November marks the start of gala season, a time when men pull out their tuxedos, dinner jackets and other evening attire to show support for charities and organizations raising money for good causes.
With this years awards season in America we witnessed male celebrities really pushing the envelope in regards to evening wear, allowing designers to think out of the box when it comes to “main stream’’ evening attire.
Nicholas Hoult wore a Dior one button tuxedo with an evening sash bringing an unexpected masculine elegance to an otherwise traditional look. Tom Ford continues to show trim suits with a wide cut peak lapel in bold prints for his dinner jackets and Brioni is building on the trend of velvet dinner jackets in their 19/20 collections. After the release of the Kingsman film featuring Colin Firth and Taron Egerton, velvet has become a fabric of choice for dinner jackets as they often lend themselves to a bolder evening look that allows men to express a sense of individuality.
When it comes to bespoke evening wear a man can be as bold or as subtle as he chooses, this is because all of the details are discussed at length, and although flashy is nice, a well cut traditional suit will go a long way in any man’s closet. Like your work wear it is always good to have a solid foundation of the basics and then expand to something more fashionable when the basics are already in play.
As a tailor I often guide men towards that traditional evening look and expand on the smaller details to give that garment its personality. With evening attire you want it to last a relatively long time as it is seen as an investment piece. Once you have your classic dinner jacket and tuxedo you can expand to a more adventurous garment, mainly because people tend to notice adventurous garments more, and to be seen in the same bold jacket all year the look can become a bit too repetitive.
Simple features like a ribbed satin silk lapel, fabric covered buttons to even lining the breast pocket with velvet for your glasses are great little details bespoke suits allow you to do over the options of generic “custom“ or off the rack stores.
By using a custom tailor (**cough cough**, Calvin Butts Bespoke) that knows the etiquette around evening attire you can feel confident walking into an event knowing you are dressed appropriately for the occasion.