Men's Tuxedo
Wool Tuxedo, Tux, About
Tuxedos
What is a tuxedo?
(http://www.answers.com/topic/tuxedo)
Men Tuxedo Background:
Background
The tuxedo is a man's tailored
suit used for semi-formal or formal wear. It may be sewn from a wide
variety of colors and fabrics; increasingly, brighter colors and
unconventional designs are pervasive in tuxedo styling.
Nevertheless, most tuxedos are produced in black. While tuxedos are
available for purchase, most men rent these fancy suits for special
occasions since they are infrequently worn and seen as an unwise
investment.
Tuxedo jackets often include satin
on the lapels that are attached to the collars. Tuxedo pants
resemble men's tailored trousers except that they generally have a
satin or ribbon stripe sewn over the outside seam of the leg. Most
tuxedos are worn with specific accessories that include the slightly
stiffened, sometimes fancy, white pleated shirt that closes with
old-fashioned shirt studs rather than buttons. Another important
accessory is the cummerbund or fabric belt that encircles the
waistband of the trousers and secures in the back.
The tuxedo is, essentially, a
ready-to-wear garment made in specific, standard sizes. They may be
purchased or rented from an apparel store at a moment's notice.
Custom or couture tuxedos are available through a personal tailor
and are made to fit the wearer to his specifications. Tuxedos are
constructed just as a man's tailored, pattern-graded ready-to-wear
suit would be produced except the fabric is a bit dressier, the
lapel includes satin and a decorative stripe is sewn onto the
trousers. Companies that make men's suits may also be involved in
tuxedo production.
History
Interestingly, the tuxedo did not
begin as formal wear. Rather, it was seen as a less formal
alternative to men's formal wear. Until the early twentieth century,
gentlemen wore frock coats for formal wear, choosing a black frock
coat with tails and gray-striped trousers for formal wear during the
day. A black frock coat with tails, a white waistcoat (sometimes
referred to as a vest), white shirt with stiffened bosom, and black
trousers were worn with a black silk top hat and was the typical
formal evening wear for gentlemen.
About the turn-of-the-century,
legend suggests that American gentlemen in and around Tuxedo Park in
New York, an enclave of the wealthy, chose to simplify formal wear
and drop the fancy tail coats preferred for evening wear. They chose
instead to wear a black coat styled much like their work suitcoats.
The gentleman thought they could then wear these simple black
trousers for semi-formal occasions. The jackets, known as tuxedo
jackets, were often decorated with rich black silk satin on the
lapels and that detail persists in many tuxedos today. The ribbon
stripe on the outside edge of conventional tuxedo trousers may be
reminiscent of the gray-striped trousers popular for day formal wear
in the nineteenth century. By the second decade of the twentieth
century, the black tuxedo had supplanted the formal black tailcoat
as acceptable formal and semi-formal wear.
The wealthy had their fine tuxedo
jackets and matching trousers made by a personal tailor in the early
twentieth century. However, with the development and refinement of
the American ready-to-wear industry, tuxedos were available in
standard sizes by the early twentieth century. Today, few men own
such suits, instead they are frequently rented for special events.
There is no question that today we see these suits as quite formal
and do not consider them semi-formal. Colors and styles are varied
today, including bright colors, patterns, double-breasted styles,
even long coats are popular again. The design of the tuxedo is only
as limited as the imagination can create and the market can bear.
Raw Materials
Tuxedos may be made from a great
variety of fabrics today. These include wool, polyester, and rayon.
Fancy detailing is generally an imitation silk satin such as
polyester or rayon. Linings may be acetate or polyester. Stiffeners
are an important part of the tuxedo as they help the shoulders,
collar and lapel retain their shape. These stiffeners may be felt
(underneath the collar) and buckram, a coarsely-woven fabric used in
more structured ready-to-wear outfits. Fasteners typically include
synthetic component buttons that can hold up to the chemical
bombardment they receive during endless dry cleanings, and
metal-toothed zippers in the trousers.
Design
The design of the tuxedo may be
the most important part of a successful manufacturing process.
Popular trends in men's clothing help set the style for tuxedos. A
group of designers study men's fashion and suggest what tuxedo
styles will appeal to a broad group of consumers. This group finds
illustrations and may create illustrations of the styling they hope
to reproduce within the factory. Fabrics, new colors, interesting
lapel shapes, length of coat, or flare of the trousers may be among
the new styling features the designers manipulate to produce new
products.
