PERFUME

Perfume is made up of alcohol, water & perfume (fragrance) oil.

It is a word that comes from Latin per fumum, which means "through smoke" (per means through, fumum means smoke).

There are 3 major types: oriental, floral & chypre (means "very sincere" in French). There are also many sub-variations such as woody, musky, aquatic, spicy & fruity.

perfume aroma produced by the essential oils of plants and by synthetic aromatics. The burning of incense that accompanied the religious rites of ancient China, Palestine, and Egypt led gradually to the personal use of perfume. In Greece, where flower scents were first developed, the use of perfume became widespread. In Rome perfume was used extravagantly. During the Middle Ages the Crusaders brought the knowledge of perfumery back to Europe from the East. It was at this time that animal substances were first added as fixatives— musk , ambergris , civet , and castoreum (from the beaver ). Italian perfumers settled in Paris (after 1500), and thereafter France became the leader of the industry. After 1500 scents became fashionable; both men and women wore an ornamental pomander or pouncet-box (dry-scent box), which hung from the waist. Each wealthy household had a "still

.

History

The word perfume used today derives from the Latin "per fumum", meaning through smoke. Perfumery, or the art of making perfumes, began in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt and was further refined by the Romans and Persians. Although perfume and perfumery also existed in India, much of its fragrances are incense based. The earliest distillation of Attar was mentioned in the Hindu Ayurvedic text Charaka Samhita. The Harshacharita, written in 7th century A.D. in Northern India mentions use of fragrant agarwood oil.

The world's first recorded chemist is considered to be a woman named Tapputi, a perfume maker who was mentioned in a cuneiform tablet from the second millennium BC in Mesopotamia.^[1] She distilled flowers, oil, and calamus with other aromatics then filtered and put them back in the still several times.^[2]

Recently, archaeologists have uncovered what are believed to be the world's oldest perfumes in Pyrgos, Cyprus. The perfumes date back more than 4,000 years. The perfumes were discovered in an ancient perfumery. At least 60 stills, mixing bowls, funnels and perfume bottles were found in the 43,000-square-foot (4,000 m²) factory.^[3] In ancient times people used herbs and spices, like almond, coriander, myrtle, conifer resin, bergamot, as well as flowers.^[4]

The Arabian chemist, Al-Kindi (Alkindus), wrote in the 9th century a book on perfumes which he named Book of the Chemistry of Perfume and Distillations. It contained more than a hundred recipes for fragrant oils, salves, aromatic waters and substitutes or imitations of costly drugs. The book also described 107 methods and recipes for perfume-making, and even the perfume making equipment, like the alembic, still bears its Arabic name^[5].

The Persian Muslim doctor and chemist Avicenna (also known as Ibn Sina) introduced the process of extracting oils from flowers by means of distillation, the procedure most commonly used today. He first experimented with the rose. Until his discovery, liquid perfumes were mixtures of oil and crushed herbs or petals, which made a strong blend. Rose water was more delicate, and immediately became popular. Both of the raw ingredients and distillation technology significantly influenced western perfumery and scientific developments, particularly chemistry.

Knowledge of perfumery came to Europe as early as the 14th century due partially to the spread of Islam. But it was the Hungarians who ultimately introduced the first modern perfume. Made of scented oils blended in an alcohol solution, the first modern perfume was made in 1370 at the command of Queen Elizabeth of Hungary and was known throughout Europe as Hungary Water. The art of perfumery prospered in Renaissance Italy, and in the 16th century, Italian refinements were taken to France by Catherine de' Medici's personal perfumer, Rene le Florentin. His laboratory was connected with her apartments by a secret passageway, so that no formulas could be stolen en route. France quickly became the European center of perfume and cosmetic manufacture. Cultivation of flowers for their perfume essence, which had begun in the 14th century, grew into a major industry in the south of France. During the Renaissance period, perfumes were used primarily by the wealthy to mask body odors resulting from infrequent bathing. Partly due to this patronage, the western perfumery industry was created. By the 18th century, aromatic plants were being grown in the Grasse region of France to provide the growing perfume industry with raw materials. Even today, France remains the centre of the European perfume design and trade.

