Jacket for wedding advice

I bought a White (it is actually ivory though you can not tell by the picture) dinner jacket from Hugo Boss for $600 for my wedding in June. Curious to hear what you think of the jacket. For the price, is there anything else I should consider? Does it look like a nicely designed jacket?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by techdude

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Does it look like a nicely designed jacket?
Hugo Boss doesn't usually get much love on here but it has one button, peak lapels, besom pockets, etc so doesn't break any of the "rules". Make sure to wear it with black tuxedo trousers and a black bow-tie and so on, read the Black Tie Guide website if you're unsure.

Why is Hugo Boss not liked here?

I would suggest that a white dinner jacket might not be the best choice. Many of my friends got married in the 70's when white tuxes were the rage.

It always seems to look better and especially photograph better when the bride is in white and the groom has something to contrast her dress, especially navy or charcoal. (But for summer or beach weddings even a tan suit works). The thought of both of you in white or white and ivory is a bit much. Just Google 70's wedding photos and you will see what I mean.

But, hey, that is just my opinion and it is your wedding. Feel free to do whatever you and your bride want to do and enjoy yourselves. Have a wonderful time!

Good points all around. For good advice on warm-weather black tie, check out this page and the top half of this page.

IMO, the basic cut of the jacket is fine. The ivory color is fine. The most important things are whether the jacket fits you well and its silhouette looks good on you. The silhouette is the way the designer imagined the jacket looking on the wearer. If yes to both, and you wear it with the classic black tie kit Sanguis Mortuum mentioned, then you will look good in it. Much better than the Hollywood types who inexplicably think a long tie looks good with a dinner suit.

I'm going to pick nits here--this is Styleforum--and tell you why I think you won't be able to look great in the jacket. The lapels look to be faced with ivory satin, which isn't traditional on warm-weather dinner jackets. IMO, one of the aesthetic reasons for that is that the light, bright color of the jacket, when combined with the sheen of the ivory facings, drowns out the white shirt. Black tie emphasizes the triangle of visible white shirt front surrounded by lapels and bow tie. To bring that home to the viewer, there has to be a contrast between the lapels and the brilliant white of the shirt. Ivory satin lapels look a lot like the brilliant white of the shirt, so they greatly reduce that triangle effect. Plus, without a contrast with the lapels, the shirt can't do its job of directing the eye up and presenting your face in its best light.

You can see this effect here.
There are four colors of dinner jacket: natural, light gray, what looks like pure white, and black. The first three are all self-faced: the lapels are the same material as the rest of the jacket. The black is faced with black grosgrain or satin. With the men in natural, gray, and, black, your eye first hits the white triangle bordered by their lapels. It is then pulled up in a natural and pleasing way to their faces. With the man in pure white, your eye doesn't know where to turn. Should it look at the lapels? At the shirt? At the shoulders? At the face? The effect of an ivory satin lapel on an ivory jacket will be somewhat similar. You can see this in real life here. If you blow up the photo, you get the same phenomenon. Full attention to the shirt is crowded out by the white sheen of the faced lapel's, which is competing with the brilliant white of the shirt.

Jos A Bank is offering an ivory shawl collar DJ with self facings for $395 right now. It would solve the lack-of-contrast problem. My guess is that it's not too far from the Boss in quality of construction, though that's debated around here. If it fit you better than the Boss, it might be worth considering. (It has a center vent, though, which isn't so good on a DJ. But you could have a tailor close the vent.) If you have a local clothier who does Coppley made-to-measure, you might be able to get one MTM for <$900. Coppley's turn-around is a couple of weeks or so; plenty of time before the June wedding. The MTM fit would of course be better.

Again, though, I'm just picking nits. If that jacket fits you, and you pair it with all the classics of warm-weather black tie, you will look good in it.

I think I made too sweeping a generalization when I denied that the jacket could look truly great. (As I said, of course it could look very good on you.) There seems to be an exception to the rule that an ivory DJ with ivory satin facings will overpower the shirt and endanger black tie's shirt triangle. That's when you wear something that blacktieguide.com doesn't seem to countenance: a blue shirt.

As you can see in the attachment, taken from etutee's marvelous comprehensive guide to summer dress at The London Lounge, the young gent on the right in the middle ground is wearing a sky blue shirt with his cream DJ. To my eye, it works. Actually, it seems to set up the black-tie chest triangle better than on the older gent in the foreground, with his white DJ and white shirt. My guess is that it would also work with ivory satin facings, as on the jacket you pictured. The contrast between the shirt's blue and the facings' shiny ivory should be high enough to preserve the triangle effect.

To work with an ivory wool jacket, the blue shirt would I think have to be a fine, smooth poplin. If the DJ were linen, a linen-cotton blend shirt would probably work well. On either, the color would have to be sky blue or lighter: anything darker would drown out the bow tie. A true ice blue might be too white, though; it might run into the same problems as a white shirt against ivory facings.

Anyway, just a thought on another option, and a retraction. Sorry.

It is what it is - not wonderful but if it fits you then maybe. You don't say where you are getting married though both bride and groom in white might be too much unless it is a beach wedding in which case this is too much anyway.

Originally Posted by techdude

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Why is Hugo Boss not liked here?

HB is typically not very well made, especially for the price. I have a Hugo Boss suit that looked great for the first ~30 wearings but now looks stiff & cheap. But, you won't be wearing this that often, so if it fits you and and you are happy with it then you'll be fine.