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My husband went to a black tie dinner a couple of weeks ago. I took the kids to basketball practice while he got changed, figuring that a 43-year-old man could manage a tuxedo by himself. "I'm going to put on my penguin suit and go out!" he told my six-year-old.
And my son said, "Awesome!" I'm sure he thought my husband was REALLY going to dress up as a penguin. Oh how disappointed he would have been.
When my husband came home, much later that night, looking quite spiffy in his tux, he said, "You know what I forgot about the tuxedo? How hard it is to get those damn studs and cuff links in. I spent half an hour trying to get my shirt buttoned up." In all the years we have been together, I have always been around to fasten him into the tux shirt; that night, on his own, he almost didn't make it. "I thought about driving over to Charlie's practice to have you help me," he admitted, while I laughed.
Last night, as I watched Hollywood's hottest walk the red carpet at the Oscars, I was mesmerized by the tuxedos. I know, I'm supposed to be looking at the dresses, but I find the men fascinating, because there are so many different versions of the basic black tie look, and because I can't help but wonder if Angelina Jolie has to help Brad Pitt with his cuff links. Because don't you ever wonder what it's like at their house when they're getting ready for the red carpet?
I know what my husband does before a black tie event: shower, shave, struggle with shirt studs and cuff links. Complain about shoes. Put cummerbund on upside down. Turn cummerbund over. Fuss with real bow tie because he doesn't want to wear the pre-tied one. Opt for pre-tied tie because we're late now and it's time to go.
It takes him longer to get ready than it takes me, honestly.
What's the goal when a man puts on black tie and heads out? To look classic and elegant, and not to upstage his date, really. Kmau at The Daily Style sums the Oscars look up this way: "Hugh Jackman, Daniel Craig, and Will Smith exuded a classic, and
hopefully not lost, gentlemanliness with three distinct looks at last
night's Oscars .... what they're wearing looked just as good 50 years ago. No messy unbuttoned shirt collars, no skinny ties, no trousers bunching at the shoe, no odd colors; just well cut and classic." Exactly; that is usually the goal of black tie attire for men.
And all that is well and good, I supposed, but not very exciting. After all, a tux is a tux, no matter what width the lapels, and it's really still just a uniform. Then there was Mickey Rourke, who is was NOT exuding classic gentlemanliness last night, and was certainly not wearing the uniform. Rourke was exuding more of a classic Mickey Rourke-ness, really, and just like at the Golden Globes, it was totally working for him.
Rourke's look is distinctive and dramatic and entirely not what we're expecting on the red carpet (seriously, was his wallet chained to his pants? I think it was!) but he stood out in the sea of penguin suits in a way that no one else did, not even the women. TrendHunter pointed out that, "Mickey Rourke’s punk rock ‘n roll red carpet look
was the complete opposite of the classic Hollywood elegance that other
stars like Brad Pitt went for." Okay, sure, but why does that matter? I'll tell you why: As much as I loved Natalie Portman's gown and Kate Winslet's hair and every single detail of Anne Hathaway's look, Mickey Rourke is the one I remembered later, even though he looked like he had dressed himself in the limo on the way to the show, in an outfit he picked up at Goodwill.
Then again, no one was going to steal his wallet, right?
What can we learn from the men on the red carpet? Perhaps that while we don't really want
