Most men only need a tuxedo a handful of times a year, which is exactly why the velvet version makes sense. If the occasion demands black tie, it might as well demand attention too. The standard wool barathea tuxedo is a fine thing, but it disappears into a room. Velvet does not. It catches light differently depending on how you move, it has a weight and presence that photographs cannot fully capture, and it signals that the wearer has thought about this rather than simply complied with a dress code.

The fit rules are the same as any tailoring. The fabric just makes the stakes higher. A poorly fitted velvet tuxedo looks worse than a poorly fitted standard one, because there is nowhere to hide. These are the jackets that reward getting the shoulders right.

We have pulled together the versions worth the money, across cuts and colours, for men who have decided that black tie is worth doing properly.