Black-Tie Dress Code: The Vogue Guide
“Black-tie”, “smart-casual”, “elegant” – how to master the complicated social machinery spinning beneath a hand-engraved, clothing-related injunction on a gilt-edged, 480gsm woven stock card? Let Vogue guide you.
BY ELLIE PITHERS AND JULIA STORM
19 December 2024
What does black tie dress code mean?
Ironically, the birth of black tie in about 1885 signalled a loosening of ties, so to speak, among the well-to-do. Edward VII swapped his tailcoat for a blue silk smoking jacket with matching trousers, made by Henry Poole & Co of Savile Row. It provided the monarch with a more comfortable alternative to the formality of evening tails.
This black tie suit style was then adopted by members of the Tuxedo Club in New York, several of whom were Poole customers (tuxedo = Americanism). It was Edward VII’s inspired loosening that eventually morphed into black tie, clinging on to some of the formal accoutrements of tails, such as the black tie shirt’s winged collar and the bow tie, which itself is a descendant of Beau Brummell’s early 19th-century cravat.
https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/black-tie-guide
