Help with white tie

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Nobody can doubt your experience M.O.R. But as has been pointed out, ANY national dress option is going to make you look different to those dressed in white tie and tails. It may actually serve to open conversations where you may then demonstrate your wit, charm, and intellect.

Forget "National dress options"-- outside of a movie I've never seen someone in a dashiki at a white tie event. And, frankly, white tie looks pretty much the same from the waist up no matter what you're wearing.

However I don't think this is the point of this particular thread - it is to do with graduation - a white tie (as at St Andrews) doesn't come with the full list of other do's and don'ts. Nobody will be wearing a graduation gown with/without mortar board and the hood of their degree at a diplomatic ball.

The question was about what to wear when performing at a musical recital, not a graduation ceremony. That said, white tie is still white tie. Others performing at the recital will be in traditional white tie, not some interpretive version that asserts their right to clothe themselves with total disregard for the conventions of proper dress. In short it is about conforming so that the "costume" of the performer does nothing to detract from the artistry of the performance. It is the difference between the Music Hall and the Recital Hall.