Meadow Brook Hall was finished in 1929, when a dinner jacket wasn’t a costume. It was what a man wore after six. An invitation to a black-tie evening in one of its rooms puts a 2026 tuxedo into a 1929 room, and the room has opinions. They’re worth listening to, because the room is right.
The lapel
A peak lapel or a shawl, faced in satin or grosgrain, and wide enough to be seen from across a ballroom. The skinny lapel of the last fifteen years looks borrowed in a house this old, and the photographs will say so for longer than the trend lasted. Ask for the classic width.
The color
Black. Or midnight blue, which the 1930s took up because it reads blacker than black under electric light; ask whether the rack has it in your size. A white dinner jacket doesn’t belong here, whatever the season.
The rest, and the fit
A white shirt whose collar closes on you, a black bow tie you tie yourself if you can, black shoes with a shine. Then the fitting, which is where a rented tuxedo and an owned one stop being different things, with Roman, master tailor at Lincoln Tailor, on site in our store, pinning the trousers to your own shoes. Once a year, rent it. If it’s become a season, own it.
Also for Rochester Hills: Ten Minutes on the Floor: Adams and Stoney Creek Prom. More on tuxedo rentals, or plan your visit to our Oak Park showroom.
