Why don't we censer the necktie from black tie events!

[Cufflink79]

Good Day Gentlemen:

This morning I woke up quite upset. I was viewing Early Today on NBC and was checking over the Emmys from last night. The show had to be censerred a few times for various lewd commments. So I figurerd why don't the neckties get censored from the formal attire.

Why oh why do so many men wear neckties to black tie events?

What had me even more upset is that many men had on notched lapels and no cuff links on either. Also not one pocket square anywhere.

However Mr. Jeremy Piven looked very nice in a bow tie with peak lapels, waistcoat, and cuff links.

I think actors need to take lessons from the good old days from the likes of Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, Fred Astaire, Adolphe Menjou, and others.

Best Regards,

Cufflink79

[Guille]

I agree completely with you. Another horrible thing you tend to see at those kind of events (oscarrs, emmys, grammys... and europe as well, the venice and cannes film festivals show a complete display of what NOT to wear with black tie) is that many wear a waistcoat AND a cummerbund, when it obviously should be OR.

[alden]

Messieurs

We live in very different times.

No sense being nostalgic, just be elegant.

[Costi]

By the way, what is it with musicians wearing cummerbunds with tailcoats?! The unsightly combination is not only popular among Romanian conductors, but there is an international symphonic music festival going in Bucharest these days and I have seen from German flute players to American violonists with an international carreer wearing black silk cummerbunds with their tailcoats...

[oldog/oldtrix]

I, too, find myself wincing when I see men who could wear the most elegant black tie instead “dressed up” in ill fitting hybrid suit/dinner jackets and long ties. Of course, I revel in my superiority when wearing my favored (having eclipsed all other options over the years) black tie combination of double breasted dinner jacket and soft pleated front shirt with turn down collar. Then I recall that such “informality” was originally frowned upon and might never have survived but for its championing by the Prince of Wales. I suppose my preference could pass for rebellion in an earlier time and, perhaps, now as well.

[Concordia]

By the way, what is it with musicians wearing cummerbunds with tailcoats?! The unsightly combination is not only popular among Romanian conductors, but there is an international symphonic music festival going in Bucharest these days and I have seen from German flute players to American violonists with an international carreer wearing black silk cummerbunds with their tailcoats...

You have to remember that musicians face somewhat different pressures than socialites. In this context, tails are work clothes, and worn often by men who don't make a lot of money. Also, if they are touring to Bucharest, they have probably had two weeks of nothing but the vilest hotel laundry service. Assuming they were in one place long enough to get it done in the first place.

Under those circumstances, a cummerbund is a pretty safe choice. It doesn't get dirty or wrinkle, one can wear it for black tie gigs, and it doesn't magnify the flaws of a cheap, ill-fitting shirt.

[townie]

I agree that an ordinary black tie such as one might wear to a funeral looks terrible with a dinner jacket. Most of the men who adopt this and similar habits are actors trying to show their individuality and nonconforminst nature. Ironically, they show the exact opposite and someone like Hugh Laurie, who wears traditional black tie, is the one who stands out.

[Sator]

By the way, what is it with musicians wearing cummerbunds with tailcoats?! The unsightly combination is not only popular among Romanian conductors, but there is an international symphonic music festival going in Bucharest these days and I have seen from German flute players to American violonists with an international carreer wearing black silk cummerbunds with their tailcoats...

I have even seen members of the Vienna Philharmonic do this.

Equally bad is the habit of wearing turn down collars with dress coats. I have even seen videos of Karl Boehm do it.

[HappyStroller]

To many Chinese, a formal dress requirement in a wedding invitation card actually means business or lounge suit preferred. The bridegroom may turn up at the wedding dinner banquet dressed semi-formal (i.e., Balck Tie) or else dressed in a cream lounge suit to stand out among the crowd of dark suits.

Then there are many gentlemen whose idea of a fine dress watch is a thick watch which is either a tourbillon or displays complications such as chronographs or skeletons.

[SilkCity]

I just received my dress suit (white tie) back from a post-summer storage steaming,
and am prepping for opening night (9/24) at the Met. Opera.

Damn the four-in-hands as formalwear, full speed ahead!!

SC