The lines between when to wear a Tuxedo vs. a suit are blurred, and one of the biggest misconceptions people have out there is that a suit and tuxedo are the same things. When it comes to suits, you have a lot of options to choose from in the way you style yourself. Such as selecting a wide variety of colors – whether it’s corporate or leisure suits and you can wear your suits without a tie or a formal shirt. You can even pull off your suit with a t-shirt for that matter. However, when it comes to tuxedos, there isn’t any room for flexibility, you have to style it in a particular way — starting from your bowtie, lapels, shirt, cuffs and even shoes. Your tuxedo should look like a silhouette.
I’m here to help you understand three significant differences between a suit and tuxedo in a little more detail
1)Tuxedo are more formal than suits
A Tuxedo is considered as an evening dress, and the correct way to wear it is at black-tie events. The right time to wear a tuxedo would be after sunset or after 6 PM, whichever comes first whereas a suit can be worn during any time of the day. They’re lesser formal than a tuxedo and can even be considered as casual wear depending on how you chose to style yourself — such as without the tie, depending on the fabric of the suit and shade. For instance, you could go to a mall, grocery store, school wearing a suit and nobody will consider it strange. A tuxedo, however, requires a special occasion, it’s not meant to be worn because you look good or like to dress up. Wearing a tuxedo should define the moment being special like your prom, wedding, or friend’s wedding.
2) The use of Satin:
One of the main physical differences between a tuxedo and a suit is the use and presence of Satin. All the components of a suit – the jacket, vest, and trouser are stitched from the same fabric or material. A suit can be stitched with materials such as wool, linen, cotton and even as bizarre as denim depending on the occasion and season whereas a Tuxedo has the use of Satin. The use of Satin in tuxedos can be found on the face of the jacket – the lapels, buttons, pocket trim, and a satin side stripe down the leg of the trousers. Whereas, suits don’t incorporate any satin at all and usually have either plastic buttons or buttons faced with the same fabric as the coat. But the primary difference between the two is that tuxedos have Satin on them and suits don’t.
3) Upfront Cost:
When it comes to suits, you can always compromise on the fabric if the fit is perfect. A well-fitted suit in a poor quality fabric will look far more superior than a loose, baggy, ill-fitting one made with higher quality fabric. However, a tuxedo has to always be well fitted, there can be no room for compromise here and it has to also be made from the highest quality materials too. A tuxedo will always be a long-term investment as a particular fabric, design, and a specific type of shirt, button, bow tie, cufflinks, and shoes are required to assemble a tuxedo. This brings the overall expense of a Tuxedo to be much higher than a suit because while assembling a suit you might already have a shirt and other accompanying garments to go along with it.
When it comes to deciding whether to wear a tuxedo or a suit, always remember that a tuxedo will always be much more formal and are only meant to be worn at specific events and timings.