to be a pedant: in the U.K. it's a dinner jacket not a tux.
If you were going for a rental you might as well go to M&S and get a cheap one, they used to do one for £50, great if you start to have a lot of these things and expect to get quite drunk.
Also you might get lucky in a charity shop.
Lastly, yes if the dress code is black tie then wear black tie. Perhaps there will be some chumps there who don't stick to it but I've been to events before where men in suits and ties (and girls dressed up in short skirts like they're going clubbing) have been turned away.
If you were going for a rental you might as well go to M&S and get a cheap one, they used to do one for £50, great if you start to have a lot of these things and expect to get quite drunk.
Also you might get lucky in a charity shop.
Lastly, yes if the dress code is black tie then wear black tie. Perhaps there will be some chumps there who don't stick to it but I've been to events before where men in suits and ties (and girls dressed up in short skirts like they're going clubbing) have been turned away.
Check out http://www.dobell.co.uk/, they're quite well priced
Soldato
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Just buy one. I thought about renting one for my first black tie event a few years back and it was about £50. Bought one from Greenwoods for about the same price and use it every few months. Sure it's not exactly fit for Bond but it does the job
If you're going to a formal event with a dress code, rent or buy whatever you need to conform to it. It's a situation in which dressing up is part of the fun, like the Rocky Horror Show.
Or turn up completely nude apart from a black tie, since the dress code specified a black tie and didn't specify anything else. That would also be fun, but probably wouldn't go down very well. I'd laugh if I was there, let you in and give you free drinks, but I think most people wouldn't.
Or turn up completely nude apart from a black tie, since the dress code specified a black tie and didn't specify anything else. That would also be fun, but probably wouldn't go down very well. I'd laugh if I was there, let you in and give you free drinks, but I think most people wouldn't.
Why would you wear a black shirt?
Don't do this because you might think it looks cool but it really doesn't. You'll stand out and not in a good way. I had to pick up a DJ a couple of weeks ago at short notice and got an averagely decent one from a local M&S outlet store for just £50.
You will look like an idiot. A black shirt with a black jacket? Really?
Soldato
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I use to go to a lot of black tie and trust me that you CAN tell the difference in these sort of events. Something like a wedding is easier to get away with but a ball you cant.
You cant mix and match a cummerbund (a black tie piece) with a normal shirt and most defiantly not a black one.
You should be wearing a dress shirt with a cummerbund and bow tie. A dress shirt is white, double cuffed and pleated or bibbed. You can go for either collar style but if the shirt is not pleated or double cuffed, it will look closer to a school shirt than a dress shirt.
As for the black suit, some modern styles look similar from afar but that is about it. Dinner suits have black satin, giving them a very distinctly different look which becomes increasingly obvious when surrounded by black tie. There is black satin on the lapels and along the length of each leg.The lapels are also winged OR shawl style but never notched like a business suit. The Trousers also shouldn't have belt loops and are kept up with bracers, although some more modern suits have adopted loops.
You can replace the cummerbund with a waistcoat but these are also a different cut, as they normally scoop down to show the pleats of the shirt and are the same satin material and the lapels and leg line.
I have been lucky that i have not changed in size in about a decade and currently fit all three of my dinner jackets but if i did put on a few stone tomorrow, i would most definitely look to buy a suit to keep in the back of the closet.
I i were you i would:
-Get a dinner jacket from somewhere relatively cheap like MnS or Burtons, pay an extra 20-25 to have it taken in if the fit is terribly bad off the shelf
-Buy a proper dress shirt from the same store. My opinion is to go for winged tips if you are opting for cummerbund and bow tie
-Buy a set of discrete steel arm bands if the sleeves are too long, it will look better than having tehm loose and is cheaper than getting them adjusted
-Buff up a normal pair of formal black shoes and use them
-Cheap pair of bracers will mean clip on over button but that is fine, you can get a convincing pair that feature leather style button loops with clips for like £10 on ebay. I suppose you can get away without if it stays up
Edit:
Here you go
http://www.burton.co.uk/en/bruk/cat...1?No=0&Nrpp=20&siteId=/12551&geoip=noredirect
Last edited:
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Rock up dressed as you like, in reason. Only wannabes take dress code seriously.... Not surprised at the people replying to this thread like it matters a jot.
Good advice except one thing...
Wing tip collar shirt is generally for white tie, not black tie.