-For a Prom story I'm writing

[loquere]

-->The Girl is wearing a white dress with the upper portion being gold

-->The male date I have him in a black tux. Now should he wear a black bow tie and black vest, and a white pocket square and just ignore what she's wearing?

-->black tux black bow tie, black vest, and a gold pocket square?

-->Or should he wear a black tux, white vest and gold bow tie gold pocket square?

 

[Handley_Page]

-->The Girl is wearing a white dress with the upper portion being gold

-->The male date I have him in a black tux. Now should he wear a black bow tie and black vest, and a white pocket square and just ignore what she's wearing?

-->black tux black bow tie, black vest, and a gold pocket square?

-->Or should he wear a black tux, white vest and gold bow tie gold pocket square?

Have him wear 'conventional' or traditional gear and be damned to whatever creations she or her Mum have dreamed up.

 

[loquere]

Have him wear 'conventional' or traditional gear and be damned to whatever creations she or her Mum have dreamed up.

Explain? So your saying black tux, bow tie etc?

 

[Handley_Page]

Explain? So your saying black tux, bow tie etc?

Basically, yes.

Now, a lot depends upon what sort of do this is, and I'm not familiar with American customs or Dress Code, so I could be all wrong.
But I thought that if she is convinced by her Mum to do something strikingly different, he should stick to whatever the standard convention has it.
Let her do the shining.

 

[sr71plt]

Proms may very well have changed in recent decades, but I think the girl's dress was once supposed to be a surprise to her date. Maybe they color coordinate now.

That said, unless it's going to be a plot point in your story, why is this an issue for you? If it's going to be a plot point, have him wear what you need him to wear.

 

[D_Lynn]

Have they been dating a long time, or is this like their first/second/third date?

If long time, color coordinate either the tux (as in your last example) or the corsage with the dress.

If they've just started dating, go traditional - black everything, unless he is a very confident young man, then you can go with the white vest. Most 16-18 year old boys are not risk-takers when it comes to fashion. There are the exceptionally confident ones and the guys who seek attention, though, so definitely take personality into account.

 

[sr71plt]

OK, let me emphasize a writing teaching point here. Is this important to the plot or the relationship between these two characters? If not, you're already out in left field with this question. If it's important to the plot or the relationship between the two characters, you make it fit the point. If not, you need to get back to concentrating on what's important in the story.

 

[PennLady]

Proms may very well have changed in recent decades, but I think the girl's dress was once supposed to be a surprise to her date. Maybe they color coordinate now.

That said, unless it's going to be a plot point in your story, why is this an issue for you? If it's going to be a plot point, have him wear what you need him to wear.

When I went to the senior prom (1987), I wore a pink lame dress (yes, really ) and my bf at the time wore a white tux with a pink tie and possibly a pink cummerbund. I didn't ask him to coordinate and would have been happy with the black/white combo, but that was what he opted for. Another guy there wore a white tux as well, complete with top hat and cane. There were plenty of guys in other, more conventional tuxes.

So I'd go with SR and say that unless this is important somehow, just have him in a tux. I don't really see the need to go into a lot of detail.

 

[loquere]

Proms may very well have changed in recent decades, but I think the girl's dress was once supposed to be a surprise to her date. Maybe they color coordinate now.

That said, unless it's going to be a plot point in your story, why is this an issue for you? If it's going to be a plot point, have him wear what you need him to wear.

I have OCD, LOL! The story focuses on the fact that he only became her prom date the day before. I am very much leaning toward traditional, with possibly a symbolic gold pocket square as the day is about her.

 

[loquere]

When I went to the senior prom (1987), I wore a pink lame dress (yes, really ) and my bf at the time wore a white tux with a pink tie and possibly a pink cummerbund. I didn't ask him to coordinate and would have been happy with the black/white combo, but that was what he opted for. Another guy there wore a white tux as well, complete with top hat and cane. There were plenty of guys in other, more conventional tuxes.

So I'd go with SR and say that unless this is important somehow, just have him in a tux. I don't really see the need to go into a lot of detail.

-Thanks for your insight, because I felt it was supposed to be the woman's day. The story focuses on the idea that she's dumped just before prom because she won't have sex with her bf on prom night. She has no one to go with and decides not to go. She starts fixating on all her precision planning, having bought her dress early, booked salon a month before etc, it was supposed to be a perfect day.

-A day before prom her best male friend asks her to go to the prom, she confirm the date hours before. So she is now dashing to get everything perfect again. This is how he comes in, I guess I'll have him independant I traditional attire, a symbolic constant in her life.

 

[AMoveableBeast]

OK, let me emphasize a writing teaching point here. Is this important to the plot or the relationship between these two characters? If not, you're already out in left field with this question. If it's important to the plot or the relationship between the two characters, you make it fit the point. If not, you need to get back to concentrating on what's important in the story.

