Fashion Monday with JJ Lee

SIMPLE ANSWER: No. THE MORE NUANCED, LESS DOCTRINAIRE ANSWER: Still, no. If we were to take Prince William as an example, and after their royal to-do, who could deny the awe-inspiring elegance of the day (Pippa, call me), unbuttoning your coat is not consider correct etiquette. In the case of Will and Kate, for the evening the newly-wed prince wore a double-breasted jacket for the evening to do, which one never leaves open as David Letterman eventually learned after years of complaint from men's fashion magazines. What is correct for the double-breasted is correct for the single-breasted dinner jacket. Tuxedos look GOOD buttoned up. Why settle for less. My rule is always this: if the jacket is too hot, get a lighter jacket. Now, it's going to happen. When the cameras were gone and Camilla and Charles had left the young ones to rage on at Buckingham Palace, I'll assume they got down and dirty because, heck they're royals, what do you expect? And I'm ...

The break down. While notch lapels are not my favourite. Shawls and peaks are. This example of a trim notch with a nice James Dean-like skinny bow tie (the only way to interpret the skinny trend in a bow tie) is youthful and modern. Perhaps too much shirt is showing but what can be done? A higher button stance would lead to showing more of the white triangle at the bottom. This matters as this isan era when most men choose not to wear a cummerbund. I often go without, however, one time a photographer insisted I open my dinner jacket. I refused. The best man became piqued and I obliged. Later that year I bought a cummerbund. (And I wear it! - JJ, 2012) One solution to the belt -ine triangle problem is to wear high-waist pants. In any case, for semi-formal wear, where one should never open their jacket in polite company, this would be a great solution. If only I became a real tailor, I could do these things myself.