A man owns a navy suit he likes, which fits properly and cost real money. A card arrives saying black tie. He reasons, sensibly enough, that a dark suit with a dark tie is close enough, and turns up in it. This is the most common formal mistake there is, and the reason it fails isn’t etiquette. It’s optical.
What actually separates the two
A tuxedo has a satin or grosgrain facing on its lapel, and satin behaves differently under light from wool. In a room lit for the evening, every tuxedo lapel returns light and every wool one absorbs it. A man in a suit doesn’t look slightly less formal. He looks matte in a room that is glossy.
Which is why a suit can’t bridge it
No amount of quality in the wool changes the behaviour of the cloth under those lights, so a very good suit fails the room in exactly the same way a cheap one does.
The fix costs a rental
Fitted in person rather than sized from a chart, because a tuxedo has no pattern to hide a bad sleeve. Roman, master tailor at Lincoln Tailor, on site in our store, pins the trousers to the shoes you brought.
Also for Sterling Heights: Two Utica Schools, and a Prom Season That Overlaps. More on tuxedo rentals, or plan your visit to our Oak Park showroom.
