What pants with a solo, solid black, 100% silk dinner jacket?

[ijim]

I nabbed a 100% silk dinner jacket in solid black. This designer marks "suit" or "jacket" on the tag and this is labeled as a "jacket" not "suit" so it's not an orphan. It's very matte. I'm wondering what my trouser options are. My first choice is to do classic black formal trousers (wool or a mohair blend). But is this something that only works with a pair of white/off-white trousers? I'm wearing this to red carpet stuff where the rules of formality are less stringent but I also don't want to look like I'm clueless. But it's not a wedding or anything and I'm ok going near the edge of the line. I'm also wondering about a gray pair of formal trousers for some contrast.

 

[JJ Katz]

It looks like a dinner jacket (i.e., the top part of a "tuxedo", a.k.a. "black tie" outfit). I would wear it with a standard pair of black tie trousers: black barathea with a stripe down the side.

 

[notdos]

I would not wear with black pants since they will most likely be a different shade of black, a different texture or sheen.
Perhaps ivory trousers or gray.

Phillip

 

[comrade]

If you are in a position to have trousers made, both financially and you have
access to a real tailor, ie you are in NYC, London, etc, i would suggest trying
to get a very close match in fabric. If not, the caveat about a poor match with
the "wrong" black is correct.

 

[Andy57]

I do not believe this nonsense about matching blacks. A dinner jacket is not part of a suit and you need not be concerned with matching blacks, particularly as this jacket is silk. It was never meant to be "matched". The classic choice is black barathea trousers, formal trousers (tuxedo trousers, if you must). I actually like the idea of grey formal trousers. Ivory trousers are difficult to pull off unless you really know what you're doing. I have a pair and I have found they present me with quite limited options. With grey trousers you can wear black patent shoes. With ivory trousers I do not like black shoes at all.

If you commission a pair of black trousers, you can then wear them with any dinner jacket you choose. For example, I have several pairs, but the ones I wear most often are my black mohair trousers. I wear them with a barathea jacket when I can't find the matching trousers. No one notices. And if someone did, they wouldn't dare come up to me and question it.

 

[ijim]

I wasn't looking for confirmation bias but that *was* my understanding on the matching blacks situation too. And I couldn't have asked for a better authority on the subject than Andy57 himself.

 

[comrade]

I do not believe this nonsense about matching blacks. A dinner jacket is not part of a suit and you need not be concerned with matching blacks, particularly as this jacket is silk. It was never meant to be "matched". The classic choice is black barathea trousers, formal trousers (tuxedo trousers, if you must). I actually like the idea of grey formal trousers. Ivory trousers are difficult to pull off unless you really know what you're doing. I have a pair and I have found they present me with quite limited options. With grey trousers you can wear black patent shoes. With ivory trousers I do not like black shoes at all.

If you commission a pair of black trousers, you can then wear them with any dinner jacket you choose. For example, I have several pairs, but the ones I wear most often are my black mohair trousers. I wear them with a barathea jacket when I can't find the matching trousers. No one notices. And if someone did, they wouldn't dare come up to me and question it.

A Matchless response !

 

[ijim]

Just a follow-up (because I hate when a thread like this doesn't get some follow-up). I bought a lighter gray pair of trousers from BB and while I'm not nuts about this specific shade I think it will work very nicely with a slightly darker pair.

 

[ijim]

Sorry, I don't mean to spam but, again, this is the kind of thing I would appreciate if I stumbled on this via Google or search. This is how I'm actually going to wear it, with a classic dinner jacket rig. I think it looks pretty great. Even richer in person.