Looking for a certain type of formalwear. CANNOT find it!

[havocxrush]

Hello. I am brand new here and had no idea where else to go. You seem like a knowledgeable bunch. Well here is the situation. I will be getting married next May and I have started looking for a tux. Now I know generally what I have in mind, because I have seen it before. The problem is I cannot seem to find anything online at all. No pictures, none for sale, etc.
I believe what I am trying to find is a kind of tailcoat. Unfortuneately all of the tailcoats I have seen for mens formalwear end at about the knee-line. I am looking for a tux where the jacket has a somewhat prominent front, does not neccessarrily need to be buttoned - the tails I am looking for on the jacket are not the rounded type I am finding everywhere I look, but are moreso in strips, and they come down to floor level, not knee level. I saw this last I think on old style butlers jackets (1800's ish) What is this called and where can I find them? Anyone knowledgeable in formalwear Id appreciate the help.

Jeff

 

[emmanuel]

I cant read your post! Itsall in red so it gives it a sense of urgency so I skimmed through it as fast as I could. Couldnt make out much.

 

[havocxrush]

fixed for color

 

[Sander]

First: a tuxedo (black tie, dinner jacket) is not the same as white tie (tails, tailcoat).
A dinner jacket looks very much like a normal suit. A tailcoat has tails and can't be buttoned and is also always worn with a white vest. That's the very short summary. If you want to know more: www.blacktieguide.com
It seems you are looking for something that's closer to a tailcoat. But you say you are searching for something where the tails are sharp and almost touch the ground? I've never seen that. Are you sure you are remembering right?

 

[Vintage Gent]

I'd advise you to read this before proceeding. It's as close to a definitive guide to men's wedding wear as you'll find.

http://www.thelondonlounge.net/gl/fo...pic.php?t=6562

 

[Bounder]

A good friend of mine, who's wedding I attended, insisted on wearing a classic, single-breasted tuxedo at his wedding. He really had to stick to his guns as his bridezilla was pushing hard for something a bit more, ahh, modern, that, no doubt, matched the bridesmaids' dresses and the centerpieces or something.

Some years later, his wife attended a wedding shower where everyone was encouraged to bring their wedding albums. Everyone was having a great time and laughing at the clothes being sported by the various grooms and groomsmen which including things like pink, crushed velvet jackets and shirts with purple frills.

When her turn came, she started flipping through the album displaying pictures of her in a nice white wedding gown and her now-husband wearing an unspectacular but correct tuxedo which, I happen to know, he had picked up at a thrift shop and had altered. Total silence descended on the group. After about two minutes, one of the women turned to her and said, with tears in her eyes, "They're so beautiful!"

The moral is, don't go for costume at your wedding. Time makes fools of us all so it's best to go for something timeless, especially when there is going to be a historical record. I guarantee that if you wear a classic tuxedo, your golden wedding anniversary will feature a large picture of you looking dashing and sophisticated on your wedding day, fifty years before.

 

[JoeWoah]

Try Brooks Brothers for ideas. Maybe a morning jacket with tails could work... if your wedding is in the morning and outside. They also have a great website. Not all the formal wear is available online though.

Still... I'd stick with the classics too.

 

[havocxrush]

Thank you for all the assistance. I may try a morning jacket with tails actually. I need to see more in store before I trust anything in online shops. Need my proper measurements, need a good fit. I dont want to look back on my WEDDING and reget what I wore.

As far as my search goes. I found one thing resembling the style, but its some custom cosplay outfit on Ebay which.. yeah......... Im not going there.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Black-Butler-Kur...04125003r28866

The type of tails that this has, but a little bit longer than it is there. Those are the type of tails I was looking for. If I cant find it retail, whos most likely to custom tailor what I CAN find for a reasonable price?

 

[Sator]

Originally Posted by havocxrush

Unfortuneately all of the tailcoats I have seen for mens formalwear end at about the knee-line. I am looking for a tux where the jacket has a somewhat prominent front, does not neccessarrily need to be buttoned - the tails I am looking for on the jacket are not the rounded type I am finding everywhere I look, but are moreso in strips, and they come down to floor level, not knee level. I saw this last I think on old style butlers jackets (1800's ish) What is this called and where can I find them?

Is this a joke?

