Formal Fashions North and South

A couple of seasons ago, knowledgeable guys who crawled into dinner jackets or tailcoats did so with the realization that all that uniform black-and-whiteness might strip them of their individuality. Hell, who but Richard E. Byrd can tell one penguin from another? This season, a gent can be as colorful as a matador, but we hope he won't.

While the photostatic approach is entirely correct for the night beat, it's still a big drag in the stag-line. Putting your dough on a sure thing can be about as cheering as getting back two-and-a-quarter on a two buck bet at Hialeah. In the cold light of day, a man can call up a wide choice of duds to show what a really rare sort he is: tweeds for the rough-exterior heart-of-gold type; gray flannel for the bleeding poet hobbled by commercialism; blue worsted or a quiet sharkskin to suggest an unpadded shoulder to lean on. But once the curfew tolls and leaves the world to supper-clubbing, the basic insecurities wind slowly o'er the psyche. Playing it safe, lad, does nothing more than reveal your doubts. And don't get the idea that a tattersall cummerbund is enough to establish you as an integrated personality. It won't, but at least it indicates you haven't come to the party just to watch the young folks slop up Martinis.

Choosing a dinner jacket should be a carefully taken step. Many influences are evident: some good, some lousy, some not worth a second look. Authorities whose knowledge of the Italian peninsula was formerly limited to a pizza on Saturday night have suddenly discovered Rome and the Riviera; consequently all fashion becomes Italian-inspired. Naturally, this influence can't be denied. Italy's gifts to the world from Leonardo to Loren are many, but more Yanks will dress in the pattern of Princeton than ever heard of the Pincio.

Color is big news south of Mason-Dixon. It has to be seen to be believed and it has to be handled discriminately. The blatant pinks, blinding golds and hysterical reds are to be avoided except in very small portions. In larger doses we prefer quieter colors, or brighter ones filtered down with black for dinner jackets. Trousers remain slender black bases on which to build flights of fancier colors. Cummerbunds and ties can flaunt convention with happier results: the India madras ones look particularly good; foulard prints and regimental stripes, while not revolutionary, show a knowing eye. For the man who is a rube in the world of color, it's wise to confine the bright hues to small areas. Then, if he doesn't find the experiment too traumatic, he can graduate to a colored dinner jacket.

Up North the news is more subtle. Like a lot of changes in men's clothing, they are the kind that take a Sherlock Holmes to notice: the flapping of a pocket, the cuffing of a sleeve or the peaking of a lapel. Satin trimming is (concluded on page 76)Formal Fashions(continued from page 36) hot stuff this year; a season or two ago, faille was king.

Shirts have really changed, and most have gone from plain to fancy. In fact, too fancy. This applies particularly to those lace-loaded jobs. The more rugged textures, horizontal tucks, and all-over miniature dots are just about as jazzy as we care to see a dress shirt get.

Hats are seen on the best-dressed noggins under the moon, indeed are almost a must for late-hour gadding. In warmer climes, the straw boater (or "katy") is making a return bid for headlines. It takes a certain amount of dash to wear it, but even those endowed with somewhat less savoir faire than Chevalier can frequently bring it off. In the cooler regions, the soft black felt built along casual lines looks new and neat. A narrower brim and a squarer crown make a man and his lid look like they're not complete strangers. A hard, hard homburg is an unfriendly evening companion for most of us.

Your billfold for evening wear should be slim, sleek and light in weight, depending, of course, on how much loot you load into it. Jewelry is discreet, with jumbo cuff links seen less and less. Shoes are of a duller finish – with calfskin taking over much of the ground formerly held by shiny patent leather.

In all, whatever direction a guy takes after dark – north or south – there's a new course charted. The formal duds are interesting, the scenery's good and most of the natives are friendly.

The ice breaking to our left will soon get under way thanks to a new peaked-lapel dinner jacket with satin cuffs added as conversational gambits; the cummerbund and tie are in heart-warming tartan stripes. All part of the "After Six" line by Rudofker. The shirt by Lew Magram; the shoes by Johnston and Murphy.

Right: warm welcome for a cotton India madras jacket in a new weave and a new color – russet with an overweave of black. Southern hospitality assured, too, for new light-on-the-feet, woven moccasins. The jacket and trousers by Rudofker; the shoes by Hanan.

The guy nuzzling the girl gives all the credit to his Bengali cotton madras dinner jacket in eye-arresting red, black and white plaid; feather-weight coat and trousers are by Palm Beach.

Below: cold shoulder about to be overcome by warm velvet-collared, single-breasted Chesterfield by Duncan Reed, Ltd. The black felt hat is by Knox; muffler by Hatton-Case.

Tropic accompaniments: polka dot shirt by Arrow; signal flag cummerbund and tie by Royal Elastic; straw sailor by Knox; calf slip-on shoes by British Walkers; studs by D'Barry; silk wallet by Sulka; Tang cologne by Hatton-Case.

Chilly climes call for waffle-front nylon-tricot shirt by Hatton-Case; patent leather pumps by Johnston and Murphy; felt hat by Knox; houndstooth cummerbund and tie by Royal Elastic; evening watch by Lucien Piccard; wallet by Sulka; money clip by D'Barry; Moustache men's cologne by Marcel Rochas.