BLACK TIE

Black Tie is derived from White Tie originally, as a less formal variety.  The first tail-less "tailcoat" ha been traced to Edward VII (then the Prince of Wales) in the 1860s in London.  Later in the 1880s it became popular there as well as in New York; the Black Tie Dinner Jacket is also called the Tuxedo after the Tuxedo Club, a New York Country Club, where Black Tie is reported to have been first introduced from England and became popular in the 1880s.  

It is composed of a suit-like combination, consisting of a black (or in warmer weather a white) Dinner Jacket with a silk lapel, a white wing-collar dress shirt similar to that of White Tie but often simpler, a white waistcoat like in White Tie or a black waistcoat,  black trousers with a one-stripe silk galon on the side, long black silk socks, and black patent court pumps or Oxfords.  The black bow tie worn with it is ideally of the same material as  the silk lapel.   The pocket square is white, the boutonniere might me too.

Some variations are less elegant and more suitable or events where Black Tie optional or similar occasions.  This includes the - originally from India - Cummerbund especially for warmer climes, a more colourful waistcoat, or, even more informal and often ill-suited, a coloured shirt or a turndown collar - the latter is popular in the U.S.A.. 

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