Formal attire is expected to be worn by the audience, often on opening night. Should be announced in advance.
Formal wear you need for most May Balls (see White Tie), and for events such as college dinners. For men: DJ, dress shirt, bow tie, and if you want a cummerbund/waistcoat. For women: cocktail dress.
semiformal evening dress for men
a black bow tie worn with a dinner jacket
An event where a tuxedo is required. No, your tie doesn't have to be black, but this is the second most formal type of event next to white tie. That usually means about 85% of the ties will be black. Appropriateness is determined more by the type of people attending rather than the actual term "black tie". Please don't look foolish by trying to stand out too much. The quality of your formalwear does a better job of distinguishing you from others. Well made tuxedos do stand out.
Black tie is a dress code for formal evening events. Its primary component is the dinner jacket as it is known in the United Kingdom, the northeastern United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the Republic of Ireland. The jacket and matching trousers are typically called a tuxedo in the United States and Canada, and a smoking on the European continent and Japan.
"Black Tie" is the twelfth episode in the situation comedy series 30 Rock. It first aired in the U.S. on February 1, 2007, attracting 5.71 million viewershttp://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-tvratingstext7feb07,0,6730703.story; it ranked third in its timeslot (behind February sweeps episodes of Grey's Anatomy ("Wishin' and Hopin'") and ("Meet Market")http://www.zap2it.com/tv/ratings/zap-ratings020107,0,7894138.story, and tied for 69th in Nielsen's prime-time television rankings for the week.
