Black tie is a dress code for semi-formal evening events, and is worn to many types of social functions. For a man, the major component is a black coat, known as dinner jacket (British) or tuxedo (Canada and the U.S.). A woman's corresponding evening dress ranges from a conservative cocktail dress to the long evening gown, determined by current fashion, local custom, and the occasion's time.

The term tuxedo is itself variously used in different parts of the world. It always refers to some form of black tie, and sees most use in North America. There, it is commonly taken to mean a modern variation on the traditional black tie, while in Britain, it is sometimes used to refer to the white jacket alternative.

History

Black tie dates from 1860, when Henry Poole & Co. (Savile Row's founders), created a short smoking jacket for the then Prince of Wales (later Edward VII of the United Kingdom) to wear to informal dinner parties. According to sartorial legend, in the spring of 1886, because the Prince liked Cora Potter, he invited her husband, James Potter, a rich New Yorker, to Sandringham house, his Norfolk hunting estate. When Potter asked the Prince's dinner dress recommendation, he sent Potter to Henry Poole & Co., in London. On returning to New York in 1886, Potter's dinner suit proved popular at the Tuxedo Park Club; the club men copied him, soon making it their informal dining uniform.

While the Americans initially called the new garment a tuxedo, the term has since been inaccurately used to denote any form of formal or semi-formal dress including white tie, morning dress, and strollers. Two years later, it gained the name dinner jacket in Britain, a name it has kept in the North-Eastern U.S.

The elements of black tie

Unlike white tie, which is very strictly regulated, black-tie ensembles can display more variation. In brief, the traditional components are:

• A short coat with silk facings (usually grosgrain or satin), called the jacket
• Trousers with silk braids matching the lapels
• A black cummerbund or low-cut waistcoat
• A white dress shirt with either a marcella, stiff, or pleated front
• A black silk bow tie
• Black dress socks, usually silk
• Black shoes in patent or highly polished leather, or patent leather pumps

Jacket

The typical black-tie jacket is single-breasted, ventless, and black or midnight-blue; usually of wool or a wool–mohair blend. Double breasted models are less common, but are perfectly acceptable (and not worn with waistcoat or cummerbund). The lapels may be faced with silk in either a grosgrain or a satin weave. Traditionally there are two lapel options, the shawl collar, derived from the smoking jacket, and the peak lapel, from the tailcoat. The former is older, while the latter is considered more formal.1 Both styles can be single- or double-breasted. A third lapel style, the notched lapel, has only recently gained popularity, and has been accepted by some as "a legitimate ... less formal alternative"2, although, despite some precedent, it is disdained by purists for its lounge suit derivation. In France, and elsewhere, the jacket is called le smoking, the shawl-collared version is le smoking Deauville, while the peaked-lapel version is le smoking Capri.