Pattern makers provide the tools
that will enable the manufacturer to produce these new tuxedos—the
patterns. The process for this is fairly straight-forward; the
pattern parts are sketched on paper and once there is consensus that
these parts will create the targeted design, the pieces are
digitized into a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) system. All men's
fashions are drafted in prototype pattern form in one size referred
to as 40 regular, which includes a jacket with a 40-inch chest, a
32-33 inch sleeve length, and a pair of trousers with a 33-34 inch
waist. (Generally, in standard sizing for men's suits, the waist is
6 in less than the chest size of the jacket; thus, a 48 regular
jacket would be accompanied by a pair of trousers with a 42-inch
waist.) All subsequent patterns are then graded from this standard
40 regular pattern.
The prototype pattern is used to
cut out a size 40 regular tuxedo. The company then assesses the
styling and decides whether the tuxedo will indeed be marketable as
well as the complexity and expense involved in production. Upon
approval, the pattern is graded—proportionally scaled, up or down
off of size 40 regular, lengthening or broadening the pattern as
necessary. The variety of pattern sizes produced is significant
since many tuxedo manufacturers offer the product in sizes from 36
extra short to 60 XXL. Specifications for cutting patterns is fed
into the CAD system so that the pattern pieces are devised on a
computer-generated system that produces all subsequent sizes of the
40 regular prototype.
The designers and other members of
the manufacturing team suggest the appropriate fabrics for
production of the tuxedo. Some tuxedos are produced in dozens of
fabrics and colors and utilize a variety of linings, buttons and
other notions. The designers and the pattern-makers are keenly aware
that each fabric type utilized affects other aspects of production
including how the fabric is cut, the lining and tapes that must be
used to reinforce the fabric type, the kind of needle that most
cleanly pierces the fabric, the type of thread that will ensure the
fabric will not be pulled, etc. Once these specifications for
production are established, production is ready to proceed.
The Manufacturing Process
Most tuxedos are worked on over a
period of many days, even several weeks. There are so many small
parts or tasks to be completed before the tuxedo is finished that
much time is spent in production. If the time it took to cut, sew
and finish a single tuxedo was condensed into one single day, it is
estimated that it would take eight to 12 hours to produce one unit.
Fabric pieces may be cut out in
one of three ways depending on the manufacturer. All of the methods
described enable multiple layers of fabric to be cut out at one
time, cutting approximately 25 layers at once (this amount varies
according to the thickness of the fabric). The fabric pieces may be
cut by hand using manual shears or very sharp, heavy tailor's
scissors. A second method employs an electric round wheel much like
a circular saw that is held in the hand. A third method entails
cutting fabric using a motorized machine that is run from a computer
program.
Each piece is tagged with special identification indicating the
specific bolt of fabric from which the piece was cut because all
tuxedo cloth must be cut from the same bolt and dye lot (or the
parts may not match precisely in color) and the size of the tuxedo
for which it is intended. Also, the tag may indicate which tuxedo
style the piece is intended if more than one style is in production
at the same time. The pieces are either carried to the operators at
sewing machines for assembly, or are stored until they are needed.
Operators sitting at individual stations generally sew the pieces
together using industrial grade sewing machines (these machines are
able to handle the heavy fabrics and linings used in men's suits and
tuxedos). At one company, the construction of a tuxedo has been
divided into 150 different sewing operations, meaning that many
different operators actually work on a single garment. The coat
generally consists of 110 operations and the trousers 40 different
operations.
Assembling the coat
The sequence of operations
includes the following general steps, each with many subcomponents.
First, the two front panels are
sewn together, which generally includes some stiffening in parts of
the bosom. The stiffening fabric is sewn to each panel so they
become a single unit. The fabrics are sewn inside out in order to
hide the stitching upon reversal.
Pockets are sewn in by the operator next. If they are patch pockets,
like a breast pocket, they are sewn on the outside of the panel.
Pockets in the seams have a lining that is sewn to the inside of the
panel along the seam opening. The pocket edges are finished off by
tucking excess fabric and stitching the seam edges to smooth and
secure the seam at its openings.
The back of the coat is constructed by sewing the two back panels
together down the center. The front panels are connected to the back
at the shoulder seams but not the side seams. Stiffening or padding
may be sewn in at this point if needed.
If the sleeves are to be lined they are juxtaposed with thin lining
and sewn down the inner arm on a sewing machine. Again, the fabric
is sewn from the interior in order to hide the seams and produce a
more polished looking garment.
