formal suits!!!!

[bitingmidge]

3 Armani, Zegna make excellent timeless suits for about $1000.
It has to be black, no pin stripes this implys strengh and confidence
4 To advise a guy with no suit to waste his money on a dinner suit is rather thoughtless

To advise a guy with no money to buy a timeless suit for $1,000 is probably a bit thoughtless too.

If you don't have a suit now, you won't be wanting one again until your kid's get married or they're scratching round looking for something to bury you in.

There's no such thing as a timeless suit. Just last year's $1,000 one.

I wish I could find Zegna for $1k, up here you couldn't get a shirt for that!

cheers,

P

[astrid]

yeah but a guy needs one good all occaision suit.
In my experience funerals come up more frequently that black tie dinners.
(maybe it's my age)
and you'd feel like a dill wearing a dinner suit at a funeral.
Dont know anything about the would be wearer. but you can wear a good black suit to a formal dinner, presentation, award night, job interview, funeral,
wedding, christening, or in court!
A good suit always is value even if you wear it for ten years.
With double cuffs and cuff links.
and a silk tie!
the rule for dress the same as WW is Quality not quantity.

But we know that most guys over 45 cant buy clothes
Thats wht they let their mums (or wives) do it for them

Astrid
Well as a well dressed woman (when I want to be) that is myHO

[Ashore]

Well as a well dressed woman (when I want to be) that is myHO

Great spiel astrid but you have never been a well dressed male and never will be ,

yeah but a guy needs one good all occaision suit.

just like a woman needs one good all ocaision dress
yeah right like a woman would have one good all ocaisional dress and wear the same thing to every wedding funeral etc etc , get real
men do need more than one outfit , and I don't know who you deal with or where you live or your social commitments but I for one do not wear the same outfit for every thing ie to every lunch , job interview , formal occasion , marrige, etc etc
to me it seams you are trying to defend your earlier statement

Seriously, black tie or formal just means a neat suit.

Why not just admit you are wrong , the majority of commentrs disagree with you and are from blokes who have a better sence of dress for a bloke than you do,

[Pusser]

If invited to a "black tie" or "formal" function then I wear a dinner suite. If invited to a coctail party or similar the invitation is invariably "lounge suite". I am happy to show respect for my host and comply and do not think it appropriate to tell them I think they are upstarts by wearing something else. If I thought that then I would decline the invitation and not go.

However the invitations I cannot stand are "smart casual". With considerable effort I can fake "smart" but it is not casual and my casual is definately not "smart" as I have a tendency toward being the unmade bed type when in any form of casual attire.

If buying a dinner suite it is best not to go for anything too stylish The new single brested one I bought two years ago is not all that dissimilar to the one I used when at university (just bigger, better material and a lot more expensive). The same cannot be said of my other suites (except size, quality and price) colours and cuts vary considerable over time.

[ss_11000]

where do you guys learn about the different types of suits?

whats the difference between a dinner suit, lounge suit, formal suit and all that crap?

[Schtoo]

I have one suit.

Just a regular suit, nothing extraordinary, very dark grey.

To add to that, a blue shirt, a white shirt and a couple of ties.

I have worn it maybe 5 times in the last few years since I got it, and when I did wear it, I did not feel under dressed. Once was a funeral, a couple of job things, a meeting with someone and a wedding.

Only the wedding really specified a 'proper' suit, but since I was family, I got away with it. That, and my family knows that if I don't like something, I walk out the door. I was not the worst dressed there, but I did stand out. Unavoidable, and here, perfectly acceptable.

If, by chance, I really needed something a little more flash, and my wife asked (not pleaded, we get along much better than that), then I'd either hire one, or run over the road to the suit place and grab what they had on the cheap.

If possible, I'd also look into the other bits that go with the suit, as they can add points for when the suit isn't quite up to scratch, in business and some event type things that is, not something really formal.

Good shiny black shoes. Make sure they fit well, are not obnoxious and are thoroughly polished. If they don't fit the above description, you will regret it one way or another.

Any suit jewellery should be neat, attractive and in good order. Be it a pocket handkerchief, a pin or cuff links, they need not be mega bucks, but they should be neat and pleasant. If you can't afford it, simple and cheap is usually fine, gaudy and expensive usually isn't.

A simple wallet can help. Not your every day thing, something simple and enough to hold some cash and other incidentals. It should not show to the outside world.

Leave the phone at home, or at least in a jacket pocket, and keep it quiet.

Keep enough keys on you to get there and home again. A big bunch of keys is as tacky as a ringing phone.

A decent watch. It need not be something worth more than your car, but it should again be sensible and not obnoxious. My dad gave me a watch, it tells the time and goes tick-tock. Silver in colour and it's perfectly acceptable. My grandmother in law also gave me a watch, it too tells the time, goes tick-tock and is gold in colour. It's more than acceptable, since it matches cuff links and most pins better than silver ever will.

