(“GQ”)
British GQ’s latest guide to Black Tie couldn’t be more English, drawing as it does on the sage advice of Henry Poole tailors. It is Savile Row through and through, including the preference for grosgrain lapels over satin, waistcoats over cummerbunds, marcella shirts over pleated and turndown collars over wing.
At times like this I like to pretend that Canada is still a Dominion and I’m technically a British subject. (Damn that Canadian Citizenship Act of 1947.)
Posted in: Classic Black Tie
John Van Wyk
November 1, 2012
The GQ Guide sounds positively smashing. Maybe it will help lift the current state of black tie out of the abyss into which it has fallen among some exemplars of the genre.
Regarding the last sentence of the review: If it has not done so yet, surely Great Britain would be willing to make you an honorary subject!
Hal
November 2, 2012
The advice might be classically British styling, but sadly no more widely followed in Britain than anywhere else.
The advice about shoes is spot on, I think. Opera pumps and the like are OTT. Well polished plain shoes are always best.
Peter Marshall
November 2, 2012
I can understand how opera pumps can be interpreted as “Over The Top” but for me patent leather is essential. There’s something indescribably refined about wearing footwear intended to be used only indoors, only in the evening and only at the most elegant of occasions. Dress shoes, no matter how well polished, are seen too regularly to provide the same level of sartorial formality and panache.
David V
November 2, 2012
I’ll still stick with my patent pumps. After all, current “fashion” believes waist coverings and braces are OTT.
A. R
November 5, 2012
The advised compilation is very similar to what I wear to semi-formal events in the UK.
Anonymous
November 12, 2012
suits = waistcoat
stroller = waistcoat
morning dress = waistcoat
white tie = waistcoat
kill the cummerbunds!!!
Peter Marshall
November 12, 2012
Sadly, in North America today both the cummerbund and waistcoat are losing ground to uncovered waists.
Anonymous
November 12, 2012
Fortunately, in my country, youth fashionable suits come with waistcoats, sometimes waistcoats with lapels. i hope the trend lasts.
Hal
November 13, 2012
Finding a decent evening waistcoat (at least for a price comparable to half decent cummerbund) isn’t easy, though.
Oddly enough white marcella waistcoats are more common and easier to find than their black cousins.
omschiefslr
November 30, 2012
I happen to like cummerbunds! With the jacket buttoned as it should be, the cummerbund serves the purposes of maintaining the ‘Long V’ effect and hiding the white shirt show-through while bending or sitting. They are also less bulky and more comfortable.
Anonymous
December 19, 2012
And for the love of god! peaked lapel should replace other alternatives.