Cream Trousers for Black Tie?

Hi,

The invitation is to a black tie wedding in Virginia at a winery in late May.

I was planning to wear a black db tuxedo jacket but ideally wanted to pair that with a pair of cream colored trousers from RRL. They're a light wool quality with inverted pleats and side adjusters and no visible closure in the front - so clearly a very formal type of trouser. The question I am having a hard time answering is: are they formal enough?

Bending the rules seems fine to me, breaking the rules is not the intention, however.

Opinions?

Sounds dreadful.
The opportunities for black tie are few and far between for most of us. Ideas like this just dilute the whole theme even more. Do it right or don't bother is my feeling.

GCL82 said:

Hi,

The invitation is to a black tie wedding in Virginia at a winery in late May.

I was planning to wear a black db tuxedo jacket but ideally wanted to pair that with a pair of cream colored trousers from RRL. They're a light wool quality with inverted pleats and side adjusters and no visible closure in the front - so clearly a very formal type of trouser. The question I am having a hard time answering is: are they formal enough?

Bending the rules seems fine to me, breaking the rules is not the intention, however.

Opinions?

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Please dont. This sounds atrocious. I mean, I would get enjoyment out of seeing someone dressed like this, but it would look really bad and call attention to you. You are not the attraction for this event and it would be incredibly rude to the hosts to wear this costume. If this is a look you really want to experiment with, hold an event at which you are the host and you can wear whatever you want.

The jacket should be cream or white, not the trousers.

Nothing to add to the above, really, except don't do it.

Further to that, I don't think that the outfit you describe would look anything like as good as you think it would. If the invitation says black tie, then wear black tie or don't go. What you describe is not black tie.

Gentlemen,

Judging by the tone of some of the comments you'd think I insulted somebody's mother but I do thank all of you for your advice, which I will heed. Black tuxedo trousers it is. Still, I am not fully convinced that the look by Andrew Lauren below is not extremely elegant and still appropriate for a countryside wedding.

GCL82 said:

Gentlemen,

Judging by the tone of some of the comments you'd think I insulted somebody's mother but I do thank all of you for your advice, which I will heed. Black tuxedo trousers it is. Still, I am not fully convinced that the look by Andrew Lauren below is not extremely elegant and still appropriate for a countryside wedding.

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Ralph likes doing this look from time to time. I personally think it looks pretty nice, but it requires a certain time and place - as well as personality - to pull off. Whether that is you is your decision to make.

However, I think the fundamental reason this works well is the fact that it is a midnight blue dinner jacket, rather than a black one, which I'm not convinced would work as well. There's something about the richness of the navy and cream which blends well together.

This is another RL look which uses the same principle:

GCL82 said:

Gentlemen,

Judging by the tone of some of the comments you'd think I insulted somebody's mother but I do thank all of you for your advice, which I will heed. Black tuxedo trousers it is. Still, I am not fully convinced that the look by Andrew Lauren below is not extremely elegant and still appropriate for a countryside wedding.

Click to expand...

Given the variety of dress codes that get put on invitations, this is NOT what I would wear to something asking me for black tie. Perhaps "creative black tie" or "casual black tie" or something? And it's important to note a bunch of things:
1) He's wearing velvet slippers, the "I'm hosting a black tie event in my house" move....and his have bold designs/monograms on them, which perhaps makes them even more casual;
2) Trousers are not just cream, but also cuffed, which is not "traditionally" done with black tie trousers;
3) I would argue that jacket is not midnight blue, but closer to navy, so it's even lighter in color than a "traditional" black tie jacket would be, further casualizing the jacket to some extent;
4) This is a guy walking out of a door for a photo shoot. That's not exactly "real life", nor is it likely a like-for-like parallel to your own event (someone else's black tie invitation wedding).

If you think all of that would fit in fine with what other people are doing, what the hosts of the wedding want (it's their day, not yours), and that you can pull it off (perhaps you're known for being a slightly eccentric dresser amongst this crowd?), then knock yourself out.

GCL82 said:

Gentlemen,

Judging by the tone of some of the comments you'd think I insulted somebody's mother but I do thank all of you for your advice, which I will heed. Black tuxedo trousers it is. Still, I am not fully convinced that the look by Andrew Lauren below is not extremely elegant and still appropriate for a countryside wedding.

Click to expand...

You said you were going to a wedding. So be respectful. Someone else's wedding is not the place to go all avant-garde. If you have simply been asking if your idea was okay for black tie, the "tone" such as it was might have been a little different. The answer would still have been no, or even hell no, but perhaps with less prescriptiveness.

No that look is not elegant for any venue for a wedding: In fact it is dreadful at best. Lauren is doing it because of who he is and he can show off - with no respect for those at the function to which he going.

Out of curiosity, if an event is "black tie," is it ever appropriate to wear a white/cream dinner jacket with black trousers? Or does this combo have a different name?



dan'l said:

Out of curiosity, if an event is "black tie," is it ever appropriate to wear a white/cream dinner jacket with black trousers? Or does this combo have a different name?

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Its name is 'faux pas'.

On the matter raised by the original poster, the black DJ / cream trouser combo would be entirely appropriate if he was serving the wine (off a little silver tray) or playing in the band...

Traditionally, cream/ivory dinner jackets (often worn with black dinner trousers but could also be done with midnight blue dinner trousers) would be appropriate for warm weather black tie events or those happening in tropical locations. I may move in the wrong circles, but I rarely see these at the few black tie events I've been to in recent years that are warm weather.

Most men look great in a well-tailored traditional tux. Why screw it up?

philosophe said:

Most men look great in a well-tailored traditional tux. Why screw it up?

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Because if you have a well-fitting ivory dinner jacket, you are not screwing it up.

I wouldn't wear one to a "black tie wedding", but to a black tie event in the summer, of course.