White Suit??? Aficionados Only!

[zlato]

To All Fashion Aficionados: For formal (Gala) nights on 50 day cruise this Fall, I plan to bring and wear my tux; however, would it be proper to sometimes wear a white dress suit since the cruise is going to Hawaii and the South Pacific even though it is Fall and beyond the dreaded Labor Day deadline? Wife and I prefer more elegant formal and casual clothing. This is not meant to be judgmental; this is just who we are. "To each their own" although we fondly remember:

...ladies in formal and cocktail dresses and sometimes wide brim hats

...gentlemen in tuxes, suits, or blazers.

...being escorted to cabin upon arrival

...being greeted each night by name as we entered the dining room

and so on and so on.

 

No, we did not sail on the Titanic; however, we are "young" senior citizens who appreciate not being out of place by dressing up for dinner.

[78232]

When I lived in the tropics, people wore summer clothes all year..without regard to labor day. My husband wore a white suit in Nov on a tropical cruise and did not look out of place.

[POA1]

Once you cross the equator, the seasons flip. Also it's the tropics, so light colors are more year round anyway. Go for it.

[Illyria]

According to GQ Men: "If it's the daytime, if it's the summer, if you're an ex-army colonel on a cruise in the tropics, you can wear one - and a white jacket might actually look more appropriate. But never in the evening or in the winter."

 

Since you WILL be on a cruise in the tropics (ex-colonel or not), sounds like it's fashionably acceptable. I also don't think that the U.S. "no white after Labor Day" rule applies in the South Pacific.

[Fouremco]

This "convention" has fewer and fewer adherents, even in the US and Canada. Wear what is appropriate for the weather, not the calendar.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Definitely wear your white suite.

You will be dashing in it.

[colbe]

The new James bond movie Spectre features Daniel Craig in a cream/white dinner jacket. If it is good enough for JB, it is good enough for you. Enjoy your cruise and have a wonderful time dressing in a way that makes the two of you feel special.

[3rdGenCunarder]

Tropics over-rule the calendar. Even my mother ("You aren't wearing THOSE shoes are you???") would agree to that. So go for it.

[sail7seas]

Wear your white **** and enjoy.

The 'old' rules have slid by the wayside. GQ should be thrilled to read there are men still wearing suits. :D :D We read here almost daily all the gents who no longer bring a suit on their cruises.

 

[POA1]

Wear your white **** and enjoy.

The 'old' rules have slid by the wayside. GQ should be thrilled to read there are men still wearing suits. :D :D We read here almost daily all the gents who no longer bring a suit on their cruises.

 

Did you have a misfortunate spelling error on suit, or did you really mean to type a swear word? ;)

Edited July 25, 2015 by POA1

[hunt182644]

Wish I had one, only time I wear a suit anymore is on a cruise. To cheap to spring for a second one.

[zlato]

The new James bond movie Spectre features Daniel Craig in a cream/white dinner jacket. If it is good enough for JB, it is good enough for you. Enjoy your cruise and have a wonderful time dressing in a way that makes the two of you feel special.

 

Guess What? My initials are also JB. It must be my destiny to wear the suit. Other than appearance, strength, passion, intelligence, and athletic, we are alike.

[Caribbean Chris]

I think it would be quite marvelous and tropical.

 

My DH had such a suit when we were married in 1980, complete with vest. Very Travolta. I have a photo of us with the captain on our honeymoon cruise on the Amerikanis out of San Juan, and he wore it with a pink tie to echo my tropical garb. We look so young in that photo....

 

Anyway, definitely - wear your white **** and enjoy, as Sail put it so well.

[CowPrincess]

>snip<

 

Anyway, definitely - wear your white **** and enjoy, as Sail put it so well.

 

I suspect that part of that was a typo :)

[Caribbean Chris]

I suspect that part of that was a typo :)

 

I don't know....two chances already to declare it was a typo!!

[sail7seas]

Sorry.....

