<p>My son just got a very last minute invite to a prom that’s in 2 days. After looking around, we ended up with black slacks, a black vest, white shirt and still looking for a tie to more or less complement the date’s dress.</p>
<p>Is this appropriate? Should he have a jacket?</p>
<p>A black suit is fine. The only thing that you’re missing is a black jacket. A black jacket would be nice for the pictures. If the girl buys him a boutonniere (?spelling), it would be nice to have the lapel of a jacket to pin it to. Once the picture taking is over with, most of the guys take the jackets off. Maybe he can borrow a black jacket from a friend or relative.</p>
<p>If you can’t come up with a black jacket, don’t worry about it too much. The kids won’t care. They’re only interested in having a good time with their friends.</p>
<p>ps–he can always say that he left the jacket in the car/or home and no one would even care that he’s not in a full suit.</p>
<p>Sorry, I have to disagree, a jacket is required. Isn’t there someplace in the area to rent a tux, or are they all gone at this late date? I realize that your son is doing a great favor to the girl by jumping in at the very last moment, but since he accepted the invitation, I think he needs to make the effort to look proper. D just had Senior Ball a week ago and, being a girls’ school, the ladies had to do the inviting. Most ended up going with friends who they knew from the area boys’ school- ones they had been in plays with,etc. Even so, and there were a couple “last minute” arrangements like your son’s,but the guys all wore tuxes. The one exception was a girl who’s long-time boyfriend was a freshman in college who came home for the night especially for the event. He wore a suit, a plain suit and to be perfectly frank, he stood out like the proverbial sore thumb- it just didn’t look right and they didn’t even have pics taken because of it. You could always ask the girl, if you have to, but this is a time when I’d say it’s worth the effort to look the part. By the way, kudos to your son for being such a good sport! No matter what he wears, you’ve raised a good kid!</p>
<p>I agree that the jacket is a good thing for the pictures. Does he have any friends in the orchestra or band who are about his size? Musicians tend to have formal clothes… As the mom of two daughters, you son is a great kid to jump in at the last minute like this. I don’t know about your school, but at ours, gathering a group of friends for pictures at someone’s house beforehand is a part of the festivities, and he can’t claim to have lost track of his jacket at that point…</p>
<p>wear a zoot suit :)</p>
<p>I was going to see if I could find something today (black jacket) but I don’t know if it’s possible. He’s a tough size because he’s tall and thin. </p>
<p>We live in NYC where there’s more of an ‘anything goes’ mentality. At my daughters prom there was a HUGE variety of dress, although she went to a small, progressive, independent school where there were many creative types who went against the norm. </p>
<p>This prom is with a medium size public school. The date is wearing a short, baby doll type dress so she’s not going the super formal route either, and she did tell him if he didn’t have a suit, it’s ok, but I don’t want him to feel out-of-place (he’s a shy kid to begin with).</p>
<p>I called rental places. One could do it before 5 yesterday. We did look (with about an hour to spare), but what we saw all looked more like father of the bride then 18 y.o. prom.</p>
<p>I work near a few thrift shops so I’ll take a quick look at lunch time. My daughter’s on a mission to find the shirt and tie, equiped with a photo of the date’s dress.</p>
<p>Did you try Mens Warehouse ? My D says they rent tuxes.</p>
<p>Yup, that’s where we went yesterday after school.</p>
<p>My S went with all black (already had tux slacks and black dress shirt) and rented a white evening jacket. He did get the jacket at the last minute and along with a white tie, it made a great looking outfit and looks swell in photos. Of course his school is known for a bit of quirkiness and each kid expressed personality. S wore brand new b/w Converse hi-tops. He was not the only one.
More than one friend picked up items at thrift shops. In the end, they had a lot of fun.</p>
<p>handemom, this
describes my son’s school to a T (could even be the same school?). And even though the prom he’s invited to is at a public school, your S will be just fine - he’ll look great. If he can borrow a black jacket from somebody for the evening or just for photos, that could be a nice touch, but it isn’t necessary.</p>
<p>Different parts of the country/state/etc. have different norms, and in the circumstances the OP is talking about, what the S is wearing is absolutely proper. At many NYC (and nearby) proms, a tux could look very out of place.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Sneakers with the tux are the new style here too. Plus some boys are completing the ensemble with a black baseball cap.</p>
<p>Had my daughter been your son’s date she would not have cared at all what he wore. She wore a short dress and didn’t want her date to wear a tux. And once the dancing started, all the guys’ jackets and girls’ shoes came off anyway!</p>
<p>My niece’s date wore a tuxedo, but with black patent leather nike sneakers. What has the younger generation come to? Hah.</p>
<p>We did actually buy him (traditional) shoes already.</p>
<p>Thanks for the words of support for the tux-less one!</p>
<p>Any chance you know of another parent that is about the same size that would loan out a jacket? Second hand stores would be a pretty good alternative if you had time to look through.</p>
<p>A lot depends on what is done at the particular school. I have to agree that a black jacket is probably a good idea. If you live in NYC, there are some excellent thrift shops.</p>
<p>some had tuxes and some did not this past Saturday for our prom… navy jacket and khaki pants (think summer wedding?) were in play for guys not in tux… we had bought our son’s tux last year at S&K… for less than rental X 2 yrs cost… we rented shoes both years… now he has one for college too… it was a good decision IMO</p>
<p>most gals had a knee length or shorter dress…almost no long dresses…</p>
<p>Most of the guys our here dress up a tux (so that it doesn’t look like dad’s tux) by renting a vest that coordinates with their date’s dress color. Adds a nice splash of color for the photo.</p>
<p>My son was one of the very few at his prom who had a traditional tux with a cummerbund. Most had at least vests, and several had more fanciful versions.</p>
<p>(I can’t talk about fanciful, though, because at my own prom I wore a tuxedo witha plaid jacket. Believe it or not, it belonged to my dad.)</p>
<p>Well I just looked in 4 thriftshops near my office and NO luck.</p>