Describing a perfume

The precise formulae of commercial perfumes are kept secret. Even if they were widely published, they would be dominated by such complex ingredients and odorants that they would be of little use in providing a guide to the general consumer in description of the experience of a scent. Nonetheless, connoisseurs of perfume can become extremely skillful at identifying components and origins of scents in the same manner as wine experts ^[6].

The most practical way to start describing a perfume is according to the elements of the fragrance notes of the scent or the family it belongs to, all of which affect the overall impression of a perfume from first application to the last lingering hint of scent.

Fragrance notes

Perfume is described in a musical metaphor as having three sets of 'notes', making the harmonious scent accord. The notes unfold over time, with the immediate impression of the top note leading to the deeper middle notes, and the base notes gradually appearing as the final stage. These notes are created carefully with knowledge of the evaporation process of the perfume.

• Top notes: The scents that are perceived immediately on application of a perfume. Top notes consist of small, light molecules that evaporate quickly. They form a person's initial impression of a perfume and thus are very important in the selling of a perfume. Also called the head notes.
• Middle notes: The scent of a perfume that emerges just prior to when the top notes dissipate. The middle note compounds form the "heart" or main body of a perfume and act to mask the often unpleasant initial impression of base notes, which become more pleasant with time. They are also called the "heart notes".
• Base notes: The scent of a perfume that appears close to the departure of the middle notes. The base and middle notes together are the main theme of a perfume. Base notes bring depth and solidity to a perfume. Compounds of this class of scents are typically rich and "deep" and are usually not perceived until 30 minutes after application.

The scents in the top and middle notes are influenced by the base notes, as well the scents of the base notes will be altered by the type of fragrance materials used as middle notes. Manufacturers of perfumes usually publish perfume notes and typically they present it as fragrance pyramid, with the components listed in imaginative and abstract terms.

Olfactive families

Grouping perfumes, like any taxonomy, can never be a completely objective or final process. Many fragrances contain aspects of different families. Even a perfume designated as "single flower", however subtle, will have undertones of other aromatics. "True" unitary scents can rarely be found in perfumes as it requires the perfume to exist only as a singular aromatic material.

Classification by olfactive family is a starting point for a description of a perfume, but it cannot by itself denote the specific characteristic of that perfume. Traditional

The traditional classification which emerged around 1900 comprised the following categories:

• Single Floral: Fragrances that are dominated by a scent from one particular flower; in French called a soliflore. (e.g. Serge Lutens' Sa Majeste La Rose, which is dominated by rose.)
• Floral Bouquet: Containing the combination of several flowers in a scent.
• Amber: A large fragrance class featuring the sweet slightly animalic scents of ambergris or labdanum, often combined with vanilla, flowers and woods. Can be enhanced by camphorous oils and incense resins, which bring to mind Victorian era imagery of the Middle East and Far East.
• Wood: Fragrances that are dominated by woody scents, typically of agarwood, sandalwood and cedar. Patchouli, with its camphoraceous smell, is commonly found in these perfumes.
• Leather: A family of fragrances which features the scents of honey, tobacco, wood and wood tars in its middle or base notes and a scent that alludes to leather.
• Chypre: Meaning Cyprus in French, this includes fragrances built on a similar accord consisting of bergamot, oakmoss, patchouli, and labdanum. This family of fragrances is named after a perfume by François Coty. A notable example is Mitsouko (a popular name for girls in Japanese) by Guerlain.
• Fougère: Meaning Fern in French, built on a base of lavender, coumarin and oakmoss. Houbigant's Fougère Royale pioneered the use of this base. Many men's fragrances belong to this family of fragrances, which is characterized by its sharp herbaceous and woody scent.

