Dressed to impress

There is no finer evening wear for the discerning gentleman than the enduringly elegant white tie

- Written by Martin Williams

IN THE hierarchy of civilian menswear, the loftiest spot is reserved for white tie. Appearing on only the grandest and most formal evening occasions, it's a throwback to an era when style, status and celebrity mingled to indelible effect. Irreproachable in its severe but artfully structured magnificence, its time-hallowed tenets defy interference, let alone improvement. At its best, it's the ultimate in masculine elegance. According to Keith Levett, a director of Henry Poole & Co on London's Savile Row, white tie can trace its origins to the Regency era when George 'Beau' Brummell redefined what it meant to be well dressed. Eschewing bright colours, sumptuous fabrics and elaborate embroidery, Brummell and his adherents adopted plain black or dark blue evening coats with cutaway fronts and tails that fell to the knees behind. With them they wore close-fitting black pantaloons (a forerunner of trousers), which were then in the process of supplanting the once ubiquitous breeches. Initially, aristocratic hostesses were wary of the innovation. Even the Duke of Wellington was refused entry to the exclusive Almack's Assembly Rooms in St James's, London, for daring to sport a pair of newfangled pantaloons. By the mid-19th century, however, the simplified evening ensemble we recognise as white tie had come to be the norm.

Tailcoats mandatory