Tuxedo Expert Breaks Down Celebrity Tuxedos, From Joaquin Phoenix to Rami Malek | Fine Points | GQ

Howdy, Mordecai Rubinstein here with GQ today talking about tuxedos. Classic tux, tuxedo, black tie, formal. It's all about the fit. You could have the cheapest tuxedo, rental, you can have your grandfather's, you could have a second hand, you could have it untailored, you could have it made for you. If it's ill-fitting, and by that I mean the shoulder's exaggerated, swimming in the jacket, you can barely button it, open, it can't be buttoned at all, no good, no good. The sleeve length, sure, you wanna show a bit of cuff, there's rules, eighth of an inch, quarter of an inch, I don't really care, it's not about this, it's just about a hair, it's just about, you know, it doesn't matter if it's French cuff or a normal button, it doesn't matter if it's a turn-up, I don't wanna see your giant cuff links. I'm not seeing as many cummerbunds lately, and I think that's a great way to wear a tuxedo open, whether you're skinny or fat, I think it's kinda cool because it acts as a belt, a garter, keeping you in at the same time, it's refreshing so you don't see the like, you know, the wrinkled shirt coming out of the waistband. Entry-level tuxedo doesn't have to be designer, doesn't have to be high fashion, in fact, I think it shouldn't, I think it should be training wheels, I think it should be cheap, off the rack, ready to go, size to fit, and what I mean by that is not hugging the tushy and not hugging the pits, you gotta be able to move, you gotta be able to hail the cab, you gotta be able to like, conduct the choir and stuff, you know, you gotta move with ease. If it's a little bit big, that's okay. I think the trouser should meet the back of the shoe heel. We don't see that today. Today we see cropped, cropped, and more cropped. I mean, it shouldn't be hugging your body. I'm not sure that they can move in these body-hugging pants. I mean, you could staple the hem, for all I care, but just have it the right length. Hopefully the staples are black. I love a one-button tux, I love a two-button tux. I don't know that it needs more than that unless it's double-breasted. I love a peak lapel tux, I love a notch lapel tux. Depending on the body frame, how much does the lapel need to be peaking? I don't know, you know, that's up to the body type. White shirt, classic, but sometimes a black shirt with a tuxedo, you could wear a black t-shirt with a tuxedo without a collar if it fits right. One gentleman wearing the lapel, it's sort of, you know, like that. And I don't believe that's messed up. I believe he did that on purpose, a little kind of suave. I like that for two reasons. One, it's not about, don't look at my neck. And for two, it gives them a little bit of flair. It takes away from here. If there's ruffles these days, maybe the collar open without a tie is kind of cool too. I like that these guys have their shirts tucked in. Don't, don't, don't unfluff your shirt, black tie. Dress up, get dressed. If you want to go barefoot, no, not cool either. Studs, I don't know, it's nice to have the clean white pearl buttons. It's nice to have studs. Again, I don't think they should be louder than your tuxedo. Black tie, we're not talking about black tie optional. You wear a tie. I don't care if it's green. I don't care if it's yellow. I don't care if it's a bolo. I want something around the neck for you to say it's a tie. Whatever it is, I don't care. Let it be. When I see Lakeith, I say, hmm, did the stylist not know how to tie the bow tie? Did he not know how to tie the bow tie? Or does he just not give a, and it's there. I think of an open tie as after the wedding, after the bar mitzvah. You're on the way home from dinner. You're feeling good. You might have a cigarette and a drink and you didn't even realize you left the club. I don't care because he's wearing it with confidence. I like how he's wearing tails. It's borrowed from back in the day Edwardian times, I believe, when they wore the tails. This is a chalk-striped tail in black and white, silky, and it looks killer. I think there's a few bows a man can wear. A pussy bow or a bow tie. I guess if you skate, you can tie a bow around your waist. Or with a shoelace. I love a pre-tied bow tie. Only when it's sort of Lanvin, Tom Ford, big, big, big velvet. And I say that because you can't tie that. It's almost impossible to tie that into a bow tie. But generally, I don't wanna see a pre-tied bow tie. I love a necktie with a tuxedo on that note. It says kind of like, you know, I'm not trying to fussy with a bow tie. And it's still traditional. I don't wanna see a tie when it should be in place of a bow tie. I wanna see a tie when it works really well with the suit. And I think that's either when a guy wears a black suit instead of a tuxedo and it passes as a tuxedo. I like a tie when it's not a shawl collar. And I like a tie when it's double-breasted. If you're gonna go clip-on tie, don't leave that gap there. Fill it up. They've got adjusters. Make it tight. Make it fitted. Never show that. If you're sweating a little bit, you're a little bit hot, you wanna slightly loosen it. That's my rule. And then pick it right back up so the button's open. But you're still filling that gap. No one knows that I'm breathing right now. But it's not dangled. I don't like that space right there. That's just not right. Seeing a trend of a lot of doodads. I don't love it. I don't know that a tuxedo needs anything more than a flower, a boutonniere. I don't think you need sparkle here. And you definitely don't need sparkle on both lapels. I don't think men should wear timepieces when wearing formal attire. You should have nowhere else to be but where you are. I think it's so look at me. I think there are these rules of like, where else do you have to be? And that's why you don't need a watch at a formal affair. But today, I think it's even worse because it's