I just returned to this forum and discovered the asterisk. I'm not prone to vulgarity so it's safe to think I likely make a typo. :D

 

[Hlitner]

I think the White is perfect :). And far from being out of place, you will likely be one of the best dressed men on the ship. Our most recent HAL cruises (including a 38 day Pacific crossing) was more a fashion show of inappropriate men's dress for formal nights. Many men (even on HAL) no longer feel the need to dress formal and we saw many sport jackets that most men would not even wear to work! And then there were the guys who kept trying to get in the MDR (on formal nights) with no jacket or tie (sometimes they were admitted and other times they were turned away).

 

Hank

[Copper10-8]

To All Fashion Aficionados: For formal (Gala) nights on 50 day cruise this Fall, I plan to bring and wear my tux; however, would it be proper to sometimes wear a white dress suit since the cruise is going to Hawaii and the South Pacific even though it is Fall and beyond the dreaded Labor Day deadline? .........................

 

Heck yeah; go for it!

[kelleherdl]

Copper,

 

When do ship's officers switch to 'blue' only? I can't remember, are 'whites' ever worn in Alaska?

 

Dennis

[Copper10-8]

Copper,

 

When do ship's officers switch to 'blue' only? I can't remember, are 'whites' ever worn in Alaska?

 

Dennis

 

Dennis; as a rule, blues (jackets) are evening wear, although in AK they can also be worn in the day time (the other choice is long sleeve white shirt with black tie (daytime); whites (jackets) are formal (night time) wear and that includes Alaska. The Captain decides when the switch takes place. Have a nice one!

[POA1]

Sorry.....

I just returned to this forum and discovered the asterisk. I'm not prone to vulgarity so it's safe to think I likely make a typo. :D

 

I know. It just struck me as #$@&%*! funny.

 

Stupid fact of the day: #$@! is called a grawlix, courtesy of Mort Walker's "Lexicon of Comicana."

 

[Copper10-8]

I know. It just struck me as #$@&%*! funny.

 

Stupid fact of the day: #$@! is called a grawlix, courtesy of Mort Walker's "Lexicon of Comicana."

 

 

Do you know Mort personally? Associate of Murphy?

[POA1]

Do you know Mort personally? Associate of Murphy?

No, but I am familiar with his work from Mad Magazine.

 

Please accept my apologies for the thread drift. The white suit is an excellent idea.

Edited July 25, 2015 by POA1

[sofietucker]

The new James bond movie Spectre features Daniel Craig in a cream/white dinner jacket. If it is good enough for JB, it is good enough for you. Enjoy your cruise and have a wonderful time dressing in a way that makes the two of you feel special.

 

GQ is WRONG. Evening & summer are perfect. And it's WAY "good enough" for JB: "In Britain a tuxedo is a white dinner jacket." (Cambridge dictionary) See Bogart in one in movies too.

And:

"Black Tie is a dress code that for men consists of the traditional tuxedo and accompaniments: a black dinner jacket and matching trousers, an optional black formal waistcoat or black cummerbund, a white formal shirt, a black bow tie or alternatively a black long tie, black dress socks and black formal shoes. In hot weather a white dinner jacket may be substituted and the cummerbund is the preferred waist covering….. you will see that much of black tie’s dress code is not about what you must wear but what you may wear. It is this extent of choice that lies behind black tie’s genius – not to mention its survival in the face of contemporary trends that have virtually banished the far more austere white tie dress code…..

Prior to the 1930s black tie was still largely an informal offshoot of white tie, borrowing its parent’s white waistcoat, stiff shirt and even bow tie at times. During the Depression era it finally came into its own with its standardization of the black waistcoat, adoption of a formal turndown-collar shirt and acceptance of swank warm-weather alternatives such as the double-breasted and white jackets and the cummerbund. " Underlining mine.

Photo shows a white jacket, black pants, black cummerbund, and black bow tie.

(Black Tie Guide:A Gentleman's Guide to Evening Wear; blacktieguide.com)

 

But a full white suit should be fine too if in a hot weather locale. Often in linen... This is a more casual look. I'd go with shoes other than black: tan Stacy Adams... Tommy Bahama shows it with flipflops, but doubt this would pass muster in the MDR. Loafers good.

Edited July 26, 2015 by sofietucker

[OleSalt]

The guayabera is not only acceptable, it is the standard dressup in Central and South American countries. In the Phillipines, the Barong Tagalog shirt is the male formal dress. Live it up and wear your tighty whitey.