Modern

Since 1945, due to great advances in the technology of perfume creation (i.e., compound design and synthesis) as well as the natural development of styles and tastes; new categories have emerged to describe modern scents:

• Bright Floral: combining the traditional Single Floral & Floral Bouquet categories.
• Green: a lighter and more modern interpretation of the Chypre type, with pronounced cut grass and cucumber-like scents
• Aquatic, Oceanic, or Ozonic: the newest category in perfume history, appearing in 1991 with Christian Dior's Dune. A very clean, modern smell leading to many of the modern androgynous perfumes. Generally contains calone, a synthetic scent discovered in 1966. Also used to accent floral, oriental, and woody fragrances.
• Citrus: An old fragrance family that until recently consisted mainly of "freshening" eau de colognes, due to the low tenacity of citrus scents. Development of newer fragrance compounds has allowed for the creation of primarily citrus fragrances.
• Fruity: featuring the aromas of fruits other than citrus, such as peach, cassis (black currant), mango, passion fruit, and others.
• Gourmand: scents with "edible" or "dessert"-like qualities. These often contain notes like vanilla, tonka bean and coumarin, as well as synthetic components designed to resemble food flavors. An example is Thierry Mugler's Angel.

Fragrance wheel

The Fragrance wheel is a relatively new classification method that is widely used in retail and in the fragrance industry. The method was created in 1983 by Michael Edwards, a consultant in the perfume industry, who designed his own scheme of fragrance classification.The new scheme was created in order to simplify fragrance classification and naming scheme, as well as to show the relationships between each of the individual classes^[9].

The five standard families consist of Floral, Oriental, Woody, Fougère, and Fresh, with the former four families being more "classic" while the latter consisting of newer bright and clean smelling citrus and oceanic fragrances that have arrived due to improvements in fragrance technology. Each of the families are in turn divided into sub-groups and arranged around a wheel.

Aromatics sources

Plant sources

Plants have long been used in perfumery as a source of essential oils and aroma compounds. These aromatics are usually secondary metabolites produced by plants as protection against herbivores, infections, as well as to attract pollinators. Plants are by far the largest source of fragrant compounds used in perfumery. The sources of these compounds may be derived from various parts of a plant. A plant can offer more than one source of aromatics, for instance the aerial portions and seeds of coriander have remarkably different odors from each other. Orange leaves, blossoms, and fruit zest are the respective sources of petitgrain, neroli, and orange oils.

• Bark: Commonly used barks includes cinnamon and cascarilla. The fragrant oil in sassafras root bark is also used either directly or purified for its main constituent, safrole, which is used in the synthesis of other fragrant compounds.
• Flowers and blossoms: Undoubtedly the largest source of aromatics. Includes the flowers of several species of rose and jasmine, as well as osmanthus, plumeria, mimosa, tuberose, narcissus, scented geranium, cassie, ambrette as well as the blossoms of citrus and ylang-ylang trees. Although not traditionally thought of as a flower, the unopened flower buds of the clove are also commonly used. One orchid hybrid named "Miss Udorn Sunshine" is extracted for perfume.^[10] Other orchid flowers are not commercially used to produce essential oils or absolutes, except in the case of vanilla, an orchid, which must be pollinated first and made into seed pods before use in perfumery.
• Fruits: Fresh fruits such as apples, strawberries, cherries unfortunately do not yield the expected odors when extracted; if such fragrance notes are found in a perfume, they are synthetic. Notable exceptions include litsea cubeba, vanilla, and juniper berry. The most commonly used fruits yield their aromatics from the rind; they include citrus such as oranges, lemons, and limes. Although grapefruit rind is still used for aromatics, more and more commercially used grapefruit aromatics are artificially synthesized since the natural aromatic contains sulfur and its degradation product is quite unpleasant in smell.
• Leaves and twigs: Commonly used for perfumery are lavender leaf, patchouli, sage, violets, rosemary, and citrus leaves. Sometimes leaves are valued for the "green" smell they bring to perfumes, examples of this include hay and tomato leaf.
• Resins: Valued since antiquity, resins have been widely used in incense and perfumery. Highly fragrant and antiseptic resins and resin-containing perfumes have been used by many cultures as medicines for a large variety of ailments. Commonly used resins in perfumery include labdanum, frankincense/olibanum, myrrh, Peru balsam, gum benzoin. Pine and fir resins are a particularly valued source of terpenes used in the organic synthesis of many other synthetic or naturally occurring aromatic compounds. Some of what is called amber and copal in perfumery today is the resinous secretion of fossil conifers.
• Roots, rhizomes and bulbs: Commonly used terrestrial portions in perfumery include iris rhizomes, vetiver roots, various rhizomes of the ginger family.
• Seeds: Commonly used seeds include tonka bean, carrot seed, coriander, caraway, cocoa, nutmeg, mace, cardamom, and anise.
• Woods: Highly important in providing the base notes to a perfume, wood oils and distillates are indispensable in perfumery. Commonly used woods include sandalwood, rosewood, agarwood, birch, cedar, juniper, and pine. These are used in the form of macerations or dry-distilled (rectified) forms.

