Back in August, I had the opportunity to do a little background research for a magazine writer who was investigating the origins of the white shirt and black tie. While the tuxedo’s beginnings date to around 1885 and the assistance of England’s then Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII, it took the twentieth century for masculine formal wear to really take off. The black bow tie was an innovation of the 1920s and jacket lapels grew progressively sleeker into the 1930s.

In preparing my curatorial lecture on “Fashions of the Art Deco Era,” I reinvestigated the effect of Hollywood on fancy dress for men. “Black Tie” costume is still considered a variation of the tuxedo. The white shirt achieved its authority in 30s versions with the aid of pearl buttons or studs and an obligatory wing collar. Historian Alan Flusser still possesses the definitive word on the principles behind formal dress, in his Clothes and the man and Style and the man.

Mark van de Walle was kind enough to give me a fabulous link to a website called London Lounge. Check it out! And then he alerted me to another great site, The Black Tie Guide. And, by the way, my predictions about the presidential candidates have proved true. They are too busy slugging it out in their rather dull suits and neckties; given the financial roller coaster ride of recent weeks, there is no room in this campaign for fashion to rear its head. There are other social forces of a much more serious nature at stake. And please don’t get me started on the so-called “Palin Chic…” Talk about desperate journalism!