like these giant timepieces that take away from everything else. Whether it's black, midnight blue, navy, brown. Doesn't matter. I'm seeing a trend I don't really love in evening wear where it's sockless. There's a special hosiery for black tie. And it's a very, very fine, fine, fine, fine sock. Doesn't have to be from France. But it's a fine, fine sock. I love a red sock black tie because it gives it a little pop. I actually love a purple or any shade of lavender, lilac, sugar for another pop of color. But sockless is a little weird to me. If the trouser meets the shoe, forget how low it meets the shoe, but if it meets the shoe, we don't have to see your fun socks, look at me socks, your go to hell socks, your f*** you socks. We don't need to see it and that's great. But the minute it's cropped at all, there's that pop of red that's not a pop anymore. When I say a pop of red, I mean, if you cross your legs, there it is. It's not when you're standing up, there it is. It should be subtle. These are things for you, for those that are near and dear to you. They're subtleties. In the way of shoes, I guess there's evening pumps, which we're not seeing that much. A more modern evening pump, which I actually love, is the Belgian loafer. The Belgian shoe is a great bow. It's a bow that's barely there. I love the Belgian for black tie. I think it's a do-it-all shoe, actually. I think it works with shorts and a t-shirt. I think it works really well with black tie. Sneakers, I think, is a no-go when we're talking classic tux. And it's tricky. You know, most guys, they don't have a tuxedo. So they're either borrowing one, renting one, getting one last minute. I might never wear this again, so I don't wanna buy $450 English Benchmade shoes. Guess what? You need them. They don't have to be patent leather. They can be brogues. They can be wingtips. But it shouldn't be a penny loafer, and it shouldn't be a beat-up shoe. There's something really, really elegant about wearing a white tuxedo jacket with black pants. You gotta be really, really careful. You can't rub up against the cake. You can't hug up on people with makeup. You really gotta stand your own in white. And it also, it's very standout. When people are wearing black tie and you're in white, really stands out. I love how Cassidy wore the hat with it. You know, black tie with a hat, it's not easy. It's not easy. Cassidy generally, his hats, I don't wanna say they're wearing him, but they're loud. They're out there. And I like the sort of anti-fit jacket. And I'm curious if it was created like that or not. It's sort of like a waiter at the Palms restaurant. And I don't mean that in a bad way. It's sort of like a one-size-fits-most jacket. I like how it's with ballet slippers, velvet slippers. I like that you actually can't see the shirt cuff coming out. It's kind of breaking a bunch of rules. What I like most, actually, is how the bow tie goes collar to collar. It's filling up the whole gap. There's no Pee Wee Herman reference. There's no clown reference. It's actually just perfect. The navy tux is a beautiful thing. It keeps it interesting in a sea of black. When, sure, we're in a time where there's not a lot of black tuxedos in general out there in these award ceremonies, but navy keeps it fresh. And it makes you look twice. Ooh, he's not wearing black. He's daring. And it's still conservative. It still kind of blends in. And it's still really dark. Black tie and black shoes with navy is so beautiful. When we went from black tie to a lot of midnight blues and weird shades of blue, after that, I think the next step was just colors. Pinks and mauves and natural and all kinds of ice blue and all colors in the tuxedo. And in a time when men don't own pink and women don't own blue and every color's for everyone and fabrics are for everyone, silhouettes are for everyone, I would like to see more colorful tuxedos. But I think when you're going color, that's when you have to go more classic with the fit. The shine should be shiny, but not too much sheen. A little bit of a sheen is great. A lot of a sheen I think is just too much in any light. Indoor, outdoor, prom, carpet, I think it's just a lot. To see a brown tuxedo or a black shawl collar in silk with a brown tuxedo, that's a beautiful, beautiful combination. If it's a dark, dark, dark brown tuxedo, on the money. One thing I really would love to see with a brown tuxedo is a black tie. I love the contrast. Even if the lapel is not black and the whole tuxedo's brown, I still love the contrast of black tie, keeping it black. I like that with navy. I almost like that with any color tuxedo. Velvet, I see a lot of velvet tuxedos and I wonder how hot they must be. It seems like they're in the warmer months and they're still wearing velvet. That drives me crazy, but if they're comfortable and the air conditioning's pumping in there, by all means, go for it. Velvet shows its wear a lot more, kind of like a moleskin, kind of like the suit I'm wearing after a half hour or some time sitting there, walking, getting out of the car. It shows its wear, so that's one thing you have to be really careful about with velvet. You don't wanna walk like this and crispy, but at the same time, that better be nice cotton velvet or velvet sateen where it wears nicely. If money is no object, I think that's the term, if you could spend anything on your tuxedo, I'd go to maybe Paul Stewart in the United States, maybe Turnbull and Asser in England, and I say that because when you go to these establishments, and these stores to me are establishments, they've been around for a while, they're not pop-ups by any means. They've been doing this for a long time. Turnbull and probably Paul Stewart, they have rooms in the store for evening wear. You sit down in a plush chair, in your own dressing room, and you get fitted in, and you feel like a king, and you might even walk out with not just a tuxedo, but a smoking jacket.