A Woman's Tuxedo: What to Wear to Black Tie in Los Angeles

A woman has an invitation that says black tie, she would rather not wear a gown, and the shops offer her either a men's jacket taken in at the waist or something sold as a tuxedo with no silk on it anywhere. Mr James dresses women as well as men, and a woman's dinner suit is among the more satisfying things we make.

This is about the cut and the commission. The code itself, the studs and the cummerbund and the rest, is set out in black tie in Los Angeles and applies here too.

What the code asks, and what it leaves to you

Black tie asks above all for silk: facing the lapel, and braided down the outside seam of the trouser, in black or midnight blue, so the garment answers a room lit from above. That is close to the whole of the requirement. A dark suit with no silk on it is a dark suit, and in photographs it reads as one.

Almost everything else is yours: jacket length, the line of the trouser, how much shoulder, whether there is a waistcoat, what sits at the neck. A woman in a dinner jacket is not in borrowed clothes. She is in evening dress, cut for her.

The jacket

Length and button stance. An evening jacket usually sits a little shorter than a day jacket, since the point of the silhouette is the leg beneath it. A single button slightly above the natural waist gives the longest line; placed lower it reads calmer.

Peak or shawl. The two evening lapels, and a notch is the commonest sign of a jacket not made for the evening. A peak carries the eye outward and gives width at the shoulder, which suits a narrow frame. A shawl is one unbroken curve, softer, and it sits more easily over a high neckline or a camisole. What each shape does is weighed up in notch, peak or shawl.

Single or double breasted. A double-breasted jacket stays fastened all evening, so the waist is defined by the jacket and nothing is needed at the waistband underneath. Single-breasted is easier on a warm night and easier to take off.

The shoulder. This is where a woman's pattern differs most from a man's. The shoulder is narrower, the slope usually greater, and the armhole must be cut high and small or the jacket will bind when you raise a glass. It is drafted in or it is not there.

Trousers, and the other cuts

Evening trousers carry the braid, sit higher at the waist than a modern trouser, and have no belt loops, since they are held by side adjusters. Beyond that the line is open.

• A straight, slightly tapered leg is the classical evening line and photographs best with a heel.
• A wide or fluid leg is the cut most women ask for now. It wants a longer rise and a clean, undarted front, and the braid along a wide leg is quietly spectacular when you walk.
• A skirt is entirely correct, long to the floor or near it, with the silk carried in the waistband or a hem facing.
• Two lengths. If you live in both flats and heels, have the trousers made twice rather than hemmed once and compromised. Trousers on their own are $450.

A low-cut evening waistcoat is the third piece if you want one, covering the join at the waist as a cummerbund does on a man. With a double-breasted jacket you need neither.

What goes underneath, and in what cloth

Here women have more room than men, and we say the least. A white marcella evening shirt with studs and double cuffs is the full and formal answer, worn with a hand-tied black bow. A silk camisole under a fastened jacket is the other end of the same idea and perfectly correct. We make shirts to your own pattern at $295.

Black tie here runs from gala season in February through to summer weddings, and the city is unkind to heavy cloth. A mid-weight barathea in midnight blue does everything; under artificial light midnight reads blacker than black. A high-twist wool is better for an August evening outdoors, and velvet belongs to December.

How the commission works, and what it costs

The consultation is an hour and costs nothing. You will meet Robb or Ben, since the house is the two of us. We are at 221 Culver Blvd in Playa del Rey, by appointment, roughly nine to six, with forty-eight hours' notice. We also come to your home or office anywhere in Los Angeles for $300.

We talk before we measure, mostly about what you have never been able to find. Then around thirty measurements and three photographs, front, side and back, so your posture travels with the numbers to Max, who has made every garment this house has produced since Robb founded it in 2010, in our atelier in Southern Brittany. Every garment is full canvas and fully bespoke; we do not offer made to measure at any price. Fittings are unlimited, and a year of complimentary alterations follows delivery. The longer version of the hour is in a woman's first bespoke suit in Los Angeles, and the service sits on our page for women's bespoke suits Los Angeles.

A bespoke tuxedo starts at $1,795, the same entry price as our two-piece suit, because the making does not vary with the occasion; with an evening waistcoat it is $2,045. Cloth from the finer mills runs from $2,995 for Drago and $3,495 for Zegna or Holland and Sherry, with Loro Piana from $3,995. Half is taken as a deposit at cloth selection and the balance on delivery. There is more on the custom tuxedo Los Angeles page.

Allow four to six weeks in domestic cloth and six to eight in imported, counted from cloth selection. A rush is possible at twenty-five per cent above the normal price, though it costs you a fitting. Wedding parties take twenty per cent off; there is a page on women's wedding suits Los Angeles.

Questions we are often asked

Do you make tuxedos for women?

Yes, through the same process as a man's: a pattern drawn for her alone from around thirty measurements and three photographs, full canvas, made by hand in our atelier in Brittany, with unlimited fittings. It is not a men's pattern adjusted.

Does a woman's tuxedo cost more than a man's?

No. It starts at $1,795, the same as the men's, and $2,045 with a waistcoat. Price here is set by the cloth and by nothing else, since the making is identical whatever the garment.

Can I wear a skirt rather than trousers?

Yes, and it is entirely correct. Long, to the floor or near it, with the silk carried in the waistband or a hem facing. A skirt can also be made later on the same pattern.

What should I wear under the jacket?

A white marcella evening shirt with studs and a hand-tied bow is the formal answer. A silk camisole under a fastened jacket is equally correct and a good deal cooler. Shirts to your own pattern are $295.

Is a woman in a tuxedo correct for black tie in Los Angeles?

Completely. Black tie describes evening clothes rather than one garment, and a dinner jacket with silk at the lapel meets the code as fully as a gown does.

The hour costs you nothing but the hour. Wear something fitted and bring the shoes you mean to wear, and the invitation if you have it. You can book a private consultation here, see what the hour covers on our book a fitting page, or telephone 310-503-3592.