Animal sources

• Ambergris: Lumps of oxidized fatty compounds, whose precursors were secreted and expelled by the Sperm Whale. Ambergris is commonly referred to as "amber" in perfumery and should not be confused with yellow amber, which is used in jewelry.
• Castoreum: Obtained from the odorous sacs of the North American beaver.
• Civet: Also called Civet Musk, this is obtained from the odorous sacs of the civets, animals in the family Viverridae, related to the Mongoose. The World Society for the Protection of Animals investigated African civets caught for this purpose.^[11]
• Hyraceum: Commonly known as "Africa Stone," is the petrified excrement of the Rock Hyrax.^[12]
• Honeycomb: From the honeycomb of the Honeybee. Both beeswax and honey can be solvent extracted to produce an absolute. Beeswax is extracted with ethanol and the ethanol evaporated to produce beeswax absolute.
• Musk: Originally derived from the musk sacs from the Asian musk deer, it has now been replaced by the use of synthetic musks sometimes known as “white musk”.

Other natural sources

• Lichens: Commonly used lichens include oakmoss and treemoss thalli.
• "Seaweed": Distillates are sometimes used as essential oil in perfumes. An example of a commonly used seaweed is Fucus vesiculosus, which is commonly referred to as bladder wrack. Natural seaweed f

  Synthetic sources
  

  
  

  Many modern perfumes contain synthesized odorants. Synthetics can provide fragrances which are not found in nature. For instance, Calone, a compound of synthetic origin, imparts a fresh ozonous metallic marine scent that is widely used in contemporary perfumes. Synthetic aromatics are often used as an alternate source of compounds that are not easily obtained from natural sources. For example, linalool and coumarin are both naturally occurring compounds that can be inexpensively synthesized from terpenes. Orchid scents (typically salicylates) are usually not obtained directly from the plant itself but are instead synthetically created to match the fragrant compounds found in various orchids.

  The majority of the world's synthetic aromatics are created by relatively few companies. They include:

• International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF)
• Givaudan
• Firmenich
• Takasago
• Symrise

Each of these companies patents several processes for the production of aromatic synthetics annually.

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LADIES KURTI

Ladies Kurti is one of the the most liked garment not only among gents but also among ladies. Women's Kurta popularly known as kurti is a stylish and gorgeous clothing. It is a loose long sleeved shirt, from shoulders to the knees or something nearby it. The size comes in varying lengths. Some kurtis are as long as to knees whereas the length of some of the Kurtis are up to waist only. The arm width of the sleeve don't change from shoulders to wrist.

For different seasons, there are different types of Kurtis available. Usually it is worn with loose salwar pants and with churidar pants (pajamas) which is a tight-fitting variant of the salwar. Now-a-days it is designed to be wore on jeans or trousers. Kurtis are worn as daily casual wear as well as formal dress. Kurta is suitable for all occasions starting from home to college to office to any formal occasions which give a very elegant and graceful look.

History
Kurta is a Persian/Urdu word. It means a collarless shirt. It is a traditional type of dress worn generally by the people of Indian sub-continents. Kurta was used to be one of the main clothing for the natives of Asian countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. People used to wear it on different occasions like any festival or any fair or any family function. Kurta had different looks earlier. It came as sherwani, pathan-dress, golband and many more. Earlier kurta was the dress of gents only. But gradually it became the most sought after clothing for ladies.Style
The kurtas come with and without collars. The type of collars are as in sherwani and achkans. It is generally U-shaped or V-shaped around the neck. Kurtis generally have a front opening. Some of them have buttons. The upper front portion is embroidered with threads of silk, cotton, gold, silver, or other material, upon any woven fabric, leather or paper.

