oh canada!

Canada Objects to the Canadian Tuxedo

Photo: Ausloeser/Corbis

Blogger and tuxedo enthusiast Peter Marshall just discovered the phrase “Canadian Tuxedo” after stumbling upon the denim-on-denim tribute site, Canadiantux.com. And, man, is he miffed (for a mild-mannered Canadian, that’s like a Hulk-level of rage), reports the Wall Street Journal.

Marshall, who writes about tuxedo fashions in his spare time, couldn’t believe that Americans would assign such an unsophisticated look to his countrymen. He writes, “We can also get a little prickly about the often condescending attitude and cultural myopism of some of our US neighbors.
… implying that this hick (and banal) outfit represents the height of Canadian sophistication certainly smacks of that kind of derision.

Photo: LUCY NICHOLSON/AFP/Getty Images

But Marshall thinks the answer lies in some rebranding. How about calling it the Texan Tuxedo, he asks, since Americans have an affinity for mavericks and iconoclasts? And, also: ruggedness and chewing tobacco. Or how about  the Dutch Tux, since according to Marshall, the Dutch have been appropriating the look for years! Basically, assign double denim to any other nation, please.

If that doesn’t work, the Journal reports that some of Marshall’s countrymen have plans to to re-imagine the Candian tux by replacing the denim with fabrics like vegan leather and plaid. Because nothing screams “nation of sophisticates” like a vegan-leather tuxedo.

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Canada Objects to the Canadian Tuxedo