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The State of Black Tie: Your Observations

Andy57

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In my eyes it is also possible to wear a midnight blue jacket with black pants. Not the most formal combination, but if you attende enough of black tie events it can give you some variation.

Edit: any fabric code on the tag?
I would tend not to try this, as I think it will look odd. As an experiment, I have put my midnight blue jacket on with my black trousers and it just didn't look right to my eye. But that is just my view, you may feel differently. I'd go with the suggestion @Concordia made: get a pair of cream or off-white trousers and don't be afraid to stand out. Other than that, it will be extremely difficult to match the jacket to any other midnight blue fabric. There is far more variation in "midnight" than I perceive there to be in black, for example.
 

dazedstate

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In my eyes it is also possible to wear a midnight blue jacket with black pants. Not the most formal combination, but if you attende enough of black tie events it can give you some variation.

Edit: any fabric code on the tag?
No fabric tag unfortunately.

Thank you guys for the guidance. Don't have the experience or the cajones for the off white trou pairing. Sending it back. Tis a shame though. It fit rather well

00100lPORTRAIT_00100_BURST20190527193645589_COVER.jpg
 

Andy57

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No fabric tag unfortunately.

Thank you guys for the guidance. Don't have the experience or the cajones for the off white trou pairing. Sending it back. Tis a shame though. It fit rather well
Pity. I'll have to try it myself.

I'm in Europe for the first couple of weeks of June and I'm taking my ivory dinner jacket and my midnight blue trousers. Maybe when I get back I'll pair up the midnight blue jacket with a pair of off-white trousers first chance I get and see how that looks. Shoes, though? Black patent? White bucks?
 

Mark from Plano

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I would absolutely try this, but...

#1, as Andy asks, what shoes? I wouldn’t buy white patents just for this and white bucks seem too casual (maybe I’m wrong). Maybe black. Also, black socks?

#2, all of my current off white trousers have cuffs, which would seem to be a no-no with a dinner jacket. I have a great pair of Pomellas in a cream Fox flannel that would work great, but for the cuffs.

I’d love to find an AA illustration of this to focus on some of the details.
 

Concordia

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A related question: are there notably different grades of patent leather among good makers? I had a pair made by Vass which aren’t bad, but which encourage me to do better. Are any of the Jermyn St RTW shops OK, and can one find noticeably different quality in bespoke?
 

The Chai

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I personally liked the vintage brook pumps. U can find plenty of them on eBay. They are the only ones with creases that I like and patent usually does not crease well
A related question: are there notably different grades of patent leather among good makers? I had a pair made by Vass which aren’t bad, but which encourage me to do better. Are any of the Jermyn St RTW shops OK, and can one find noticeably different quality in bespoke?[/QUOT
 

Concordia

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I am thinking about plain-toed oxfords. If I venture toward pumps, calf is the thing.
 

norMD

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Pity. I'll have to try it myself.

I'm in Europe for the first couple of weeks of June and I'm taking my ivory dinner jacket and my midnight blue trousers. Maybe when I get back I'll pair up the midnight blue jacket with a pair of off-white trousers first chance I get and see how that looks. Shoes, though? Black patent? White bucks?

According to random pinterst pictures sock less in velvet loafers. I am really unsure how to make the combo work...

A related question: are there notably different grades of patent leather among good makers? I had a pair made by Vass which aren’t bad, but which encourage me to do better. Are any of the Jermyn St RTW shops OK, and can one find noticeably different quality in bespoke?

Wiki tells us patent leather was originally produced with linseed oil. Today it is made with a plastic coating. Apparently it is also a several artificial leathers, poromeric leather?, that can mimic patent leather. I have not been able to find out when the processed changed from linseed oil to plastic coating.

Could the vintage pumps from BB be without plastic? Maybe @ntempleman could tell us a thing or two about patent leather available today?
 

Concordia

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Is he on SF?
 

WhereNext

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Pity. I'll have to try it myself.

I'm in Europe for the first couple of weeks of June and I'm taking my ivory dinner jacket and my midnight blue trousers. Maybe when I get back I'll pair up the midnight blue jacket with a pair of off-white trousers first chance I get and see how that looks. Shoes, though? Black patent? White bucks?

I would trust your black tie judgment over mine any day, but I tend to think that white bucks would be out of place with a dinner jacket; perhaps a velvet loafer? Maybe lean into it fully with a pair of black or dark blue stingray wholecuts?
My first thought would have been that the best trousers would be a cream/ivory trouser with a cream/ivory satin stripe (so traditional black tie trousers, just in cream/ivory) that would essentially result in an inverted "summer" black tie rig. I definitely wouldn't want that to be my only black tie option, but I think it would be an amazing Plan C or D in one's wardrobe. As others have noted, however, it's something to be worn a bit bravely.
 

am55

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Pity. I'll have to try it myself.

I'm in Europe for the first couple of weeks of June and I'm taking my ivory dinner jacket and my midnight blue trousers. Maybe when I get back I'll pair up the midnight blue jacket with a pair of off-white trousers first chance I get and see how that looks. Shoes, though? Black patent? White bucks?
Black patent! They're not so much black as a lake of mirror, that is the attraction for me at least. Lighter colours would just be "shoes". Note how almost all military uniforms through (Anglosphere) history had black or dark brown boots despite all kinds of coloured trousers...

Much as it pains me to remind myself and @Clouseau of this painful occasion:
The_Duchess_of_Richmond%27s_Ball_by_Robert_Alexander_Hillingford.jpg
 

Andy57

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Black patent! They're not so much black as a lake of mirror, that is the attraction for me at least. Lighter colours would just be "shoes". Note how almost all military uniforms through (Anglosphere) history had black or dark brown boots despite all kinds of coloured trousers...
Black patent is probably the right choice though I'm not a fan of black shoes with white/cream trousers. I'll try it and see what I think.
 

UrbanComposition

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I’d suggest black calf oxfords or pumps, Andy. White bucks with black tie just seems...not a good idea. Although you of all people could probably pull it off.
 

ntempleman

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Patent used to be a very labour intensive process; repeated scrubbing of the surface of very fine calf leather with talc until the grain was as dry as you could make it, then coating with a heavily reduced and thickened oil that had been heating over a fire for a few days could bond with the oil free leather. That’s not been done for a long time now, and today a plastic coating is bonded to the surface. The surface quality isn’t so important for this lamination so cow hides rather than calf are used.

I have a couple of old stock patent calfskins knocking around somewhere for when I feel like going to the opera again, and will require the correct shoes
 

Andy57

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I have a couple of old stock patent calfskins knocking around somewhere for when I feel like going to the opera again, and will require the correct shoes
Suddenly you have my attention!
 

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