While I concur that many writers tend to bog themselves down in unnecessary detail, I don't believe it is necessarily this cut and dry.

Firstly, making a character memorable or evocative is rarely important to the plot or a vital part in building relationships, but it is an important aspect of engaging readers and making your characters individuals. Is it vital to the story exactly what James Bond drinks and how he takes it? Doubtful. Does it matter to the plot that Indian Jones has a whip and a fedora? A Lasso and a baseball cap would have done just as well, but the image would be indelibly changed. Who is Nick Fury without his eye patch?

Secondly, if you don't have enough of a picture in your mind to create a believable secondary world down to the little details, you're never going to have much success communicating that vision to people who are not similarly invested in your made-up passions. The more real you can make a character, generally, the more plausible they will seem. If that means you need to know whether it's boxers or briefs then, by all means, figure out how your protagonist is hanging. Of course boring your reader with a detailed description of your leading ladies shoe collection can be tedious and unwise. Then again, you can learn a lot about a woman from her shoes. If it helps the story breathe, I say go for it. Make your slippers ruby and your heroes caped.

 

[AMoveableBeast]

Also, I readily admit, sr71plt, that in this case you are almost assuredly right, as the poster seems to be more interested in splitting hairs than making something iconic. I just think I'm feeling the desire to champion fiends tonight, and the discussion about what constitutes unnecessary detail struck me as interesting.

 

[PennLady]

-Thanks for your insight, because I felt it was supposed to be the woman's day. The story focuses on the idea that she's dumped just before prom because she won't have sex with her bf on prom night. She has no one to go with and decides not to go. She starts fixating on all her precision planning, having bought her dress early, booked salon a month before etc, it was supposed to be a perfect day.

-A day before prom her best male friend asks her to go to the prom, she confirm the date hours before. So she is now dashing to get everything perfect again. This is how he comes in, I guess I'll have him independant I traditional attire, a symbolic constant in her life.

I don't think it's supposed to be the "woman's day," but no doubt more money and time is spent on the woman. I remember some funny stories about proms when I took my creative writing course in college, and I wrote a short story at one point that mashed up my experiences of both the junior and senior proms.

Your character sounds a bit like a friend of mine, honestly, at the senior prom. She'd been seeing someone and put a dress on layaway; a couple of weeks or so before the prom, they broke up. So she had a dress and no date. Then a friend of ours asked her but the store had sold her dress; now she had a date and no dress. She did find a dress (hoop skirt!) and got all busy with her hair that day and everything.

I, personally, came home and took a nap and watched "Transformers" with my little brother before getting ready.

And it was a "la-may" dress, not a "lame" dress, although some may think it's the same.

 

[sr71plt]

While I concur that many writers tend to bog themselves down in unnecessary detail, I don't believe it is necessarily this cut and dry.

Doesn't this open the door enough to cover that? "Is this important to the plot or the relationship between these two characters?"

What they wore could, yes, be important to establish their character (and therefore the plot), and maybe establishing what would conventionally be worn might be part of doing that (although that's one of those unanswerable questions--some wear glued Coke bottle tabs). I didn't get anything close to a feel of any of that in this thread question. I saw worry over extraneous detail. If it was something that mattered in characterization, I would expect that the target of the effect sought would be included in the question.

 

[loquere]

I don't think it's supposed to be the "woman's day," but no doubt more money and time is spent on the woman. I remember some funny stories about proms when I took my creative writing course in college, and I wrote a short story at one point that mashed up my experiences of both the junior and senior proms.

Your character sounds a bit like a friend of mine, honestly, at the senior prom. She'd been seeing someone and put a dress on layaway; a couple of weeks or so before the prom, they broke up. So she had a dress and no date. Then a friend of ours asked her but the store had sold her dress; now she had a date and no dress. She did find a dress (hoop skirt!) and got all busy with her hair that day and everything.

I, personally, came home and took a nap and watched "Transformers" with my little brother before getting ready.

And it was a "la-may" dress, not a "lame" dress, although some may think it's the same.

The story and she is more complicated than that without giving too much more away, she has wanted to be an actress her whole life.

 

[loquere]

Doesn't this open the door enough to cover that? "Is this important to the plot or the relationship between these two characters?"

What they wore could, yes, be important to establish their character (and therefore the plot), and maybe establishing what would conventionally be worn might be part of doing that (although that's one of those unanswerable questions--some wear glued Coke bottle tabs). I didn't get anything close to a feel of any of that in this thread question. I saw worry over extraneous detail. If it was something that mattered in characterization, I would expect that the target of the effect sought would be included in the question.

Pennlady gave me what I was looking for. The broader scope of discourse allows me to cover ground I may be orginaly lacking. More understanding helps. I thank Pennlady for that, she helped me resolve my problem.