posted
Hey, I'm going to the senior formal in a few days and I need help coordinating my suit. I have a sort of pinstriped gray suit, except instead of white pinstripes there's subtle black accents. I'm probably going to wear a white shirt. What color should my tie be, and should it be striped or solid?
I love that this is as much fashion as I have to think about.
Posts: 3293 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
Technically, the suit you have describe doesn't qualify as formal attire in North Amercia. A tuxedo would be correct formal attire for men. What you are describing qualifies only as semi-formal.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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posted
Oh right, it should be the color of her dress (probably blue, if she doesn't ditz out for a new one before Saturday). Striped or solid? I know it's either supposed to coordinate with or contrast with my striped suit, which I'm wearing with black shoes and a black belt.
Isn't skinny black tie a casual thing? This outfit's for both my upcoming formal and commencement.
Posts: 3293 | Registered: Jul 2002
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quote:Also, this IS formal wear. It's is NOT black tie which is a completely different beast. Not all formal wear is black tie.
Please give a reference. Every reference I've been able to find would call this either semi-formal or pseudo formal.
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posted
Every reference? What references are you reading? Check out such classics as "Color for Men" and you will clearly see broad classes of suits (which the one described probably qualifies under) classified as formal.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
Match/compliment either her dress, her corsage, or your boutonniere. Based on what you've described, I'd personally stick with a black tie or one that is silver, or a darker/lighter shade of gray than the suit. I'd recommend stripes or a tie with a visible grain, but that's up to you.
posted
I thought black tie was not formal wear. White tie is technically formal. Black tie is semi-formal. This outfit sounds more like informal wear (like a nice business suit). Of course, that is using the more technically correct usage. Looking at dictionaries, it looks like common usage is to call informal wear formal and actual formal wear very formal.
Posts: 2223 | Registered: Mar 2008
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posted
How it all works is a little strange, due to a lot of line-blurring and differences between the US and Europe (in this case, Britain is the major counterpart).
In the US, formal clothing includes a lot more, but what is meant by a formal event is also usually less than what is meant by a formal event in Europe.
You're getting the idea with what you say from dictionaries; increasingly nowadays, especially in the US, what we mean by formal has decreased. Part of this is because the idea of formal has become available to people it was not previously available to. Even renting a white tie outfit of appropriate quality would be very expensive, so the events that are at the top of formality almost everyone will ever attend have trended towards the outfits that were previously 'informal' (such as the black tie tuxedo) but still evening wear for important social events.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
Take this with a grain of salt, as it comes from a wedding-related Emily Post book (Do I Have to Wear White? by Anna Post):
quote:For a formal wedding.... If the wedding is in the morning, the groom and ushers wear cutaways or morning suits, and in the evening they wear either white tie or tuxedo. At a semiformal wedding.... The groom and groomsmen may wear a dark suit in the daytime, or a tuxedo or a dark suit in the evening. At the informal wedding.... The groom and his attendents wear suits or a jacket, tie, and slacks.
posted
I am in favor of skinny black, but only if *you* are skinny. Skinny ties don't look good on people who aren't skinny.
Posts: 2705 | Registered: Sep 2006
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quote:The American name tuxedo is taken from Tuxedo Park, New York, a private club of country houses founded by Pierre Lorillard, the tobacco heir. (The town of Tuxedo and Tuxedo Park themselves were named by the Lenni-Lenape Indians, who called the largest lake in the area tucseto, meaning either place of the bear or clear flowing water.)
I have to agree with Rabbit here, a business suit is semi-formal. Formal is either black tie or white tie, although it used to be explicitly white tie.
Posts: 3735 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
It all depends on context. Formal wear for a cruise is different than formal wear for an elegant wedding or a royal reception.
Suits are still considered formal wear, although not as formal as black tie or white tie, or morning dress.
That is why if an invitation says formal wear, it usually (at least in the US) means at least a suit for a man. It will specify Black Tie if a tux is mandatory. Most of the time.
One of the MOST formal occasions is a funeral of a loved one.....and a black suit is traditional.
Usually when talking about parties or events, Formal means a tux. When talking about normal every day life, for most of us a suit is as formal as it gets.
Semi-formal is still a type of formal wear, at least to most Americans. Most American's will never wear a tux other than their wedding or their prom. A lot of them don't even wear them then.
Semi=formal in the US, at least to most American's, means a sports coat, dress shirt and a tie...although some people go trendy and skip the tie (not something I recommend).
quote:Originally posted by scholarette: My initial definition came from when I was planning my wedding.
My aunt and I stumbled on that Emily Post book while chatting over wedding stuff in B&N the other night. So far, I've got at least half a dozen flags on questions (it's set up in question/answer format) for things I would have never thought of! It's great! We're going with morning coats, by the way, since it's an 11 AM ceremony. ;D
Posts: 691 | Registered: Nov 2008
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quote:One of the MOST formal occasions is a funeral of a loved one.....and a black suit is traditional.
