When a Laurel Manor invitation says black tie, the groomsmen are taken care of. The couple chose the tuxedos and ordered them together. You got two words on a card and have to answer them yourself, and the most common answer, a dark suit and a dark tie, is the wrong one. Black tie means a tuxedo, and a room of tuxedos makes a suit look like the man who didn’t read the card.
Rent it, fitted
A guest who wears black tie once a year rents, and rents here rather than from a chart, because a tuxedo is the one garment where a bad fit can’t hide. There’s no pattern and no color to distract from a sleeve that’s long. The consultant puts the jacket on you and swaps it if the shoulder’s off, and the trousers are pinned to the shoes you’ll wear.
What goes with it
A white shirt with a proper collar, a black bow tie, black shoes with a shine. A cummerbund or a waistcoat covers the waist, and the waist is where a rented tuxedo usually gives itself away, so cover it.
Three weeks
Come in three weeks before, with the shoes. Roman, master tailor at Lincoln Tailor, on site in our store, hems to them, and a hem is a small job he can often do while you wait. If black tie turns up on more than one card a year, ask what owning one costs; nobody on our floor is on commission, so the answer will be about your calendar.
Also for Livonia: Stevenson Prom: Rent the Tuxedo, Buy the Suit. More on tuxedo rentals, or plan your visit to our Oak Park showroom.
