White TieRequired raiment for Balls, certain military ceremonies and City dinners (unless you are Gordon Brown, in which case don't bother - no-one cares anyway). Order individual items as required, or place an order for the whole set and receive a generous discount. 
| ||
|
Boiled Front Evening Shirt
|
There are only two establishments in Britain selling boiled-front shirts. One is Budd of Piccadilly Arcade in London, the other is the Vintage Shirt Company in Lewes. The ones in Budd will cost you considerably more than these, which are so-called because they have to be boiled to get the starch out of the front, which is made from a different kind of cotton to the rest. The collar is attached with collar studs and is sold separately. Unfortunately we have sold out of collar size 15 1/2, but more stock will be with us in the New year. | |
|
Three Dress Studs
|
If you really think they are going to ruin a perfectly good shirt front by sewing buttons on to it, think again. Rest assured that there are only three of these, so it won't take as long as you think to get the shirt on. It's the rest that takes ages. | |
|
Stiff Wing Collar
|
Wing collars come in a variety of sizes, angles and period styles. If you want to look like Toad of Toad Hall at the Ball, then purchase an extremely high starched collar which touches the tips of your ears and don't bother speaking to anyone who isn't standing directly in front of you. If you don't, buy this one. | |
|
Collar Studs
|
You may wonder how the above collar is fixed to your evening shirt, and you may also wonder, considering their small size, how one manages to fit them with the collar flapping about one's ears. The answer is quite simply that assistance is required, at least the first few times you get dressed. These come in packs of five pairs, in case you drop one or two of them in your excitement. | |
|
Marcella Waistcoat
|
Saint Marcella was an ascetic in ancient Rome, who devoted herself to mortification of the flesh. The fabric which takes her name, however, is a celebration of the flesh and all that clothes it. A Marcella waistcoat adds the final touch to an already very formal outfit, giving the wearer an elegant, upright carriage, so that when he enters the salon of entertainment for the evening, all will turn in his direction. Some ladies' eyelashes will flutter. Some may faint. | |
|
Marcella Bow Tie
|
The moment when a man truly feels a Man, in the most James Bondian sense of the word, is while he is tying his bow tie in front of the mirror, a bottle of vintage champagne cooling on the dressing table, and he catches a fleeting glimpse of a lady in French underwear skipping into the bathroom. If he has merely caught the reflection of the television set, which is showing another rerun of Basic Instinct - he is still that Man if he is tying his bow tie himself and not using a ready-tied one. | |
|
White Dress Braces
|
While in evening dress, the only occasion that will reveal the colour of your braces is if a spot of fisticuffs is in order. Your lady friend may be the recipient of an untoward remark, or you may simply not like the way another male guest is looking at you. This is the moment when, with jacket and weskit carefully removed and placed over a chair, the assembled throng will learn how you choose to support your trousers. If you were wearing anything other than white dress braces, you would have already lost the fight. | |
|
White Silk Scarf
|
When you turn up in your carriage to a white tie event, the first thing you will notice is that there are hundreds of other gentlemen milling about dressed in a similar fashion to you. What the most covetable ladies at the event will be thinking is this: only you are wearing a silk evening scarf. | |
|
White Tie Full Set
|
If the whole decision-making process has already become far too overwhelming, and if you are staring at the gold-embossed invitation thinking, "Imagine if the day of the ball arrived and I'd forgotten to order the collar studs. Would I ever be taken seriously again in polite society?" The second distinct advantage of buying the whole set is that we send it by courier rather than the "Royal" Mail, thus guaranteeing its safe arrival under all circumstances. Please also state your chest size for the waistcoat in the "note to seller" box when you check out. | |