Custom tuxedos & dinner suits

What makes it a tuxedo

A dark suit is not a tuxedo

This is the thing worth knowing before anything else. A tuxedo is defined by its facings — satin or grosgrain on the lapel, covering the buttons, and running down the trouser side seam — and by what it omits: no belt loops, no notch lapel by convention, one button rather than two.

A navy suit with a black tie is a navy suit with a black tie. At a genuinely black-tie event the difference is visible across a room, and it is visible in the photographs afterwards. If the invitation says black tie, it is asking for the facings.

Peak lapel or shawl collar

Both are correct. The notch lapel is the one that is not, whatever the high street sells.

• Peak — the more formal and more structured of the two. The upward point broadens the shoulder line, which flatters a narrower frame.
• Shawl — a continuous rounded collar with no notch. Softer and slightly more relaxed while staying entirely correct, and it suits a broader build.

Choose on your build and the event rather than on what is fashionable this year. A tuxedo is a garment you should still be wearing in ten years, and the two correct options have both been correct for a century.

Satin or grosgrain

The facing cloth is the other real decision. Satin is smooth and reflective — the more familiar choice, and the more obviously formal under lights. Grosgrain is a fine ribbed silk, flatter and quieter, and it photographs with less glare.

For an outdoor evening event or a wedding with heavy photography, grosgrain is usually the better call for exactly that reason. In an indoor ballroom, satin does what it is supposed to do.

Cloth and construction

Cloth, and the Bangkok problem

Black tie traditionally means barathea or a fine wool in black or midnight blue. Midnight blue reads blacker than black under artificial light, which is why it has never gone away.

The complication here is heat. A conventional dinner suit cloth is not light, and a Bangkok event — particularly an outdoor wedding — will punish it. A high-twist wool in the same colour keeps the formality while letting air move, and that is what we will usually steer you toward. How cloth behaves in this climate is set out in the best fabric for Bangkok's heat.

Construction matters more here, not less

A tuxedo is less forgiving than a business suit. The line is cleaner, there is no pattern to distract the eye, and the facings draw attention to the lapel roll — so every compromise in the fit and the build shows.

That makes the fused-versus-canvassed question sharper on a dinner suit than on anything else you will own, and in this humidity a fused lapel that eventually bubbles will do it on the garment you photograph most. The full explanation is in fused, half-canvas or full-canvas. Ask us which one you are being quoted for; we will tell you before you commit.

Wearing it, and timing

What to wear with it

• A white dress shirt, turn-down or wing collar — we can cut it at the same time so the collar sits correctly under the bow, which off-the-peg shirts rarely do
• A black bow tie you tie yourself
• Black shoes, plain
• No belt. A tuxedo has no loops; it takes side adjusters or braces
• A cummerbund or a low waistcoat to cover the waistband — that is what both are for

Timing, and wedding parties

Allow the usual two to three fittings, and more calendar time than a business suit if the date is fixed. Tell us the date of the event at the first appointment and we build the schedule backwards from it.

For a wedding, groom and groomsmen are cut from the same bolt so the party matches in photographs — two garments ordered separately in the same shade will not. Pricing follows the bespoke tier from around ฿16,900, with groom and party tiers set out under wedding suits, and every figure confirmed at your fitting. The full list is on the price guide.

When you have a date, book a fitting or come to us at Platinum Fashion Mall in Pratunam.