Morning coat, stroller or navy suit: what the groom wears
The morning coat for the most formal ceremony, the stroller, the navy or grey suit. And why a dinner suit is not wedding attire: the groom’s etiquette, point by point.
For a long time the groom’s attire was treated as a detail, to be chosen once everything else had been decided. Today the groom is at the centre of the photographs as much as the bride, and what he wears tells the style of the day. Here etiquette is precise: the choice depends on the time of the ceremony, the venue and the bride’s gown.
Nora Bourelly’s wedding: the groom wears a bespoke Maison morning coat.
The morning coat, the most formal
The morning coat, the tight as it is called in Italy, is ceremonial dress par excellence, the most formal attire a groom can wear. A black or grey coat with rounded tails, finely striped trousers, a pearl-grey waistcoat, a white shirt, a silk ascot or tie. It is daytime dress: it is worn at morning and early-afternoon ceremonies, above all in church and when the bride chooses a long, classic gown. If the groom wears it, the fathers and best men follow his lead.
The stroller
When the ceremony is by day, elegant but less solemn, there is the stroller, in Italy the mezzo tight: the same striped trousers, the same waistcoat, but a jacket without tails. It keeps the rigour of the morning coat in a more sober key, and allows more freedom in the choice of tie.
The navy or grey suit
In every other case, the right choice is a two- or three-piece suit in navy or grey: for a late-afternoon ceremony, a civil wedding, a wedding in the city. With a waistcoat it becomes more ceremonial; with a white shirt and a silk tie it remains impeccable in every photograph.
A navy pinstripe suit at its fitting: the white basting marks the lines still to be sewn.
Beige belongs to one setting only: a wedding by the sea.
And the dinner suit?
The dinner suit is evening wear, not ceremonial dress: marrying in a tuxedo is an American habit, foreign to Italian etiquette. It may, however, enter the scene later, as a change of outfit for the party and the cutting of the cake.
Cloths and seasons
In summer, fresh wools, tropical wool and mohair keep the groom impeccable even in the heat; in winter, flannels and more structured wools. Linen, on the other hand, is not a groom’s cloth: it creases at the first embrace and takes solemnity away from the day. The great mills, such as Dormeuil, Loro Piana, Zegna and Holland & Sherry, devote whole collections to ceremony: the choice is made by touching the cloth, looking at it in the light, imagining it in movement.
The details
Black leather lace-up shoes with a thin sole; long dark socks; cufflinks on double cuffs. A white flower in the buttonhole, chosen together with the bride’s bouquet. Nothing more: the groom’s elegance lies in restraint.
Why bespoke
The groom will be photographed from every angle: standing, seated, embracing, dancing. A bespoke suit, built on a paper pattern drafted for him and checked at the fittings, follows the shoulders and the movement without pulling or giving way. And it speaks with the bride’s gown: a lapel that echoes her satin, a tie in the tone of the flowers.
At the atelier, the groom’s morning coat sewn by hand.
At our Maison in Milan we make bespoke wedding attire for the groom, from the morning coat to the navy suit, for the groom, the fathers and the best men, and we can conceive it together with the bride’s gown created in our atelier.