The 5 Rules of Wearing a Crazy Colorful Tuxedo

Are you man enough to rock this wild look?

“Creative black tie” has been around for a while now, but lately the creativity is morphing into insanity. Brightly colored and patterned tuxedos and dinner jackets are popping up on red carpets with increasingly frequency, and the effect isn’t always pleasing to the eye. 

Here are some recent spottings from the Cannes Film Festival, along with a few rules to follow if you’re even thinking of trying this increasingly trendy look:

It helps to be a Formula 1 world champion. In fact, it’s pretty much a license to wear whatever the fuck you want. We’re not saying Lewis Hamilton always looks fantastic but the crazy evening wear suits his personal style. And that’s rule #1: it should suit yours.

Another rule of thumb Hamilton is wisely adhering to: always be photographed with a beautiful woman on your arm. It definitely shows that you know what you’re doing dinner-jacket wise. Because if the ladies dig it, it has to be right. And that’s rule #2.

Foppish Fiat heir Lapo Elkann is one of the few men on the planet who could pull off this massive-lapeled forest green number. But the fact is he can and he knows it. The man has so much confidence he unwisely kissed Uma Thurman while wearing this thing and smoking a cigarette all at the same time. Rule #3 is if you’re not Lapo, forget forest green.

While not quite in Lapo’s league Jude Law also has the chops to pull a few wild moves. His all-grey tux manages to stay classic, and the fact that it has a grey lapel as well means the white bow tie, usually a big no-no unless you’re wearing tails, actually sort of works. Rule #4: Don’t get to thinking you’re Jude Law, a black bow tie is much safer.

Which brings us to Orlando Bloom here. We’re all for dark blue dinner jackets as an alternative to black, but the tone-on-tone lapel here doesn’t quite work with the white bowtie as well as it did for Law. He’s also wearing matching blue trousers when black would have been a better call there too. 

Close but no cigar. Rule #5: Don’t try to break too many rules at once. If you go for a colored jacket, keep the tie black ’till you get to the next level.