More formal than "cocktail" and less formal than "white tie," black-tie dressing walks the line between getting decked out for an evening on the town and dressing up to attend a royal wedding. If your name doesn't include the title Duchess, black tie is probably your fancy-dressing sweet spot — but don't even think about busting out those tiaras. In actuality, you can take quite a bit of creative license with black-tie events — and never for one second should you have to sacrifice personal style to attend a dinner with five forks. Ahead, we break down the new rules for black-tie dressing, so you won't be tempted to dig out that awful tulle confection ever again.
![the-new-le-smoking-zara]()
