The Journal — Formalwear

A black tie wedding is one of the few occasions where the dress code is both genuinely strict and genuinely worth following. The stricter the code, the more clearly dressed the room — and the more the well-dressed stand out from the people who guessed.

A tuxedo is the most specific garment in men's fashion. The variables are narrower than in a business suit, the traditions are more clearly defined, and the consequence of getting it wrong is more visible — because everyone else in the room is wearing the same thing. This guide covers the meaningful decisions: lapel style, button configuration, fabric, and what each choice says about the man wearing it.

Black tie is the most misunderstood dress code in men's and women's fashion. It appears on invitations to galas, charity events, film premieres, and weddings, yet most people arrive either underdressed, overdressed, or wearing something they'll regret in the photographs.

The power suit has been declared dead roughly once per decade since the 1980s. It is not dead. It has simply matured. The power suit of 2026 is not the oversized padded-shoulder garment of the Reagan era, nor the slim-cut minimalism of the early 2010s. It is something more specific and more confident than either: a suit made for the person wearing it, in fabric worth the investment, cut to convey authority without requiring announcement.