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Etiquette: Black-Tie Tradition
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Attire: Defining Black Tie
While
leaving some room for judicious experimentation, the dinner jacket,
or tuxedo, is actually a uniform, and if one observes a few ground
rules, the look is difficult to screw up (although plenty of guys
manage to do so.) Men’s Wardrobe
• It’s all in the Details
While there is a
universal understanding that black tie is a dress code,
definitions of the code’s specific attire can vary widely.
At its most basic level, dictionaries tend to describe it as
being evening clothes consisting of a usually black bow tie and
tuxedo for men and a formal dress for women. However,
approaching black tie as being in any way basic would be missing the
whole point. Following such vague guidelines would most likely
result in arriving at one's first black-tie gala dressed in an
outfit more suitable for a high school graduation party than an
upscale fundraiser.
Definitions
offered by the formalwear industry are equally unreliable because,
as we have already established, black tie can only be properly
understood in the context of its tradition and most tuxedo designers
and retailers have little interest in this subject. The same goes
for superficial men’s fashion magazines focused primarily on
pitching the latest formal fads offered by their various
advertisers.
The only
authorities with the credentials necessary to provide an accurate
definition of the dress code are experts on conventional etiquette
and classic menswear. Upon
examining the advice of these experienced pundits it quickly becomes
apparent that the true definition of black tie lies in its details.
Furthermore, the fact that the proffered details are nearly
identical despite their diverse sources and the code’s century-long
evolution shatters any argument that black tie is simply a matter of
personal interpretation.
Here, then, is the expert consensus on what defines proper black tie:
It goes without saying that that proper black tie is a far more specific dress code than anything the average man is likely to encounter outside of the military. What may not be so obvious, especially to the novice, is just how much of this seemingly restrictive list is actually optional. Take a second look and you will see that much of black tie’s dress code is not about what you must wear but what you may wear. It is this extent of choice that lies behind black tie’s genius - not to mention its survival in the face of contemporary trends that have virtually banished the more highly codified white tie code.
In fact, the amount of choice can be a little overwhelming. But don’t worry, the Relative Formality topic allows you to narrow down the choices based on what is appropriate for various types of occasions and the Classic Black Tie section describes how each option impacts the end result so that you can determine which ones will help achieve your desired look.
However, before moving on to an advanced discussion of its attire,
let’s complete our course in black-tie basics by learning the other
half of the equation: its etiquette. |
Correct black tie is defined by its seven components.
Black tie's tropical variation differs only in two primary details.
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 COMPARATIVE ENGLISH TERMINOLOGY Hover over images for picture credits. Copyright © 2008. Peter Marshall. All rights reserved.  This site does not function correctly in Firefox |
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