The remaining lining is added to the coat body at this point. A thin
layer of satin-like fabric is usually used for the lining and is cut
to the dimensions of the front and back panels. The lining is sewn
with both finished sides facing each other, and then flipped right
side out. The sleeves, already sewn together, are attached to the
coat at the armhole.
Finally, the collar, including the lapel, is assembled. This has a
shell or top of the lapel of satin (characteristic of a tuxedo) and
an interfacing consisting of felt with a piece of canvas built into
it and buckram to give it strength. The interfacing is cut to the
shape of the collar and sewn into a "sleeve" of the outer fabric.
Contrasting fabrics, such as satin striping along the edge of the
collar are sewn onto the outer fabric as well prior to jacket
attachment. The lapel is constructed using the same process as the
collar, but in different shapes and styling. The lapel is sewn along
the front opening of the front panels. After assembling and
attaching both the lapel and collar, the coat is complete.
Assembling the trousers
Trousers are not generally sewn to
a specific length. Instead, the end is often left with a pinked edge
so the store can hem each leg up or down as needed.
If the trouser legs are to
be lined, the liner fabric is cut to match the size and shape of the
trousers. The thin lining, usually a satin-like fabric, is
juxtaposed on the interior of the leg before the legs are put
together. Once the lining has been sewn in, the trousers are sewn
together along the back inseam and along the outer side of each leg.
The characteristic satin stripe is applied along the outside of each
trouser leg with topstitching. The legs are then sewn together at
the interior curved seat seam and interior leg seams as well.
The waistband, which is generally folded at the top and stiffened
within with buckram or some other interfacing, is sewn all around
the upper edge of the raw edge of the trousers. The belt loops are
constructed of small, machine-sewn strips of self-fabric and are
attached at regular intervals onto the waistband.
The zipper is sewn to the interior of the trousers so that the
overlapping fly fabric covers the metal teeth of the fastener.
When the coat and trousers are completely assembled, the parts must
be finished. Finishing refers to closing off raw edges with closely
stitched thread, such as that seen around buttonholes. It also
includes sewing buttons onto the coat and pressing both the trousers
and the coat. The hem of the trousers may remain a raw edge. The
tuxedo is now complete.
Quality Control
All fabric is carefully inspected
upon arrival for any flaws or irregularities that could produce an
inferior suit with imperfections. The industry examines a length of
material in a 100-yard piece and has determined that an acceptable
bolt of yard goods can only have a specified number of flaws per
piece. Dye lots, in which yard goods are colored in the same dye vat
at the same time, are carefully marked so that the tuxedo is not
sewn from bolts colored at different times. These dyes vary widely
even when the same recipe is used for their formulation.
Seamstresses and tailors are vigilant in using fabrics from the same
dye lot. Requirements are determined for each of the sewing
operations performed on the tuxedo; thus each job is evaluated
against that specific criteria. Also, since so much of the
construction of the tuxedo is completed by human operators at sewing
machines they easily and quickly perform visual checks at each stage
of production. Garments are fully inspected after finishing as well,
especially along seams for durability and closure.
An important part of quality
control is prototyping each new design and ironing out all design
flaws carefully before production begins. Armholes that are too
small, lapels that have no body, trousers with improper flare, all
can be avoided with thoughtful feedback on the prototyped tuxedo.
Byproducts / Waste
There is a considerable amount of
wasted fabric resulting from cutting out the tuxedo parts. One
manufacturer estimated that perhaps as much as 12% of the fabric is
unusable after pattern pieces are cut. Most garment-makers try to
recoup losses related to this unusable fabric by selling this scrap
to companies that make reconstituted fibers. These fibers are used
in everything from other garments to floor coverings.
The Future
Tuxedo manufactures need to keep
up with changing men's fashions; men's styles change almost as
frequently as women's fashions. Couturiers with great cache greatly
affect the design of higher-style tuxedos. New styles by well-known
designers seen at very public events, such as the Academy Awards
presentation, certainly have resonance in the manufacture of
tuxedos. New colors, and occasionally new fabrics creep into tuxedo
use but the days of outrageous tuxedos are largely over. In fact,
the conservative black tuxedo with white shirt used for middle-class
weddings rarely varies from year to year. The challenges that face
tuxedo manufacturers primarily revolve around their ability to
construct tuxedos competitively.
Where to Learn More
Books
Constantino, Maria. Men's Fashion in the Twentieth
Century. New York: Fashion Press, 1997.
