Men's Second Style

For my final post of 2007, I thought I’d make just a few suggestions for possible New Year’s Eve party attire.  It seemed to me that formalwear was called for, so here are just a few of my favorites, some recent, that haven’t been featured here before.

If you’re looking for a beautifully designed traditional tuxedo, consider the variety of styles by designer edo Tone.  The simple, classic style at right (L$400) has clean lines, a notched silk collar, and silk-edged pockets.  The pants are elegantly textured, with a cleanly defined crease.  The shawl collar tux at left (L$500) is done with the same attention to detail.  Also available are a “High Grade” tux (L$600), with jacket textured in deep charcoal rather than inky black, and for variety a grey tux (also L$600).  Note that the prices given here are for the tuxedo jacket and pants only; all tuxedo styles are also available in “coordinated sets” with wing collar shirts, vests, cummerbunds, and ties in various colors and styles.  These accessory items are also available individually, so you can mix and match or expand your wardrobe with specific items to your personal taste.

A few formal shoe styles by Hays Uriza are also conveniently available in the shop.  Here I’m wearing the Straight Tip Suede Shoes (L$500; two sizes included), a classic lace-up style with matte rather than high-gloss finish.  All available at Styles of edo (currently at Chuginadak 216, 173, 43, but moving to a private sim in January 2008).

Nobody puts a personal spin on vintage-styled designs like Shai Delacroix.  Her “Le Smoking Leopard” Tuxedo (L$650), available in Brownstone (as shown here) or Black, takes us back in a heartbeat to the days when lounge lizards walked the earth.  Now you can join their ranks in style they never even dared dream of, as Shai’s butter-soft, gorgeously hand-drawn fabric textures are luxurious enough to sink into and never want to leave.  The set includes leopard-print jacket with wide wide lapels (natch), velvety coordinating pants, and shirt/tie combos that let you go tieless or wear your choice of necktie or proper bowtie, either tied (prim) or dashingly untied…so smooth, so suave.  Available at Casa Del Shai (Casa Del Shai 151, 100, 691).

This awesomely unconventional tux cried out for equally remarkable footwear, and to meet that challenge I’ve chosen the new “Shanghai” shoes by Eponymous Trenchmouth.  The tooled-leather uppers feature amazing tapestry-style artwork and a Chinese coin “medallion” set in the instep strap.  The tapered toe stops short of an actual point in a stylishly blunt snub.  Be sure to inspect the shoes closely for subtle but loving details like the design pressed into the bottom of the leather sole and the inside tags.  Four color combinations are currently available: Black/Red (at left), Black/Blue, Black/Steel, and Gray/Silver.  Epo tells me that Brown/Gold and Black/Gold styles are also in the works and should be out in the shop shortly.  Priced at L$400 a pair, or L$900 for a pack of all four color combinations.  A demo is available for L$1, and a samples is out in the shop for your personal inspection.  You can find these at JCS (Jeepers Creepers Shoes) (Tean 236, 80, 25) and at the JCS shop at Second Guy Mall (Sweetgrass 86, 104,  262).

If you’re hoping to make a dramatic entrance (or exit), consider the Cocoa Tux with Floral Tie (L$400) by swaffette Firefly.  The chocolate color of the fabric is more dark than milk, too dark in fact for any of the brown dress shoes I had in mind.  The set includes belted pants with prim cuffs, jacket in four styles, and shirt/vest/tie combinations (plus prim tie) in a subdued but eye-catching floral print.

Here I’m wearing the jacket with its long flexi bottom, strikingly lined in gold satin, but you also have your choice of skirt-layer jacket bottom, narrow-fit and wider-fit flexi jacket bottoms, and flexi formal tails.  I’m a big fan of designers who provide a variety of wear options for different looks in a single garment package.  You can pick this up at SF Design (Innisfree 134, 49, 538) and at the SF Design shop at Second Guy Mall (Sweetgrass 86, 104,  262).

Happy New Year to everyone, and here’s to a great 2008!  Thanks for reading.