A wedding invitation from your best mate requests that you wear a lounge suit to the event,
and now you’re freaking out because you don’t even know what a lounge suit is.
Lounge suit dress code is used for occasions with various degrees of formality and means a suit worn with a shirt and tie.
Lounge suits are worn for most business events, both daytime and evening, and for many social events,
such as lunches, receptions, dinner, weddings, christenings and funerals.
First of all, with two words lounge and suit, suit means you have a matching pair of and a jacket.
Did you know that “suit” comes from the French term suivre which means to follow.
So your jacket follows your pants, your pants follow your jacket. A suit is not a combination, meaning a jacket, like a blazer or an orphaned suit jacket that is combined with a contrasting pair of pants or a different colour or pattern.
Some gents wear a dark blue pair of slacks with a dark blue jacket but they’re not made of the same fabric, that’s not a suit either. So when you have a suit, make sure the fabric is the same for the jacket and for the pants.
Given how the lounge dress code for men entails fairly broad parameters, there’s accordingly a variety of styles and colours to choose from. We suggest staying with the basics, meaning a tailored two-piece suit made of materials like wool, linen or cotton.
In the colour department, think neutral shades like navy or charcoal if it’s a night time affair, while grey is good for other times.
Under your jacket should be a collared and cuffed shirt. The shirt should be high in quality and tight-fitting, but comfortable too.
If white is simply too generic for your tastes, stick with neutral shades, avoid bright colours or flashy prints.
Though not nearly as popular as they once were, ties are an essential aspect of the lounge suit. You might be a guy who doesn’t feel you need to wear a tie, but in this case, it is essential. Not only to achieve the correct look but to show respect to your host.
Use your tie to splash a bit of your personality. It can be as bright or patterned as you want, or dark and subtle. Matched with a pocket hank and the look will not only be admired, your mate will be pleased to see that you are dress as he wished. Its not your function so dress as your host requests.
Your shoes, too, play an important part in the over all look. Leather shoes or boots are a must. Lace ups or slip-ons are no problem but regardless, they should be polished and scuff free. Runners, hiking or work boots are a real no no.
Ensure you buy your shoes early as being leather, you’ll want to break them in a bit. Once you have the shoes, which can be in black or brown, though brown is not a great look with a black suit, make sure you have a belt in the same colour;
black shoes – black belt, brown shoes – brown belt. Pretty simple eh?
Oh, and please wear socks. Not only will it look better, you’ll be far more comfortable and wont come home with a blister on your heel. Go with socks that match the colour of your suit, or if you want, pick some that are the same colour as your tie and hank. That way you can be a bit individual whilst not taking the attention away from the hosts.
The other thing to remember is: don’t leave it until the last moment to get suited up. Very few guys can buy directly off the rack, so we will need a couple of days to have your suit tailor fitted. Regardless of how good the quality of the suit is, if it doesn’t fit you well, it will always look pretty shabby, defeating the whole point of wearing a suit.
Once you have your tailor fitted suit combined with the right accessories you will look pretty sharp.
So when your invitation arrives, drop into Brown’s to get fitted up and with our team’s help,
we’ll put together an outfit that will make you look awesome, feel good and, most importantly,
show that you value your mate by respecting his wishes.