Embroidery, printed designs, embellishments with beads, laces, mirrors etc. also enhance the overall look of these fashionable kurtas. Beads and mirror work is used to beautify these kurtas.

Fabric
The fabric used in Kurtis mainly depend upon the seasons. Summer Kurtis are made of cotton fibers or thin silk threads. These are very light weight and soft. It gives a sexy look and comfort feel. Winter kurtis are made of thicker fabric such as wool or khadi silk, a thick, coarse, hand spun and handwoven mixed with other fibers. Winter Kurtis provide style, fashion along with protection from cold.
The common fabrics used in Ladies Kurti are:

• Cotton
• Silk
• Wool
• Georgette
• Chiffon
• Khadi silk
• Satin
• Crepe

Types of Kurtas

Ladies kurta can be of following types:

• Sleeveless Kurta
• Half sleeved Kurta
• Full sleeved Kurta

CHURIDAR PAJAMA AND KAMEEZ

Churidar suits are modern form of salwar kameez. Bride-Pride.Com has greatly showcases them. Here you can see its various striking combinations that can outshine you at any occasion. As Indian women find them very appealing, thus it’s a great place for you to explore one of your choices.

Churidar suits are very popular for their silhouette. They are apt for wearing at any occasion like in a party, wedding, engagement, office, festival traveling etc. Their major plus point that makes them highly preferred choice of women is that they give dash to all figures as well slenderizes them.

Their versatile nature also includes various stylish combinations. Some of the popular combinations in churidar suits are blue and red shaded kameez decked with polka dots worn above gold color churidar pajama, blue kurta with the silver pajami, maroon sequined kameez with maroon color churidar pajama, block printed kurta, mirror work kameez, and patch work kameez and so on. Thus when you go for shopping various options will be available in front of you.

Nowadays stretchable churidar pajaamis are greatly in vogue and have captured everybody’s attention. Everywhere women are seen wearing them as they very stylish yet comfortable too. In addition they look traditional as well as trendy apart from being stylish and western.
The style that is greatly in trend in churidar suit is the block print kurta with a kalamkari print effect yolk enhanced with khadi print effect all over the kurta. It is complemented with a lehariya gold print pajaami as well as cotton crushed dupatta with latkans on the hem.
Anarkali style churidar suit which were once the flavor of traditional times are in the trend again. They are amazing to look at and are ideal to be worn at traditional occasions, weddings, engagements. This frock style outfit is perfect to make great statement.

These are just few mentioned styles. Churidar suits showcase many styles and each is peculiar in its own way. At Bride-Pride.Com you will get whatever style you want. Their collection showcases both traditional and contemporary styles of churidar suits. Churidar suits have put their foot at international level also. Western ladies are also greatly seen flaunting style in churidar style, which are a stamp of their popularity.

Churidar suits are ideal choice for all women want to look beautiful, surpassing and stunning. Its details will flatter your all curves and make you feel like a princess. These are the reasons of its long-lasting nature.

MENS SHALWAR KURTA

I like wearing Shalwar Kurta, the reason being they are really comfortable, in summers the cotton ones keeps you cool and the biggest of them is that they can hide the fact that you have been skipping gym for the last six months This last fact comes with a fine print, that is if your waist line is between 30-35 inches, then it’s cool, however if it is over 35 then it’s dangerous as that can potentially book you a trip to the cardiac ward of your local hospital.

Anyway, since I’ve been buying readymade shalwar kurtas for quite some time now, I thought I’d rate my top three favourite brands here.

Thredz:
Number 1 spot goes to Thredz. They have a great collection of Kurtas whether you want simple striped ones or the ones that are heavily embroidered and anything in between. The range of fabric plus a collection that is updated regularly makes this my top pick when it comes to buying ready made kurtas. However, they have some points that go against them, but they are more than made up because of the huge collection and the friendly staff that they employee.

