Black Suit or Tuxedo? If you are going to a formal special event at night or after 6pm your local time then a tuxedo could be an option to wear.
A suit can be worn in always any situation work or a event you are attending.
Lets break this down even futher
Black Suit Or Tuxedo
Going to an event and wondering which one should you wear or what to know the differnce.In this blog post im going to be doing a detail side by side comprasion to tell you everything thats different between the two.
1.Occasion
One of the biggest reason to deicide if you want to wear a tuxedo or black suit is the occasion. When wearing a tuxedo you want the event to be very formal. Normally the invite will specifically say to wear a tuxedo(or black tie event).If the invite doesn’t say wear a tuxedo (unless you are reading this because you are going to prom) you may need to wear a traditional black suit.
The black suit is worn to every occasion. Weddings, funeral or formal dinners any place you think of you can wear a black suit if its formal
Now lets go deeper
2.Jacket
The Lapel
The Tuxedo
The tuxedo jacket and the suit jacket can be very different. Lets start with the suit lapels the tuxedo has a shawl lapel or sometimes peak lapel (look below for examples)
Also on a tuxedo the material on the lapel is often a different then the rest of the jacket. So if the jacket is wool the lapel face could be leather or different type of wool.
The Suit
For a regular suit jacket they are usually notch or peak lapel. You don’t see shawl lapel on regular suit jacket its not very common but if you like the shawl lapel I’m sure if you search hard enough you can find them somewhere out there.
2.Breast(Suit Buttons)
All of these suit options can come in single double or breast. Making them all look the same
single breast suits are suits with two (sometimes three buttons but very uncommon) on the jacket
3.Pockets
The Tuxedo
The pockets on the tuxedo are a clean open slash very clean look
The Suit
The suit pockets can have many styles. But the most common is for the suit to have flaps over the pocket and can have 3 pockets as well.
Waist Covers
The Tuxedo
With a tuxedo you have to wear a waist cover of some sort. Modern tuxedos you often see people wearing them without a waist cover and it expose some of the shirt. This is improper for a tuxedo. Below are the two waist cover you can choose from. Pick the one you like best its mandatory.
Keep in mind when wearing a tuxedo with Cummerband you always want to keep one button fasten. You can unbutton it when you sit down if you need to
1.Cummberband (most popular option)
2.Black Evening Waist Coat
When wearing the evening waist coat you want to wear the suit jacket open.
The Suit
With the suit you have the option of wearing a 3 piece suit if you like. Its not mandatory to wear a evening waist coat or vest is what its called on a normal black suit.
Dress Shirts
The Tuxedo
When wearing the tuxedo the dress code for the shirt is a another hard rule that has to be followed. You must wear a white shirts with some sort of pleats in the shirt. This is mandatory.
The shirt should almost have double cuffs also known as french cuff with holes for cuff links.
The collar of the shirt also most be a wing collar shirt not the standard shirt you wear with traditional suit.
Also with the tuxedo its mandatory to wear a blue tie(Thats why a lot of tuxedo gathering are called black tie events)
The Suits
With a traditional suit you can almost wear anything you want. But the standard is the spread collar shirt
With the suit you can also wear any tie you want including a bow tie that you would wear with a tuxs.
Ties
The Pants
The Tuxedo
the tuxedo pants has a lot of things thats very different from the normal business suit pants lets get into it.
the braid
one of the biggest differnces is the braid going down the side of the pants.Its usally a statin stripe (black shining line going down the side on the pants).look down at the pictures for example.Sometimes depending on the type of tuxedo (Black or White Tuxdeo) The pants can have two braids.
Also with tuxedo pants that dont come with belt loops.Wearing a belt with formal pants like a tuxedo is a no go and should never be done.Instead of belt loops they come with side adjusters or you can wear the tradititonal suspenders.
Suit Pants
On regular suit pants normally there is not design on the side of the pants just one color. An also with regular suit pants you do have the options to get side adjusters (more commonly on custom and high end suit pants).Most commonly on suit pants you’ll find belt loops.
Pleats
With both tuxedo and regular suit pants you have the option too have pleats or not.
Cuff or No Cuff
The Tuxedo
The tuxedo pants are to never have a cuff. Cuff pants are not consider to be formal. An the tux is a very formal suit
The Suit Pants
The suit pants can be cuff or not depending on what kind of suit it is.,Remember that cuffs are a casual style so if you are going somewhere formal it may be best to go uncuff.
The Shoes
The Tuxedo
With the tux you have to wear a black highly polish black oxford shoe. A more trendy thing I see is people wearing suede loafers or sometimes suede slip ons.
The Suit
With a suit you have almost every shoe option you want. But if you plan on going with a more formal shoe like a black oxford. Maybe it does have to be polish and shiny. Also with the traditional suit you can go for different color like brown.You can also add a different shoe style like a nice boot pending on season or a loafer also pending or season.
Ok so I hope this guide was able to help you choose which one you would like to wear. Also if you have any question or need some help you can always contact we from the website contact section and I’ll get right back too you.