This isn't my list, but one I have picked up along the way by folks who know more than I do, and have attended more of these kind of events than I ever will. A lot of the time a pleasant presence is more important than the clothes, but the clothes should not be the weak link if it is avoidable.

There is going to be difficulty in not looking like a black sheep if you are not used to wearing formal gear, but take heart that half the people there probably feel the same way, and so long as you look presentable (if cheaply dressed), and up to standards, nobody who really matters is going to get upset.

Oh yeah, make sure that whoever you buy the suit off actually measures you up and makes sure the thing actually fits. Nothing worse than squirming about in a suit that looks a million bucks, and feels like $10 of barbed wire.

I guess that's more commentary on going somewhere than a suit, but since I don't wear a suit very often, I can't really say what will fly and what won't.


(Or, you could do what a mate of mine did and get a purple suit. He can make it work any time. I sure as heck couldn't )

[RETIRED]

where do you guys learn about the different types of suits?

whats the difference between a dinner suit, lounge suit, formal suit and all that crap?

This might help you Stirlo.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_tie

As you get older you move in different circles of friends and clubs where a certain attire is required.

Of course some never get out of the singlet and thongs set.

[Iain]

Now, with my origins back in the sub tropical climes of Bonnie Scotland I still wear a kilt on occassion, and for formal occassion wear a Princes Charles jacket with Jabo and a dress seal skin sporran, that is as close to timeless as you can get.
Very formal and has been in vogue for a couple of hundred years, just hate the sheilas who want to put the hand up the kilt though

[Pusser]

where do you guys learn about the different types of suits?

whats the difference between a dinner suit, lounge suit, formal suit and all that crap?

Your regular suite is a lounge suite, if it is dark or pinstripped it may be termed a business suite - see http://www.theage.com.au/news/style-...696979890.html for some hints

A dinner suit is technically not a suit. It is a dinner jacket, black in winter and white in summer though not many people bother with a white one as you can wear a black jacket any time of the year. Dinner jackets are generally more simply cut than proper suite jackets as they used to be what people wore every day in elevated society when they changed for dinner.
A Dinner jacket is worn with a dress shirt (one with pleates or ruffles), a bow tie, cumberbund, and shiny black shoes (often patent leather) and cuff links.
The trousers are black and often have a silk tape down the outside seam and normally do not have belt loops.
If you buy a Dinner suite it is really a dinner jacket with matched trousers.
Usually black tie does not necessarily mean your tie must be black but it must be a bow tie.
If you are ever invited to a white tie function (extremely rare so as to be almost obsolete) you must wear a white tie and tails.
The most formal dress you will probably ever be involved in will be as a member of a wedding party where the bride wants the party in tails. This will not apply to the guests.
Formal is not really a style at all but really an invitation to dress up very smartly often by people who do not know the difference or as in the wedding where the wedding party will be dressed up and would like the guests to dress in a formal manner. Lounge suite and tie is appropriate for these as a Dinner Suite or Tux is never worn during the day but at and after Dinner.
It is not all that hard really.

[ss_11000]

thanx for the info and pusser

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Now, with my origins back in the sub tropical climes of Bonnie Scotland I still wear a kilt on occassion, and for formal occassion wear a Princes Charles jacket with Jabo and a dress seal skin sporran, that is as close to timeless as you can get.
Very formal and has been in vogue for a couple of hundred years, just hate the sheilas who want to put the hand up the kilt though

I can relate 100% to that. there's a few times I've had occasion to show the tartan.

Apart from that, in my books "formal" is any time I'm required to wear shoes...

[Master Splinter]

I just make it a rule to never go to anything that states "Black Tie" as such events have a habit of boring me s**tless. I'm not really a small talk person.

It's worse if the event is offering 'entertainment', as I find that more often than not, it'll be something pandering to baby boomer tastes, meaning I'll have zero chance of enjoying myself and I will spend the evening getting more and more unsociable and grouchy.

Black Tie = Just Say No.

[Iain]

I attend one a year for the society of explorers, we meet once a month and have a formal dinner/ladies day in March or April.
The Ladies enjoy the day out, it is a lunch affair that goes on until about 5.00pm and an opportunity for us to show we are gentlemen and able to conduct ourselves as such, the monthly meetings take on a different format though and the rude joke is the order of the day.
It is a hangover from our military careers and all members are ex commissioned officers and the same rules apply, and I recall the RAAF formal functions with the dress uniforms, cumberbunds, sword etc.
It is an experience/exercise to remind us that we are refined and can behave accordingly.

[hilux]

the all purpose black suit sounds like a pretty good option to me...
so now its just a question of where to buy? how much to pay?

[astrid]

How much do you want to spend?
Go to david jones and get the best you can afford.
they have a good range without rubbish and the sales are on

Astrid