Prom’s comming up… and… ya… just a general question. What IS the difference between a tux and a suit anyways?
Thanks 
A tuxedo is fancier. Suits are worn daily by businesspeople.
err… care to be more spcific? ^^;;
Tuxs are shiny, are almost always black or white, and have a lot of fancy frills like extra cuff links, fancy lapels, etc.
Suits are flat (not shiny), vary in color, and are simple in design.
Tuxedo’s are black, while most suits are dark gray, navy blue or something. The difference is mostly derived from the connotation; Tuxedo’s are traditionally fancier than suits.
You can also sometimes find light blue or hot orange tuxes like those worn in Dumb and Dumber. They, however, are not considered as fancy as the traditional black tux or even a regular old suit.
Tuxes are generally used for very formal gatherings that generally do not occur often. As such, people generally only rent tuxes rather than buy them. Since suits, even some of the nicer ones, are worn for more occassions, you generally buy them. The obvious exception to this rule would be if you went to fancy shindigs like every week or so, so it would be more cost effective to just own one.
hmmm… so when does someone wear a suit, and when does one wear a tux? and why the difference at the different occations? Or can you really wear one in place of the other, and it would be the same?
They aren’t interchangeable by any means, generally one would ask if its neccessary to wear a tux. The phrase “Black Tie Affair” refers specifically to Tuxedos. For the most part, everything else is just a suit.
Suits usually just include the jacket and a white button up undershirt along with a tie. Tuxes add a cumberbund (I have no idea how to spell that correctly) or a vest, and look a lot more formal.
Aside from being fancier, the actual factor that distinguishes between suits and tuxes are that tuxedoes are made of Satin, and suits are made of slightly less-awesome materials. This is according to the guy who runs the tux-rental store near here.
Not all tuxes are satin (I don’t think I’ve even heard of a satin tux). All I’ve seen have been some other kind of fabric with satin (or was it silk?) lining in the pant legs. However, suits can also have that.
Dude, have you ever seen Reservoir Dogs? If not, you need to go out and rent it now. If so, you gotta wear a black suit, cut in a simple style (get a cheap one in other words, lol), and dark mirrored sunglasses, like the dudes do in the movie. Trust me. Only luzers are going to be wearing tuxedos to the prom.
That’s my advice, anyways. If you’re wearing a tuxedo at the prom, you’re only going to end up feeling really weird about yourself the whole time, like you have too many clothes on.
I have a tux shirt that isn’t made of satin. It was actually quite cheap- it’s just very, very frilly and has weird buttons. =p
The jacket can be a normal suit jacket.
Also, something no one has mentioned yet, suits usually have neckties (although my great-grandfather wore a bolo tie) and tuxes have a bowtie.
thanks guys…
so for the prom, is it pretty much tux-required?
No, I’d actually advise against wearing one. Takes to long to strip down when you’re about to pork your girl in the hotel.
… and if you’re not planing that?
Tuxes are the general dress for prom. You just need to decide on whether you wear the traditional tux or one with a vest. If you wear a vest, it’s generally a good idea to get the vest color to match the girl’s dress.
Grey is another safe choice for the vest color, if the dress is, say, purple.
Xwing1056
A grey, silverish, or black vest is a safe choice for any color. Like if you don’t know (remember…) the color, or your date has a horrid time explaining what color it is (urg…).