The Anti-Tux
In Southern California, nothing is sacred.
Least of all the black-and-white wedding uniform.
“A new generation is looking for a new way to express themselves. When they think of formal, they think of traditional, and they want to revamp and personalize that,” says designer Jonathan Meizler, whose clothes are showcased in his Los Angeles boutique Jon Valdi. Meizler’s formal wear strays from the standard by way of narrower, ultra-fitted jackets and trousers cut to fit like jeans.
But the anti-tux approach is not just for fashion deviants. It also makes sense for second-time grooms, says Kennon Earl, men’s clothing buyer for Ron Ross in Studio City.
“They want something that can be worn not just again but often,” he says. Case in point: the groom-to-be who recently purchased a white banded-collar shirt and black wool suit by Donna Karan that he plans to exploit for maximum wear.
Likewise, Earl says, a celebrity groom who was married on a Malibu beach selected an off-white Armani linen suit and matching linen tux shirt, worn tieless. And another groom bound for a Hawaiian wedding assembled a wool crepe Armani suit in sage with a striped cotton shirt in sage and banana-yellow, and a muted floral tie.
Other unconventional looks that Earl expects to see this spring: Edwardian jackets and poet-style shirts paired with an ascot, or longer, simpler jackets worn with white shirts featuring large collars.
Those partial to black who still want an alternative stamp might try a leather jacket with wool crepe jean-cut pants and an open-collar shirt, Meizler suggests.
Even designers of traditional menswear, such as Ralph Lauren, have been experimenting. He pairs a purple velvet banded-collar shirt with gray striped wool pants in an ideal alternative for a late winter / early spring evening wedding. And his black cashmere cardigan with faille-trimmed button placket tucks into gray striped wool pants for a modern twist on the classic morning suit, sans ascot.
That’s not to count ascots out, though.
“They’re very popular right now, especially with our velvet smoking jackets,” says Kelly Bevan Spirer, fashion director for Saks Fifth Avenue Men’s Store Beverly Hills. For the color-shy, she recommends slipping a non-neutral vest or iridescent shirt under a black tuxedo.
While adding color is perhaps the simplest way to tweak the black-tie formula, it can be dangerous: “I certainly hope we never see the baby blue tuxedo with the ruffled shirt,” Spirer says.
