With this new campaign, we wanted to show the breadth of what we can do with a dinner suit.
For us, a dinner suit has always been very closely linked to the person wearing it. It has to work with their stature, their personality and, ideally, the way they actually dress. There is no point putting someone in a beautifully made dinner suit if they look like they have borrowed somebody else’s clothes.
So, for this campaign, I decided to create two looks for each model: one more classic, and one in velvet. Same person, completely different approach.
As ever, if you get inspired to commission your next dinner suit, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Our Four Protagonists
Bobby
Bobby has always made me think of a 1970s talk-show host, so I wanted to run with that idea. Not the cheesy version of the 70s, but the good bit.
Fab
I have known Fab for almost twelve years now, and he has painted a few pieces for us over the years. He is very much an artist, so I wanted his clothes to have some of that personality.
Bobby
His first suit is a very traditional ventless 14oz midnight-blue barathea dinner suit, with wide peaked lapels, a low-cut double-breasted waistcoat and generously straight trousers. It is worn with a concealed-placket white shirt and our Medium Dropped, the Crompton, bow tie.
It is a very classic combination, but the proportions give it some character. Nothing too flashy, but plenty going on if you look closely.
For the second look, I wanted the velvet to do the talking.
We made him a full two-piece black velvet dinner suit with peaked lapels and plenty of volume through the trousers. Bobby has a great physique for this sort of silhouette and carries it extremely well. It gives you the 1970s without looking like he is on his way to a fancy-dress party.
The dinner suit is paired with a pale green silk shirt and our new Ritchie bow tie. Then we added a pair of bold yellow-tinted E.B. Meyrowitz sunglasses, because if you are going to go down the 70s route, you might as well commit to it.
Fab
For Fab’s first look, we made a ventless double-breasted 20oz black barathea 6×2 with peaked lapels in black ottoman silk and his trousers with a straight cut. A white concealed-placket shirt and our new Small Brandon bow tie finish it off.
It is a classic dinner suit, but there is something slightly cool and unconventional about it, which suits Fab perfectly.
On his feet, our Black Sheer Silk socks and Bowhill & Elliott opera pumps.
For the velvet look, Fab wears a deep red velvet dinner jacket with peaked lapels. The colour works incredibly well with his complexion.
With velvet, getting the colour right is absolutely crucial. The wrong shade can completely kill the look. You have to think about skin tone, hair, eyes and, perhaps most importantly, the person themselves. Some people can wear a very strong colour and make it look completely natural. Others really shouldn’t.
Fab wears our new Medium Ritchie bow tie and four-pleat round cummerbund, which helps balance the richness of the jacket. Burgundy silk socks pick up the colour of the velvet without making everything too matchy-matchy.
Bowhill & Elliott opera pumps and red-tinted E.B. Meyrowitz sunglasses finish the look.
Tomisin
For this shoot, Tomisin wears a ventless double-breasted off-white 14oz barathea dinner suit with peaked lapels and straight-cut trousers, paired with a white Marcella stud-front shirt and our new Angel Junior bow tie.
There is also a very practical reason for choosing a double-breasted suit. Tomisin wears double-breasted jackets almost exclusively in his day-to-day wardrobe, so I wanted him to feel completely comfortable in it.
We also photographed Tomisin in his ventless single-breasted shawl-lapel dinner suit with our new Medium Classic Unlined bow tie and five-pleat cummerbund. The inspiration here comes from the 1960s jazz era, but the result still feels very relevant today.
Both looks are worn with our Black Sheer Silk socks and Bowhill & Elliott opera pumps.
For the velvet look, we went for an emerald-green velvet jacket with generous shawl lapels. It is a strong colour, but on Tomisin it just works.
I particularly like using studs that pick up the colour of a velvet jacket. It is a small detail, but it ties everything together without having to make the whole outfit green. You don’t want to look like the Hulk.
Tomisin wears our soon-to-be-released White Marcella Front ready-to-wear dinner shirt, our new Angel bow tie and green E.B. Meyrowitz spectacles.
Manish
For his first look, we put Manish in our most traditional evening wear tailoring: a ventless single-breasted dinner suit with peaked lapels, cut in 14oz black barathea.
He wears it with a voile pleated shirt and studs, our much-loved Medium Dropped bow tie and four-pleat round cummerbund.
For me, this is the perfect dinner suit. It doesn’t need much explaining. It is the sort of garment you could wear now and still be wearing years from now. A proper black dinner suit, cut well, with the right proportions and no unnecessary nonsense.
As always, Manish wears our Black Sheer Silk socks and Bowhill & Elliott opera pumps.
For the second look, I wanted to show another side of velvet.
Manish wears a rich blue single-breasted jacket with peaked lapels and our new Medium Brandon bow tie. Navy is a great way of getting into coloured evening wear without going completely off-piste. It sits somewhere between traditional black, midnight blue and something more adventurous.
It gives you colour, but you are not suddenly wearing a purple dinner jacket.
He wears our four-pleat rounded cummerbund with our soon-to-be-released ready-to-wear pleated voile shirt.