The Best Tuxedo Is One You’ll Wear on Any Old Weekday

If you’re looking for the absolute best tuxedo money can buy, you probably know exactly where you’re going to wear it. Which, frankly, feels a little sad. Isn’t owning the tux of your dreams reason enough to break it out? So consider this an earnest PSA regarding the formalwear gathering dust in your closet: your tuxedo deserves to see so much more action than at weddings and that one fundraiser you’re invited to every year. Your cousin’s quinceañera? Wear a tux! Your colleague’s jazz group recital? Wear a tux! Just a regular ol’ Tuesday ? Ditch the bow tie for a silky button-up, swap the suit pants for jeans, and wear the hell out of that tux jacket.

Don’t own a tuxedo yet—or just want one that jives with menswear’s glorious wild-style era? We sort of figured. Which is why went deep on all kinds of tuxes for every budget, taste, and style. Which one is the actual best tuxedo? Well, that kind of depends on our preferences—Are you a shawl collar guy or a peak lapel fella? Do you want something simple and classic or are you down to buck dress code convention entirely?—and how much you’re willing to spend. But whether you’ve been eyeing those black tie shindigs on your calendar with dread or just want to bring a little Cannes energy to your next hang, every GQ-approved tux worth your time is right here.

The Best Men’s Tuxedo, According to GQ

Best Tuxedo Overall: Todd Snyder Italian Wool Relaxed Tuxedo

In addition to changing the course of American suiting with the wider, drapier, Wythe silhouette, Todd Snyder is also reinvigorating the tuxedo. In the spirit of this ongoing quest, the broad satin peak lapels, double-breasted jacket, and double-pleated trousers of his Italian Tuxedo make it a much more substantial proposition compared to the shrunken tuxes of yore. This version also takes top honors in our book for its provenance (the brand sources its inky wool blend from Tollegno 1900, the storied Italian fabric mill with over a century of expertise to its name) and details (natural shoulders, black horn buttons.) Keep the dress shirt white and crisp, the bow tie dark and floppy, and the shoes leather and shiny, et voilà: no one will mistake you for a waiter hustling to refill your uncle’s “bottomless spritz”.

Best Budget Tuxedo: Banana Republic Barathea Italian Tuxedo

There’s plenty of menswear to get excited about at your local mall right now, but the underdog story warming our hearts these days is all about Banana Republic, the resurgent American outfitter hawking some of the coolest affordable threads you can buy within a mile’s proximity of Claire’s. Take, for example, BR’s lustrous Barathea, an absurdly ritzy peak lapel number crafted from a virgin wool blend sourced straight from Italy’s esteemed 190-year-old Marzotto mill. Granted, the high armholes and overall trim fit of the jacket, along with the slim-fitting trousers, make this a more flattering look for taller, slenderer dudes, and not those who live for leg day. If you’ve got a far-flung destination wedding on the docket and roughly $600 bucks to spare, however, this is the get-up you should reach for.

Best Old Hollywood Tuxedo: Emporio Armani Trim Fit Wool Tuxedo

You don’t need to have a working knowledge of Fred Astaire’s greatest hits or be able to quote dialogue from Casablanca to appreciate the swagger, suavity, and effortless cool of leading men from the golden age of movies. Instead, all you really need is a classic tux like this one and a bit of confidence. One step down the hierarchical ladder from the Giorgio Armani label, Emporio Armani is nonetheless overseen by the maestro himself, and incorporates much of the same attention to quality and detail, with a slightly more mainstream cut (and a significantly lower price.) A classic old-school tux is identifiable by its peak or shawl-collar jacket with satin trim and is traditionally worn with a cummerbund and a pleated shirt with silver studs in place of buttons. If you want to mix it up, however, an old Hollywood tux makes the perfect contrast to a white tee and loafers instead of the more traditional dress shirt and patent leather Oxfords.

Best Tuxedo for Warm-Weather Weddings: J.Crew Crosby Linen Herringbone Shawl-Collar Tuxedo

Weddings are supposed to be fun, but there’s nothing fun about sweating through your jacket on the dance floor. You can loosen your tie and unbutton a couple of buttons if you want, but at the end of the day, there’s no substitute for a suit made from easy, breezy, breathable linen when the mercury spikes. Roomier than the slim Ludlow and narrower than the more outre Kenmare, the Crosby is the Goldilocks member of the J.Crew suiting squad, with a slim but not skinny fit that’s ideal for wedding season. This version is cut from a 100% linen weave whose somber black hue and subtle herringbone pattern give it more than its share of gravitas compared to more traditional khaki and ecru-colored linens. It’s also less likely to show linen’s infamous wrinkles than a lighter-colored suit.

Best Tuxedo for Fashion Guys: Saint Laurent Grain De Poudre Yves Tuxedo

It’s hard to overstate the impact Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking suit had on the fashion consciousness when it hit the runway in the mid-’60s. In the decades since the French designer’s legendary riff on the classic tuxedo has been remixed plenty, but Anthony Vaccarello’s version—strong shoulders, brash peak lapels, and straight, wide trousers—feels particularly true to the source material. (The Maison that Yves built sells a single-breasted option, too, and you can buy no less than four varieties of matching pants in the same luxurious black barathea cloth.) It’ll look great with the usual trappings of black tie dress, but right now, we’re itching to wear it exactly as its original designer intended: shirtless, with nothing but a simple gold chain.

