storyboy

If your host is using the term correctly, "Black tie" means semi-formal evening wear (dinner jacket/tuxedo worn after six o'clock). If you think your host means something else, ask, or assume that the host knows what he/she is talking about. Unless you are attending a "West Coast Black Tie" (Hollywood style) event, or "Red Sea rig" is indicated (warm weather with dinner jackets off, may call for red bow tie and cummerbund), you will be expected to wear a black bow tie and cummerbund or waistcoat. Your shirt should be white. Your shoes should be shiny, plain and black. Cummerbund pleats face up, like a pocket, you should be able to place something in the pleats from above, say a valet-parking ticket. Black tie is for semi-formal, as contrasted with white tie or formal evening occasions, and so, while there is some room for variation (midnight blue jacket or white dinner jacket in th
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