Buy or Rent a Tuxedo_ - Why Men should invest in Black Tie Clothing - Male Tux Advice
Hi. I’m Antonio Centeno, the founder of Real Men Real Style. And today we’re going
to be answering the question, “Should a man buy a tuxedo?” if you haven’t already,
make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel. You just click on that buy – click on the
button right up there above this video. And if you want to learn more about black tie,
tuxedos, tuxes, whatever you want to call them, go hit and click on the link below and
that will take you to a great article that we’ve written that goes into excruciating
detail about black tie probably more than you’ve ever wanted to know.
But let’s get right to the question. And this came to me. I received an email the other
day. A gentleman is asking me, “Should I buy a tuxedo?” He’s trying to – he was
debating the question, “Should he rent one for $150 or should he go out and spend closely
with $1,000 to get a really nice one. It was an off-the-rack that he found and to get the
shoes and all the other things that you needed to go with the black tie.
So, my answer to this is it depends. And it really depends on what your lifestyles like,
where you live, how often you’re going to utilize this – this on so because if you’re
only going to wear this once in your entire life, then it’s not probably a good investments
and you probably don’t wear suits or black tie, you know, very often any – in a any
case.
And so, I would say in that case, just go with the rental. It’s not – at this point,
unless you’ve got money to spend or it is really important to you, perhaps it’s your
daughter’s wedding and you just want to look – I mean, it’s worth that kind of
money to you then go ahead. But if this is something that you’ve just heard, you know,
you can just get pass this.
But for many men, it’s actually worth the investments. And black tie can be expensive.
It’s something that’s a bit harder to find off-the-rack. You’re not going to find
it in your local mall because you’re going to have to either buy it from a specialty
men store or you’re going to have to go, you know, like Brooks Brothers or some place.
We’re going to have to go to a custom clothier. So you’re looking at a cost of anywhere
from $1,000 to a little beyond $3,000 or something like this depending on, you know, the type
of fabric and all the other details you need to go into.
But let me go ahead and talk about why would a man want to invest this kind of money? What’s
the advantage of buying a tuxedo versus renting one?
Okay. When you buy something – and especially if you get it tailored or you get it costumed,
it’s going to fit you a lot better than anything you rent. There’s also the – it
actually the style being correct. So, a lot of the stuff you rent – well, it’s just
in abomination when it comes to the certain style if you’ll see notch lapels on tuxedos
which you shouldn’t. You’ll see two to three button tuxedos which you shouldn’t.
You’ll see this bright, pink bow ties and pink cummerbunds and you shouldn’t.
I mean, that’s going to be a lot – there are rules with black tie. That’s a beautiful
thing about it is that you can look at what the rules are, follow them and you know you’re
going to be correct whether you’re in Germany, whether you’re in the U.K., whether you’re
in France, whether you’re in the United States or Mexico. You know that if you fall
with these rules that they’re timeless, they’re classic and they’re adhered to
across the world.
If you go with the rental, well, you’re going to – you know how those Internets,
those pictures pass around the Internet of, you know, like ‘80s, prom dresses and stuff,
well, yeah, you’ll probably be one of those pictures. No, hopefully not but – but you
were warned.
Okay. Then there’s the actual money you spend. So I – I alluded to it earlier but
if you’re only going to need this one time, it’s probably not worth it. But once you
start going to a couple of these events, all of a sudden that $150 rental fee plus if you’re
late, you got a, you know, an extra charge and there are always little things here or
there, but that stuff adds up and all of a sudden, over the period of let’s say, five
years, you have spent $1,000. And every time you wear that clothing you looked bad.
So, why not suck it up at the beginning, invest in a quality set of black tie – you know,
black tie jacket, black tie trousers, get the waist coat, get the shirt, get the bowtie,
have the shoes and all of a sudden, you’ve got it. And you’re going to end up look
sharp.
So, you know, the why not reasons like I mentioned, upfront cost and also the lack of use. But,
you know, the positives I think outweigh it, again, if you’re going to be wearing this
more than two or three times. So he’ll fits the profile of, you know, the actual man that
would need this. I usually see and my clients for black tie usually are up and coming professionals.
So these are young man that are going in the consulting, they’re going into lawyers,
they’re going into banking, they’re going into let’s say government work. A lot of
times if you’re going to be in the Washington Area,” or working for state government,
you’re going to be attending a lot of balls. And black tie is often optional.
So, you know, that’s another hidden thing is if you own a black tie, you’re going
to find events to wear that. And when you have that option, you’re...
...going to wear it because it makes you look like – like James Bond. I makes it makes
you look good.
Okay. So, one of the guys I mentioned the up and coming professional, talk about some
of the professions there. There’s also – if you live in a large city, you live in Chicago,
you live in New York, you live in Los Angeles, live in – oh, probably not Portland, pretty
laid back there, but even Austin, Texas, state capital. So there are events where you can
find and where you can actually wear this.
So, you end up wearing this two to three times over the period of five years. You’re definitely
going to get your money’s worth at this because it really comes down to whenever you
dress sharp like this, you want to look good. You want – you don’t want to, you know,
you want people to compliment you. I mean, that’s the whole reason that people get
dressed. You help set the right ambiance and the right atmosphere at the event you’re
at.
And so – so really a quick idea, I kind of alluded to it but make sure to price it
out accordingly. There are ways you can keep this really low. I said, you know, you could
spend 100 bucks, go to thrift stores and you could piece this together. It’s going to
take a lot of time, or you can just walk into a custom clothier and – or a men’s store
and buy it all at once and you may be out $2,000.
In any case, you’re going to need the right shoes. You’re going to need like I said
the full suit which is – make sure, you know, again, the article down below gives
you a lot more detail is do exactly what piece and the style you are looking for but know
that it’s not just a suit. You’re going to need the right shoes, you’re going to
need the right shirt, you’re going to need jewelry as well although there are ways to
get around that. You don’t have to have the jewelry but in most cases, it’s recommended
and you’ll need the waist coats and a tie, I think I covered everything there.
So, should a man buy a tuxedo? Again, it depends but I would say 75% at the time yes. It’s
worth the investment.
All right. So there’s your answer. This has been Antonio Centeno with Real Men Real
Style. If you haven’t already, visit Real Men Real Style and join our free email list.
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