Where is cocktail attire worn?
Cocktail attire is relatively a new kind of attire that surfaced in the twenties. The attire for designed to find some middle ground between formal wear and casual wear.
It is also safe to say that cocktail attire is a more proper way to address semi-formal wear.
This attire was designed for the time when evening parties became very common; formal attire would not have worked for this as it will be too proper and casual would have been too inappropriate.
In today’s day and age, cocktail attire is worn at engagement parties, dinners and birthday parties too.
What to do and not to do
Starting off with what you should certainly do while deciding cocktail attire is to go for a tailored article. Since a tuxedo will be way too formal, it is a good idea to decide a good blazer and trouser combo or you could stay safe and match the color of the blazer with the trousers. You should also consider altering the look in your own way but not too much as you might come off as too tacky and cocktail attires are fairly decent.
Moving onto what not to do, is to not be afraid to ask for help from the person who invited you to the party as they have the best idea of what they are looking for when they chose cocktail attire for the event. The host will be more than comfortable giving you the details of how they expect the cocktail attire to turn out. On the list of not to do is also flashy combinations. These kinds of combinations are a big no. Cocktail attire even though for a party, is supposed to be classy and decent. This is why, you should avoid flashy accessories and weird colors so that you do not look like a broke rapper on the event.
Brief guide to how to do two main components of a cocktail attire
In this part we will talk briefly about the two different components of cocktail attire for men.
Blazer and trousers
The first thing that you should keep in mind when deciding the blazer and trousers is that it should always be tailored. An off the shelf combination is a sin to all kinds of suits and should never be worn or even considered. A suit should always be tailor made. Avoid jeans whenever you can and only keep them for casual parties. Keep a one color combination as the traditionalists like it and will never be frowned upon. You should also look to avoid patterns and try to go for dark color combinations.
Shirt
This component of the attire is no-brainer but people still manage to mess it up. The most common mistake people make is to forget to contrast the color of the shirt with the color of jacket. A dark on dark will only work if it’s a black shirt on a black suit, other dark on dark combinations are not that good to look at. Always try to go for a light color shirt in a dark suit. The best and safest choice is always a white shirt but if you are not a big fan of it, a light blue shirt can go along with a black suit really nicely as well. In the case of a shirt you can get away with a one of the rack as there are brands that make really well fitted shirts but if you have the chance go for a tailored shirt.