A Formal Wear Primer Unravels a Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside an Enigma

A Harvard man, when asked if he knew the difference between tails and a cutaway, exclaimed, "Who gives a damn?"

He should not have dismissed the subject of formal wear as worthless so quickly. For it is a rare man indeed who is not pressured occasionally into attending a dance or some other affair requiring dress more formal than a dark suit. Also, most of you will marry--later or sooner (because of the draft). And it is best to be prepared.

The dinner jacket is the keystone of the entire formal wardrobe. It comes in black and all sorts of other colors and can be worn with trousers that do not match. Although the range of colors is large--including madras, plaids, and usually garish solids--it is best to stick to black. In fact, one black dinner jacket should be enough to take you through all the social thickets you may decently expect to encounter.

If that all purpose black dinner jacket is made of tropical worsted, it will be comfortable enough to wear in summer as well as in winter. The worsted has the further virtues of standing up well and shedding wrinkles.

So much for the dinner jacket.

Despite its manifest virtues it will take you only so far up the social ladder. For the top reaches of formality--diplomatic receptions and formal weddings held in the evening--you will need white tie and tails.

Prince Albert

This full-dress regalia was first popularized in the 1890s by Prince Albert. It is dominated by a double-breasted frock coat but must also include a white pique shirt with a wing collar, a white pique waistcoat, black trousers with a satin stripe, black patent leather shoes, and a silk top hat. The hat may be stored neatly by collapsing it into a frisbee-like disk.

Little variation is allowed at a formal affair. Everyone is supposed to wear the whole works,--except for the top hat, which, alas, has fallen into disfavor.

It is important to note, however, that all this ultra-formal regalia may only be worn after 6 p.m. At formal affairs during the daytime men are supposed to wear the cutaway or morning suit.

A single-breasted frock coat is the most important item in this outfit. Like tails, the morning coat dates back to the 18th century. But modern versions have lengthened lapels and are closed by a single button.

The complete cutaway costume also includes black and gray pin-striped trousers, a gray waistcoat, and black leather shoes. Once upon a time a beaver hat--consisting of an opera hat crowned by beaver fur--was worn with the cutaway. But now the beaver hat is rarely seen.

For a semi-formal daytime affair or wedding, the strolled coat is the proper thing to wear. The stroller actually is rather similar to the cutaway but it has a conventional coat bottom.

Semi Formal

When you receive an invitation saying "black tie," you are in for a semiformal evening requiring a tuxedo. This outfit is the only species of formal wear which immortalizes an American town--Tuxedo, N. Y. It gained its excellent name through an incident in 1886. In that gilded year a member of the 400 appeared at a Newport gala with the tails neatly snipped off his frock coat. Understandably scandalized, the fashionable crowd forced him to flee Newport. He then took refuge at Tuxedo where the coat sans tail became popular. From Tuxedo the tuxedo spread bearing the name of the town which accepted it. Recently, though, the tuxedo has often lost its excellent name to be called another variant of the dinner jacket.

Most popular with satin shawl collar, the tuxedo also comes in peaked lapels; even notched lapels trimmed in braid were recently introduced. A pleated formal shirt with French cuffs, black bow tie, and Cummerbund, and black Oxford shoes and hose finish the outfit. However, young men in this area have been known to dispense with the French cuffs and Oxford shoes without disasterous effects.

In summer, of course, the coat of the tuxedo is white allowing for colored ties and cumberbunds. On formal occasions there is a satin stripe on the trousers which the cummberbund must match.

A dark suit worn with a white French shirt and a four-in-hand tie is the next step down in formality. And this may be the wave of the future. As customs in dressing become more casual, even formal wear manufacturers succumb to popular practices. At a recent formal wear manufacturers' convention, "black tie" was optional, and 90 per cent of the men arrived in dark suits. But dressing formal can be an enjoyable production, and in tradition-bound New England, formal occasions requiring formal dress fortunately still do arise.