Whether that be dresses, gentleman's dress, when to don formal wear, what makes a good shirt, how to wear black tie or who sports the best blazer at Henley you will have to see.
This week I'm going to start with Black Tie seeing that I'm at Glyndebourne Opera which requires you to wear Black Tie.
Black Tie or Dinner Jackets (DJs) are different to their American brothers Tuxedo. Black tie came from the darkening and loosening of White Tie and Tails (for another week). White tie was what you wore to the Theatre, black tie if you were entertaining at home. But obviously times have changed.
The Tuxedo, like most American things, was created almost instantly in the end of the 19th century when two chaps cut of the tails of their jackets for a well to do New York party, at Tuxedo Park, hence the name.
But luckily they are identical now in all but name (except that an Englishman will always look better in a DJ than an American will in a Tux) so no faux par there.
All I want to say finally is that I am not putting down on paper what one "must" do, more where the history lies and where one can make a first step into the world of gentleman's dress.
One of the big problems with gentleman's dress is that to the outsider there doesn't seem to be any order of thing (daring for a man to wear red sock but looked down on if he wears a red shirt). It is more of a frame work which once you know is wonderful to push the boundaries of.