First of all, they are the most expensive of all the brands listed here, the plain stripped kurtas without the embroidery are in the range of Rs 1,800 to Rs 2,200 depending on the fabric. Secondly, their size patterns are different from the rest. This means that if this is your first time, make sure that you try before you buy because the large that you buy elsewhere might be a medium here.

Cotton & Silk:
Located at Zamzama, they only have one outlet in Karachi. They are the place to go if you are looking for elegant Shalwar Kurtas instead of the flashy, colorful ones. They don’t get new designs that often, so you can’t make this the only place you buy shalwar kurtas from if you wear them regularly but the ones they do can be used on formal occasions. The only thing they lack is the embroidered ones but then for the elegant not so flashy it is always good that the embroidery is missing in action.

Third place is a tie between Junaid Jamshed and Khaadi:
Khaadi used to be my number one spot for Kurtas. This was when they were focused on only menswear. Now that they have diversified into everything from women’s wear to home textiles, it looks like no one pays attention to the thing that got them famous, i.e., menswear. Now they are mostly rehashing the designs from the past and the quality of their fabric has gone down drastically. It’s a hit and miss as far as their fabric quality is concerned. Some of them will last while the others bleed to death in no time.

Junaid Jamshed’s designs are my least favorite ones, but to their credit they always have enough designs that I can find something to my liking. However the thing that I like about JJ is they are very price competitive, add to that their 10% discount membership card (15% if you have the gold card) and it’s hard to ignore them. Their kurtas start from Rs 1,300 – 1,400 and minus 10% from that and you really can’t beat that.

I don’t know how you go about getting the membership card, I was lucky to get one for free as they gave it away when they launched it at one of their lawn exhibition 2-3 years ago and my wife was there shopping (hmmmm in that case I beg to differ as it wasn’t free), it doesn’t expire so I am still using it.

A black kurta with a contrasting white shalwar is definitely a striking combination. Most suitable for evening wear, and for occasions that are semi-formal to formal.

Traditional Pakistani, Indian and Asian formal and fashion wear of Men Wear including Shalwar, Kameez, Kurta Pyjama, in various colors and designs for Men. Embroided traditional party wear in great styles are available.

The Indo-Pak Shalwar Kameez has a very significant place in the history of the textiles of the sub-continent and traces back to the Vedic times. Kameez Shalwar has emerged as comfortable, elegant and respectful apparel of the Indian & Pakistani wardrobe. Essentially a medieval garment the kameez salwar in its original form was brought into the country by the Muslim rulers, from the year 750 A.D. Salwar Kameez was brought into India during the Mogul era as a courtly garment from the central Asian invaders, and slowly became the popular garment of the people of the countryside with the spread of Islam. The men and women both wore different forms of what is today known as the kamiz shalwar.

LADIES SHALWAR KURTA

Ladies Salwar Kurta
Ladies Salwar Kurta (also called shalwar kameez) is the traditional dress worn by various peoples of South Asia. It is commonly worn in India and Pakistan . It is sometimes called a Punjabi suit. The term can also be transliterated into English as "shalwar qamis".

Our products included Salwar Kurtas, Chikan Suits, embroidered ladies salwar suits, chikan salwar suits, cotton salwar suits for ladies our fine range of clothing caters to all tastes & styles.Printed Salwar Kameez – These are called Printed salwar kameez as they are machine or digitally printed on all kinds of fabric. The design includes flowers to polka dot to other prints. Such Salwar kameez is normally worn on daily basis.it a trendy and ethnic Indian fashion salwar kameez that easily cathes ones eye with its latest styling. This pure cotton designer Indian salwar kameez is detailed with dense mirror workMatching dupatta with contrasting patchwork on edges is adding more beauty to this designer cotton silk salwar suit. You can try out this ethnic salwar kameez for any occasion this will surely. Nowadays Cotton, Punjabi Salwar Kameez are famous worldwide and woman loves to wear it. Like Indian Salwar Kameez, For all those who prefer to wear jeans and t-shirts, here’s news for you. Our very own Kurta shalwar has made it to the Guinness World Record as Pakistan holds the record of making the world’s largest kurta. The length of the kurta is 30 times more than that of a standard medium-sized kurta and stands at a staggering height of 101 feet. The cuff opening alone is 15-feet wide whereas the length of each sleeve is almost 57ft. The entire kurta weighs 800kg with each of its four buttons weighing 10kg each. The material used is 800 yards long while 450metres of thread has been used. It took a team of 50 hard-working professional tailors a period of 30 days to put together the kurta.

