Men's Second Style

For the next installment in my review of formal wear for the holidays, I’m tackling not just one tuxedo, but eighteen! Technically, I’m only modeling one of them, but Ayla Holt of MIA has created a whole line of classic tuxedos in both black and white versions, with vests and ties in a large assortment of colors. You see me here wearing the black tuxedo with silver vest and bow tie.

This is a very well-done and detailed set with lots of pieces allowing various options. The core of the set is a combined jacket, vest, shirt and bow tie, all on the jacket layer, with matching black pants. But the set also contains two separate traditional tux shirts, one on the jacket layer and one on the shirt layer, and a separate tux jacket also, allowing the set to be worn without the vest and tie. What the set doesn’t contain is a separate vest and bow tie, which would allow you to wear the set without the jacket. If you really want this option, it’s available separately as the “Evening Vest and Pants” package at the MIA main store for $150L.

The jacket is hand-painted and shaded, with a hint of shininess to the lapels, and the vest has a diamond pattern and very nice shading effects. The buttons on the vest look irregularly spaced, but it doesn’t detract much from the look. The bow tie almost looks 3-D – it’s as realistic as you’re likely to see without using a prim tie. And I particularly like the separate shirt; the pleats are realistic and I love those buttons.

And as I said, there are lots of color choices! For $300L, you can get the black tuxedo in your choice of blue, copper, gold, green, pink, purple, red, silver or teal vest and tie, or the white tuxedo with avocado, blue, copper, gold, green, pink, purple, red or teal vest and tie. Or, if you just can’t choose, you can buy a set of all nine black tuxes or all nine white tuxes for $1500L. (Although, if I had to ask for one more, I’d like to see the black tux with a white vest and tie – just a thought, Ayla.)

And while we’re at it, MIA also sells tux shoes in black and white, with matching socks, for $50L. I’m pictured here in the black shoes, which are very realistic – they’re prim shoes, so they are at least shaped like real shoes. They do have the same problem that all prim shoes seem to share, which is that I have to make my feet unrealistically small to fit into them. This isn’t as painful as it sometimes is in real life – and being a big guy with big feet in real life, I’ve had to squeeze into too-small shoes more than once. But still, what’s a big-footed avatar to do?