Strange thought. I've been to several funerals in different churchs, I even gave the eulogy at my MIL funeral. None of them have been formal in the least.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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quote:One of the MOST formal occasions is a funeral of a loved one.....and a black suit is traditional.
Strange thought. I've been to several funerals in different churchs, I even gave the eulogy at my MIL funeral. None of them have been formal in the least.
Not if by formal you mean tuxes.
I sold more black suits than any other, and the industry does as a whole, and almost all of them are for funerals. Usually just the family, but I have been to multiple funerals where over 90% of the men attending were in black or dark gray suits. It's the norm, as far as I have seen, although in recent years it has been changing.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
What's interesting is that my husband and his co-workers went to a funeral (most of them did not know the deceased.) He wore a black suit, white dress shirt, and dark, solemn (like, not busy or silly) tie.
Most of his co-workers and indeed most of the male attendees wore much more casual clothing (black dress shirt and slacks, for example, or a dark blue shirt and dark grey slacks. Very few ties. The only other suits were apparently on the pallbearers.)
This is in direct contrast to funerals we attend at our church, where all the men are in dark suits and women in dark Sunday dresses or dark skirt suits with white or dark blouses (no bright/loud colors.) Similarly, if I were to take my children to a funeral I would consider it appropriate to have them in dark (black, grey, navy blue; no plaid, bright pink, yellow, etc.) or white (or black and white) dresses and good shoes. That is what I see children at at our church when they attend funerals. However, last time I attended a funeral at a different church, there were a few children, one or two in Sunday clothes but most in casual shoes, bright colors, not a dress in sight on the little girls. Adults were slightly more formally attired but not too much more.
Thinking about it, I wonder if it's a difference in what is usually worn to church in those denominations, compared to our church? Most men come to church in suits, white shirts, ties and women and children dress much more formally than I have seen in other churches (where it seems I mostly see people coming out in jeans and polos and the like.)
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Yeah, there is a shift to less formal clothing for funerals the past 10 years, although most people still do the formal dress. A lot of younger people specifically don't care for the more formal suits.
It is still a small percent of people who do the less formal wear though.
Hell, I remember when you didn't go to church in less than dress slacks, a dress shirt and a tie.....and more often than now you had a jacket on as well.
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I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. I think losing formality in our culture is a mixed bag.
I still dress up (and make my husband and kids dress up) for family holiday dinners, too. It was foreign to my husband to do so but I think the tradition is very important (though we don't go as formal as for church, he does at least wear a dress shirt, tie, nice slacks-- what he'd wear to work; the girls wear pretty outfits or dresses and I wear nice slacks or a skirt and a nice blouse, which is what all the other women in the family wear too.)
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
In general I wear dark suits/jackets. I have a few black, one charcoal grey, and one navy blazer. I also happen to have one chocolate brown suit and one plaid sky blue jacket. But mostly I stick with the black or charcoal. I haven't worn the navy in forever.
My feeling is that if you want color, then you can play with the ties or shirts. I have pink shirts, rainbow (which isn't nearly as tacky as it sounds, and is actually quite nice), etc. Also pocket squares. Can't forget those.
I'm told that my style of dress is very European (or at least British).
Edit: Today I am wearing a black 3 button Armani jacket, black jeans, black belt, black skinny tie, black shoes (seeing a pattern here?), and a nice fitted white shirt.
Posts: 2705 | Registered: Sep 2006
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quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: At my church, you still don't.
I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. I think losing formality in our culture is a mixed bag.
I still dress up (and make my husband and kids dress up) for family holiday dinners, too. It was foreign to my husband to do so but I think the tradition is very important (though we don't go as formal as for church, he does at least wear a dress shirt, tie, nice slacks-- what he'd wear to work; the girls wear pretty outfits or dresses and I wear nice slacks or a skirt and a nice blouse, which is what all the other women in the family wear too.)
I agree to a point.
I remember my mom talking to me about this very idea a few years back. She is Roman Catholic, and she always dresses up for church. She still remembers when you didn't leave for church without a hat on.
They were living in Westerly, RI, and their church had just gone though a huge restoration project, which she had helped support. While she was in church after it reopened, a family of 5 walked in. They were dressed in shorts and bright colored summer shirts....beach wear, because Westerly is a beach community.
My mom was a little bit irritated at first, but as she thought about it she changed her mind. While she still dressed up out of respect, she realized that these people were probably on vacation, renting a house.....and despite not having formal clothes, they still cared enough to bring their boys to church at 8 am, while on vacation.
God doesn't care what you wear, probably....it's your neighbors who do. Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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That's not me in the picture but the guy in the middle is wearing essentially the same uniform and I have except our accoutrements differ slightly.
Sergeant at Law
I've gotta say that (and, of course, no disrespect to any soldiers, sailors, or airmen intended) that is the ugliest military dress uniform I've ever seen. It's like a waiter's outfit and an airline pilot's uni had a torrid affair, and the resultant child outfit was thrown up on by medals. The only thing missing is a monocle.
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