The kurta will be the first of its kind to be certified by Guinness.

The team behind the project will also be catering to their Corporate Social Responsibility programmes and will go the extra mile by creating small kurtas from the bigger one to donate to young children at the Abdul Sattar Edhi Foundation Child Homes across Pakistan at the end of the campaign.

Procter & Gamble (P&G) Pakistan joined hands with known fashion designer Deepak Perwani who designed and embellished the kurta, while Gul Ahmed provided the fabric. At a glittering event held in Karachi to present the kurta, Perwani said that the kurta is the “largest selling commodity of Pakistan” and therefore achieving a record for it is “a perfect illustration of our culture.”

EASTERN GROOM DRESS

Obviously, the proper dress code at your forthcoming marriage is going to depend very much on the type of wedding you want to have. If, on the one hand, you and your bride want to have a ‘themed’ wedding, then you’ll need to make sure that both you and the other Groom’s attendees, such as the ushers and best man, wear attire that fits in with the theme you and the bride have decided upon. If, on the other hand, you and your bride have decided upon a traditional morning wedding ceremony followed by an evening reception, knowing what the proper Groom’s dress code is couldn’t be easier – you simply follow an age old tradition that the millions of Grooms before you have made famous.

The morning suit

Traditionally wedding ceremonies were a morning affair and were promptly followed by the wedding breakfast. While the allure of early morning weddings from days gone by may have lost its shine, if you and your bride want to have a traditional wedding ceremony then really you need to make sure that the ceremony takes place before 3 o’clock in the afternoon. In such circumstances, you, the best man, your father, the ushers and the bride’s farther will all need to wear morning suits to the wedding. Sometimes also know as ‘top hat and tails’, a morning suit is the coat that looks like it has a penguin tail, with either plain or pin-striped grey, black or blue matching trousers. The shirt worn should be a wing-collar shirt, with a covering waist-coat and a cravat. Literally topping off this display of grandeur is the Ascot top-hat, which you can chose either to wear or not wear, and white gloves, which are not worn.

As anyone who has attended a wedding where the Groom’s party worn morning suits can testify, it is difficult to cut a more dashing figure than walking down the aisle in ‘top-hat and tails’!

Black Tie evening reception

While there is no rules that you follow a traditional morning suit wedding with a formal black tie evening reception 9after all, it is your day!), most newly weds who have made the effort to have a formal morning suit wedding ceremony like to keep with the theme of the day and close things off in the evening with a formal black-tie wedding reception. Now, the big question with black-tie weddings or wedding receptions is whether you wear a black tuxedo jacket or a white tuxedo jacket. The truth is, it doesn’t really matter and you should wear what you feel more comfortable in. That said, the more traditionalist will tell you that you should be wearing a black tuxedo jacket to your formal evening wedding reception! What you will need is a single or double-breasted jacket with ribbed silk lapels that has no vents or covered buttons.

You’ll need to have an evening formal shirt. Traditionally this shirt needs to be a pleated shirt, to cater for your black bow-tie, but more modern form will allow you to wear a collared shirt if you feel more comfortable with this. Finally, your trousers will need to be pleated, with one row of braid, and suitable for braces wear. If you really want to push the boat out, you can wear a Cummerbunds waist-band. Again, however, more modern use has been to favor a colorful waist-coat.

Finally, if you and your bride decide that the idea of wearing formal wedding attire on your extra special day attractive, do make sure that you begin the process of either hiring or buying your Groom’s dress at least 3 to 4 months in advance of the big day, as these will need to be adjusted to suit your measurements and you certainly do not want to be leaving this important task to the last minute.