At no time in history have tailcoats of any variety (there are LOTS of different types of tailcoats, mostly historical) have the tails reached floor level like the trains on dresses. Perhaps this type of coat existed as historical clowns' costume? In the 1800s butlers didn't wear jackets - they wore a type of livery tailcoat. Jackets are coats. But they are short coats. A coat with a tail is long, so it isn't a jacket.

 

[Kempt]

Originally Posted by Sator

Is this a joke?

At no time in history have tailcoats of any variety (there are LOTS of different types of tailcoats, mostly historical) have the tails reached floor level like the trains on dresses. Perhaps this type of coat existed as historical clowns' costume? In the 1800s butlers didn't wear jackets - they wore a type of livery tailcoat. Jackets are coats. But they are short coats. A coat with a tail is long, so it isn't a jacket.

Pretty sure you just snuck some French's in Sator's Grey Poupon jar and he's mad as hell.

 

[Bounder]

Originally Posted by havocxrush

Thank you for all the assistance. I may try a morning jacket with tails actually. I need to see more in store before I trust anything in online shops.

This is just backwards. DO NOT trust anything you see in any "formal shop." Do not trust anyone working in any of these shops for advice. There may be a few exceptions but the vast majority are fatuous whankers who know absolutely nothing about proper formal wear but a great deal about what carries the biggest margin/commission amongst the horrible crap they have in their stockroom.

As someone has already pointied out, your best best is to start with www.blacktieguide.com. You can also find information there on proper daytime formal wear. Once you're ready to buy something, there are any number of on-line merchants who can sell you a brand-new classically-styled tuxedo for a couple of hundred dollars. Then GO TO A DECENT TAILOR AND HAVE IT FITTED. This will cost you, perhaps, another $100. It will, however, make you feel like a million bucks. You can't beat that return, especially these days.

I would advise you against a morning suit or white tie as the odds are you will never wear them again. Morning suits, in particular, come too close to costume in the United States. If you have a tuxedo, you will find opportunities to wear it and this will, quite likely, place you in situations where you might not have otherwise thought to venture and, so, enrich your life. Sounds corny, but it's true.

There will now ensue a tedious discussion about wearing tuxedos before 6:00 p.m. and whether it is acceptable to wear a tuxedo at a 5:00 p.m. wedding if the reception is at 6:30. While I'm normally the soul of propriety, even I am willing to grant a dispensation for weddings. Got to think of those photos, you know. Anyway, it will be a minor miracle if the most egregious breach of etiquette committed during your wedding is wearing a classically-styled, properly-fitted tuxedo before 6:00 p.m.. Indeed, given the current state of affairs, it would be a minor miracle if any of your guests even realize that it is improper to wear a tuxedo before 6:00 p.m..

 

[Sanguis Mortuum]

Originally Posted by havocxrush

I saw this last I think on old style butlers jackets (1800's ish)
So you want to go to your wedding dressed as a butler? I have no idea about the exact type of thing you're describing, but it sounds like a type of formal-wear modified in various ways so as to distinguish 'the help' from everyone else, as was often done. You should really just stick with black tie or white tie if it's an evening event, or morning dress for a day-time event...

 

[Midnight Blue]

Originally Posted by havocxrush

I am looking for a tux where the jacket has a somewhat prominent front, does not neccessarrily need to be buttoned - the tails I am looking for on the jacket are not the rounded type I am finding everywhere I look, but are moreso in strips, and they come down to floor level, not knee level. I saw this last I think on old style butlers jackets (1800's ish) What is this called and where can I find them? Anyone knowledgeable in formalwear Id appreciate the help.

If Sator's never heard of an article of supposed Victorian men's wear then it's pretty safe to say it never existed!

 

[havocxrush]

Well, the ebay link I posted there is most definitely the exact style of tail I was looking for. Not so much ending floor lengh but more between the knee and shin. Pointed and more narrow.
Having a real hard time finding something that isnt the Cosplay garbage.
But its near dead on what I want.

The wedding will actually be at an aquarium. Ceremony is during the day with the reception in the evening continuing through the night.

Seems like I pushed a button of sorts with Sator. But Im sorry, they do exist. They must. Yes the link I posted is almost fitting my need, but its cosplay trash made cheaply. But it is definitely based on what Im looking for, and Ive seen it before.

I dont mind standing out. Have a lavender shin length zoot suit reserved for cruises and the like.
But I just have this image in my head of what my wedding formal wear should look like, and feel like im stuck.

 

[contaygious]