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BB Tailcoat

18K views 69 replies 24 participants last post by  GrumF14 
#1 · (Edited)
#5 ·
In the Michigan Ave store, they had two on display, same exact set-up pique waistcoat proper length with pique dress shirt. One was wing collar one was laydown, that was the only difference.

Yikes though. $1600? I really wanted one. I guess I'll have to keep looking, etuxedo.com has the Hickey Freeman for less.
 
#6 ·
In the Michigan Ave store, they had two on display, same exact set-up pique waistcoat proper length with pique dress shirt. One was wing collar one was laydown, that was the only difference.

Yikes though. $1600? I really wanted one. I guess I'll have to keep looking, etuxedo.com has the Hickey Freeman for less.
Try this ebay store: https://stores.ebay.co.uk/Tails-and-the-Unexpected I haven't bought from him myself, but he always has a good range.

Adagio
 
#7 ·
I'm not a fan of silk buttons on a tail coat. Brass buttons are much more aesthetically pleasing to me. Of course, you can always change the buttons whenever you want. Additionally, in this day and age, I really don't think it is a wise investment to own a tail coat. If you ever do need to wear one in your lifetime, you can just rent one from your local tux shop. I had to learn this the hard way. If you are going to invest in formal wear, I strongly suggest buying your own tuxedo. If you already have one, then focus on buying another, different looking tuxedo jacket.
 
#15 ·
Dress coats have not taken guilt brass buttons since Beau Brummell's day. An attempt to revive it was made in the late 19th century but without success - except as servant's livery.

In the early 19th century it was considered correct for the waistcoat to show 1/2" below the coat. But at that time the dress coat could still be buttoned up. Since about the Edwardian period the correct thing has been to have the waistcoat 1/2" shorter than the cut away fronts of the dress coat.

Nb in case any one asks why I say "dress coat" instead of "tail coat" it is because there are a few different types of tail coats. Tail coat = genus, dress coat = species.
 
#18 ·
Re. the buttons of the tail coat in question: they look plastic to me

Aaron in Allentown: that's weird, in the recent thread you started about formal vests, you said you only need to wear "white-tie" about four times a year.
You're right, it is a little weird.

The explanation is that, in Pennsylvania, Masonic Dress consists of a black bowtie, a shirt with a laydown collar, a black vest, a tailcoat and black trousers.

Basically, it's a white tie rig, but with a black bowtie, a black vest and a shirt with a laydown collar.

I wear that to Masonic meetings three or four times a month.

I end up wearing regular black tie (i.e., a tuxedo) another two or three times a month.

I am an officer in a Scottish Rite body, and we wear white tie to that.

So, I wear tails a lot more often than I wear white tie.
 
#19 ·
Are plastic buttons even acceptable? I'm well aware that most, if not all, formal-wear these days has the satin buttons, but has that been the standard, or are these plastic buttons somehow more traditional?
Not plastic, horn.
 
#24 ·
Dress coats have not taken guilt brass buttons since Beau Brummell's day. An attempt to revive it was made in the late 19th century but without success - except as servant's livery.

In the early 19th century it was considered correct for the waistcoat to show 1/2" below the coat. But at that time the dress coat could still be buttoned up. Since about the Edwardian period the correct thing has been to have the waistcoat 1/2" shorter than the cut away fronts of the dress coat.

Nb in case any one asks why I say "dress coat" instead of "tail coat" it is because there are a few different types of tail coats. Tail coat = genus, dress coat = species.
...and The Windsor uniform dress coat.

W_B
 
#25 ·
On all of the old coats I own, the covered buttons have worn away or are missing. I often find someone has replaced them with odd (usually mismatching) buttons. I have never yet seen a dress coat or frock coat with anything other than fancy covered buttons. Often the patterns on the buttons are very elaborate.

But I guess anything's possible.
I'm pretty sure that my 1937 Sandon & Co dress coat had horn buttons (alas I no longer have it to check) and my current dress coat (1950s, Edinburgh tailor) certainly does. When I was handling vintage tailcoats, etc., fairly regularly I found covered buttons to be the exception.
 
#26 ·
On all of the old coats I own, the covered buttons have worn away or are missing. I often find someone has replaced them with odd (usually mismatching) buttons. I have never yet seen a dress coat or frock coat with anything other than fancy covered buttons. Often the patterns on the buttons are very elaborate.

But I guess anything's possible.
My evening tails, circa 1930 by Watson Pickard, Liverpool and Manchester, have horn buttons.

Adagio
 
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