From Traditional to Contemporary

Your local independent formal specialist that is "owner / operator" cares. He has to work hard to make certain that you're satisfied. He can't hide beside corporate headquarters and policies. Your local store "merchant" is the person you place the order with. He fits your men; he assembles the tuxedos; he adjusts everything for them when they pick up before the event; he is the one that asks you how everything was after the event.

Renting and selling tuxedos is their only business. When you rent from a national chain, your dollars go somewhere else.

When you decide to reserve your formalwear, never order through a book or accept that the garment you will be using for your "once in a life time" event is at another location. It simply isn't true. Insist on seeing what you'll look like in the actual formalwear you are reserving.

History of the Tuxedo

The concept of a tuxedo was truly an American inspiration. For centuries, the idea of dressing up after sunset has been a fashion phenomenon. The idea of wearing black for evening wear was inspired by a British writer, Edward Bulwer-Lytton.

In **** he was said to have written that "people must be very distinguished to look well in black". Most gentlemen at that time dressed in traditional white tie and tails. It wasn't until the late ****'s that the "Black Dinner Jacket" became fashionable.

The Lorillardo family, tobacco magnates and members of high society are responsible for the transition. They owned land in Tuxedo, NY, a town approximately ** miles from Manhatan. For the Autumn Ball of ****, Patriarch Pierre Lorillardo planned to wear something less formal than the accepted white tie and tails. He designed several coats that were black without tails. The night of the ball Lorillardo did not go through with his plan; however his more implulsive son, Griswold, and his prominent friends did wear the revolutionary jackets. Due to the status of Griswold and his fellow companions, the jackets were soon imitated.

At the same time and well into the ****'s, the Duke of Windsor began wearing a black dinner coat and black tie to formal affairs. By the late ****'s his friends were copying him. By this time the jacket had taken the name of Lorilard's American birthplace, Tuxedo.

Throughout the remainder of the **th century, the tuxedo has undergone various stylistic changes, yet still endured as the most elegant attire for men. As we begin the **st century, it will be a new millennium for formal wear.