Custom Tuxedos in Los Angeles

Mr James makes fully canvassed, fully bespoke tuxedos from $1,795. Cut from a pattern drawn for one man and made by our own atelier in Southern Brittany, France. Unlimited fittings and a year of complimentary alterations included. Four to six weeks, or six to eight in imported Italian and English cloth.

Black tie is the one thing in a man's wardrobe with actual rules, and most of what is sold as a tuxedo in this city quietly breaks them. A notch lapel. A black plastic button. A belt loop. None of it is a catastrophe, and nobody at the table will name the fault — but the photographs will show that something is slightly off, and no one will be able to say why.

What follows is what black tie asks for, what we make, and what it costs.

What the dress code actually means

Invitations in Los Angeles use four phrases, and they are not interchangeable.

• Black tie. A dinner suit — what Americans call a tuxedo. Silk-faced lapels, a silk-braided trouser, a black bow tie tied by hand, and either a waistcoat or a cummerbund covering the waist.
• Black tie optional. A dinner suit is still the right answer. A very dark plain suit with a white shirt and a dark tie is the acceptable second.
• Creative black tie. The structure holds; the colour and the cloth are yours. A midnight velvet jacket over black dress trousers reads correctly. A patterned lounge suit does not.
• White tie. Rare, and a different garment altogether — a tailcoat, a white marcella waistcoat, a wing collar. If you are invited to one, tell us at the consultation; it wants a longer run than a dinner suit.

How a dinner suit differs from a suit

People assume a tuxedo is a black suit with shiny bits. It is a different garment, and the details are the whole of it.

• The lapel. Peak or shawl. A peak lapel is the formal choice and broadens the chest; a shawl is softer and older, and photographs beautifully. A notch lapel belongs on a business suit and is the single most common mistake in the room.
• The facing. The lapel is faced in silk — grosgrain, which is finely ribbed and matte, or satin, which is smooth and catches the light. Grosgrain is the quieter of the two and ages better. The same silk covers the buttons and runs down the outside seam of the trouser as a braid.
• The front. One button, fastened. Two buttons on a dinner jacket looks like a suit that borrowed a lapel.
• The trouser. No belt loops, ever. A dinner trouser is held by side adjusters or braces, and it is worn on the natural waist rather than the hip, so the waist covering has something to cover.
• The waist. A cummerbund with pleats facing up, or a low-cut evening waistcoat. One or the other; the point is that no shirt shows below the jacket button when you stand.
• The shirt. Marcella or fine pleated cotton, a turndown collar, and studs rather than a placket. A double cuff and links. Ours are $295.

Cloth, and why midnight blue

The traditional dinner cloth is barathea — a tightly woven wool with a fine broken twill that reads as matte and absorbs light rather than bouncing it. It is why an old dinner jacket looks deep and solid while a cheap one looks grey and tired under a chandelier.

We will make a tuxedo in black, and most men ask for it. We would gently put midnight blue in front of you first. Under electric light — which is the only light black tie is ever worn in — midnight blue reads blacker than black does, and a true black photographs slightly green or brown against a white shirt. It is the reason the colour has never gone away.

Velvet has a place too, for a jacket rather than a full suit, and for a room where you already know everyone.

What it costs

The price is set by the cloth. The making does not change: full canvas, an individual pattern, unlimited fittings at every level.

• Tuxedo or dinner suit — from $1,795
• Three-piece, with an evening waistcoat — from $2,045
• Dress shirt — $295
• Odd dress trousers — from $450
• Alterations — $80 per hour, and free for the first year

In the finer mills: Drago from $2,995, Zegna from $3,495, Holland & Sherry from $3,495, Loro Piana from $3,995.

Fifty per cent is taken at cloth selection, the balance on delivery. A rush order carries a twenty-five per cent surcharge. A group — a wedding party, a set of groomsmen, several men from one company at the same gala — is discounted twenty per cent.

The canvas, which is the part you cannot see

A fully canvassed jacket has a layer of horsehair and wool floating between the cloth and the lining, attached by hand rather than glued. It takes the shape of your chest over the first months and keeps it. A fused jacket has that structure bonded in with adhesive; it looks much the same on the rail, and it never moulds to anybody.

This matters more in evening clothes than anywhere else, because a dinner jacket is worn perhaps four times a year and expected to last twenty. Every garment we make is full canvas. There is no other option here, at any price.

How long it takes

Four to six weeks in domestic cloth. Six to eight in imported Italian or English cloth, which takes two to three weeks longer to reach the atelier in France. Most clients have three fittings in total, counting the first consultation; some take four or five, and there is no limit and no charge.

For a gala, a premiere or an awards evening with a fixed date, come to us ten weeks out and nothing is rushed. Six weeks is possible at a surcharge. Inside four, we would rather tell you so than promise it.

Common questions

How much does a custom tuxedo cost in Los Angeles?

Ours start at $1,795, fully canvassed and fully bespoke, with unlimited fittings and a year of alterations included. Finer mills run from $2,995 to $3,995. The price is the cloth; the making is the same at every level.

Is a tuxedo worth having made rather than rented?

If you wear black tie once in a decade, rent it. If you attend two or three evenings a year — and in this city a good many men do — a rented jacket is roughly a third the cost of one made for you, and you will have paid for the tuxedo three times over inside five years while never once having worn one that fits.

Black or midnight blue?

Midnight blue under electric light, black if the occasion is formal to the letter or you simply prefer it. Both are correct. We will show you the two cloths side by side under the showroom lights, which settles it faster than any argument.

Peak lapel or shawl collar?

Peak for breadth across the chest and the more formal line. Shawl for a softer, slightly older look that suits a narrower frame. Notch on a dinner jacket we would talk you out of.

Can I wear a black suit instead?

To black tie optional, yes, with a white shirt and a dark tie. To black tie, it will read as the man who did not have a dinner suit. The cloth is the giveaway: a business worsted has a sheen that barathea does not.

Do you make white tie and morning dress?

Yes. Both want a longer run than a dinner suit and a conversation at the start about the occasion. Tell us the date when you book.

Do you offer made-to-measure tuxedos?

No. Every garment we make is full canvas and fully bespoke, cut from your own pattern in our own atelier. Our starting price sits where a good deal of made-to-measure already sits, so there is little reason to offer a lesser garment.

Book a consultation

The first consultation takes an hour and costs nothing. You meet Robb or Ben, choose cloth with the prices in front of you, then linings, buttons, facings and any monogram, and we take around thirty measurements and three photographs. Wear fitted trousers or jeans and a T-shirt or a well-fitted shirt — we cannot read your figure through loose clothing.

We are appointment-only, seven days a week, roughly nine until six, and we ask for forty-eight hours' notice. The showroom is at 221 Culver Blvd, Playa del Rey, CA 90293, with free parking in front and behind. Call 310-503-3592 or book a time.

More on how we work is on the bespoke page, and grooms should start with wedding suits.