Hollander, Ann. Sex and Suits. New York: Alfred A.
Knopf, 1994.
Other
Oral interview with Barry Cohen, Vice-President of
Manufacturing for Hartz and Company. Frederick, MD. September 2001.
[Article by: Nancy E.V. Bryk]
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A Brief History of the
Tuxedo
(http://www.jimsformalwear.com/protocol_history.htm)
All variety of fact and fiction surrounds the
origin of 'Tuxedo'and the elegant garment that bears its name. It is
said, for example, that the custom of the Algonquins was to name a
place after the chief whose tribe occupied it, and that there was a
sachum named P'tauk-Seet, 'the bear,' who, in the 17th Century,
ruled over a tract of land including what is now known as 'Tuxedo.'
The name is derived from combing P'tauk-Seet-tough - 'The Home of
the Bear.'
Another version holds that the Indians called this area of lakes and
hills, P'tauk/Sepo, or so it was translated phonetically by the
Dutch in their initial land grants. Since the Indians had no written
language, these are the best records available.
1754
It written records dating back to 1754, these
are references to Tuxedo Pond and later on, Tuxcito Pond, Tuxetough,
Tucksito, Tugseto, Tucsedo, Tuxedo, Texedo and Toxedo. The Marquis
de Chastellux, in 1780, writes it as Duck Sider and Duck Seeder. And
in histories of the area dated 1857 and 1875, the name is corrupted
to Duck Cedar with the explanation that the region is overgrown with
cedar trees and is a favorite haunt of wild ducks.
1852
The Lorillard family began acquiring land in
the Tuxedo area in 1800's and by 1852, had come into possession of
most of what had been known as the Cheescock Patent. They turned it
into an elite hunting and fishing resort. With a labor force largely
imported from Italy by Pierre Lorillard, they constructed a series
of homes within the walled park in a matter of several months that
stand today as a testament to the skill of the artesans. It was
known as Tuxedo Park.
1885
As the gilt-edged society of Tuxedo Park
developed its own social schedule, some new names began to appear.
For example, there was James Brown Potter, one of the founders of
Tuxedo Park, who was elected to membership in the Tuxedo Club at the
organizational meeting held at Delmonicos, in New York City in
November 1885. According to the archives, Mr. Potter was introduced
to the idea of the Dinner Jacket by the Prince of Wales, who later
became Edward VII.
1886
The first Autumn Ball, held at the Tuxedo Club
in October 1886, is marked as the official first appearance of the
Dinner Jacket. Then, it is said Griswold Lorillard and his friends
startled the people attending the Ball by wearing a scarlet satin
lapelled Dinner Jacket, without tails, while all others were attired
in the traditional white-tie and tails. And thus was born the
elegant garment forevermore to be know as the 'Tuxedo.'
The tuxedo was adopted by people rich and poor
as the symbol of celebration, good times and special occasion. It
was designated by the motion picture industry as its symbol for high
society, class and elegance, and the tux even became a symbol of
hope for better days during the Depression Days of the Thirties.
And, it was defined by the tastemakers and standardbearers as the
appropriate garb for those events in an individual's life when only
a tradition of elegance will do.
tuxedo, also sometimes shortened to "tux" in North
American English, is a man's semi-formal evening dress, or outfit,
conforming to black tie dress code in British conventions of formal
dress. It consists of a dinner jacket, a white dress shirt, black
trousers, a black bow tie, and either a cummerbund or a waistcoat.
The word may also refer simply to the dinner jacket itself.
The jacket is normally black (midnight blue is a
less popular choice, but was favoured by the Duke of Windsor, among
others). In warm weather, white or cream is acceptable. Most
commonly, the tuxedo closes in the front with one (or two) buttons
(single or double breasted), and does not have tails. The lapels are
traditionally peaked lapels, although notched or shawl lapels are
now common and acceptable, and are faced with either satin or
grosgrain. The trousers almost always have a stripe down the side,
matching the material in the facings of the lapel. The bow tie and
waistcoat also match this facing. If a watch is worn, it
traditionally is supposed to be a pocket watch.
In British English the outfit is simply called a
dinner jacket and matching trousers. The term 'tuxedo' for this
style of dress originates in United States. [1]. Elsewhere, and in
the Northeastern U.S., many people prefer the original British
expressions.
The term tuxedo is sometimes incorrectly
used to denote any form of formal dress such as white tie, morning
dress, or even day time semi-formal dress.
Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuxedo
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