Best Tuxedo for Titans of Industry: Tom Ford O’Connor Stretch Wool Tuxedo

After launching his namesake brand in 2006, Tom Ford single-handedly made men’s tailoring sexy again, created a catalog of blockbuster fragrances, and (lest we forget) directed a pair of Oscar-nominated movies. Ford has since retired, but his signature silhouette retains all of the power, magnetism, and—of course—sexiness it has always had. For Ford, it was all about the silhouette: the jacket’s strong shoulders that taper down to a fitted waist, creating a line that accentuates the natural ‘V’ of the torso. It’s a look that helped launch the modern menswear era and made Daniel Craig the best-dressed Bond of all time. As long as Ford’s namesake label keeps making ‘em like that, movie stars (and deep-pocketed dudes working to channel a similar level of charisma and mystique) will know exactly who to get in touch with.

Best Tuxedo for Tailoring Nerds: Factor’s Double Gabardine Brocade Tuxedo

Matt Lambert spent more than a decade learning the traditional tailoring game under the watchful eye of Atlanta menswear legend Sid Mashburn before setting out to make his mark with Factor’s. The result is a brand that blends an expert understanding of fabric and fit with a decidedly freaky sensibility (Lambert was also the frontman of an experimental shoegaze band during his Mashburn days, and his designs retain some of that psychedelic sensibility.)

That gives Lambert’s creations an emphasis on provenance, a decidedly rock and roll swagger, and (in the case of this tuxedo included) a line of tone-on-tone hand-sewn embroidery brocade along the edges of the notch lapels. Unlike traditional stiff, roped-shouldered silhouettes, Lambert’s take on formalwear is soft-shouldered, with a boxier fit and a substantial drape thanks to its hefty double gabardine wool fabric. If a standard tux is Frank Sinatra, this one is Frank Zappa.

More Tuxedos We Love

Let’s play a game: Navigate to Mr. Porter’s formalwear section, set the price parameters from ‘lowest’ to ‘highest’, and circle back here when you’ve finished sifting through the results. Feeling a little light of pocket yet? We don’t blame you. But while you were panic-scrolling through a downpayment’s worth of designer tuxes, you might’ve missed an option from Mr P, the online retailer’s impressive in-house line. The construction is top-notch, the proportions are spot-on, and the whole kit clocks in at well below a thousand bucks, so you can put the cash you saved towards the finishing touches—like, say, a really sick cummerbund.

Forget Naples or some tony address on Savile Row: Some of the best suits on the planet come straight from Atlanta, home to modern-day haberdasher Sid Mashburn. The details on Mashburn’s all-American tailoring are consistently excellent, down to the natural shoulders, full canvas construction, and 3-roll-2 lapel—plus plenty of the kind of sartorial fixings that make tailoring heads drool. Mashburn bills his Kincaid tux as “Italian-leaning,” with a natural shoulder, a shorter, darted body, and flat-front trousers. Molto bene.

When you want to imbue your black tie events with a jolt of old-school Neapolitan cool, your first stop should be Giuliva Heritage, the upstart Roman label that specializes in braggadocious suiting beloved by a new guard of press-junket regulars. (Chris Pine, Matt Bomer, and Joe Keery are fans.) The jackets are swooping and double-breasted, the trousers are louche and high-waisted, and both look just as swaggering worn as separates when you don’t have a single formal occasion on the calendar.

When Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez tied the knot in Vegas in 2023, the Dunkin’ spokesman repurposed a suit he already owned for the festivities. But when the happy couple celebrated their union with a larger ceremony a month later, Affleck called in a favor from Ralph Lauren, who equipped the doting groom with a cream-colored dinner jacket befitting the enormity of the occasion. Affleck, of course, is no fool: Like scores of other leading men before him, he realized Ralph Lauren’s take on the black-tie power suit makes him the guy to have in your Rolodex when you need a tux. Unlike Bennifer 2.0, which was sadly too good to last, a sleek Purple Label tux remains a solid bet to stand the test of time.

When Suitsupply brought its vision of affordable tailoring stateside over a decade ago, it kickstarted a revolution, helping introduce sneaker-obsessed fellas to terms like “pick-stitching” and “functional buttonholes” in the process. The Dutch suiting whizzes have a penchant for flashy bells and whistles, but the Havana represents what they do best: a classic peak-lapel tux (in 100% linen sourced from the family-run Rogna fabric mill in Biella) for way cheaper than it would be anywhere else.

The “e” is not silent in Bode. We bring this up not to be pedantic, but because you will likely be fielding a few questions about the provenance of this whimsical-yet-decadent tux—both from fellow fashion nerds and admiring newbs—whenever you wear it. As in, ‘Oh this? It’s Bode.” (Rhymes with Capote.) As with everything in the oeuvre of Emily Adams Bode Aujla, this tux is rooted in mid-20th-century Americana, with a hefty dose of Wes Anderson-esque whimsy. Pair it with one of Bode’s classic camp shirts and a pair of mules for maximum clout.

Your Tuxedo FAQs, Answered

Wait, what’s the difference between a suit and a tuxedo?

Not much, actually. But before we get to that, gather around the virtual hearth for a brief, and relatively painless, lesson in menswear history.

The tuxedo in its earliest form was introduced in the mid 1800s by Edward VIII, then the Prince of Wales, who was looking for a casual alternative to the tailcoat. As it happens, our dear friend Ed had the benefit of palling around with the master tailors at Savile Row institution Henry Poole & Co.—and when he tasked them with dreaming up a newfangled “dinner jacket” to help him unwind in style they knew exactly what he needed.