"Black Tie " do advice...

[vincent]

I've got a yellow spinning bow tie. If you PM me your address I could sent it to you and you could paint it black.

cheers guv, I might just do that :)

 

[foley87]

aye means dickie bow....you can get a decent one from george/next for 100

worth it if youll wear it once/twice a year

 

[jay66uk]

"Black tie" definately means "dinner suit". Whether you'll get away with a decent, normal suit depends a lot on how hard people will look and whether you give a toss what they think. To be asking the question at all I guess you care enough to wear the "right thing".

Marks and sparks do decent ones at cheapish prices too and throw in a free suit carrier to keep it clean in your wardrobe until next year.

If you do get one, make sure you get a "dress shirt" to go with it - nothing looks worse than a bow tie and buttons...

 

[merlot somme]

Black tie does usually mean dinner jacket (black with silk or silk-look lapels), matching trousers (sometimes with ribbon down side) and black bow tie worn with a dress shirt. There are variations on this that even dress snobs argue about, for instance whether or not you wear a dress shirt that has a winged collar or the more normal fold-down shirt collar (I'd say the sticky-up collars are best left to your pretty-boy model types or for very very formal occasions when it's known that everyone else will be wearing them). I wouldn't get too worried though, these days black tie is being taken to mean just more generally formal evening wear, and so it's interpretation depends very much on how much you like to draw attention to yourself; my sister's husband wore a dark red velvet jacket with striped bow tie and black trousers the other evening to a do at a very posh golf club, and he's an old bore. Get the bow tie, the shirt and the shoes right, look comfortable in what you're wearing, and that should do.

 

[johnny on the spot]

If you're fat then hire a cummerbund.

 

[Stevinio]

Go to Matalan and get the full lot for £50.