Cocktail attire reached 45% of Australian weddings by 2025

Cocktail attire rose from 25% of Australian weddings in 2022 to 45% in 2025, according to analysis by Sydney tailor Lupo Bianco. Over the same period, black tie fell from 10% to 6%.

The data combined five years of Easy Weddings couples surveys, with about 4,000 respondents a year. Lupo Bianco also used 11 years of Australian search data from Ahrefs and its own 24-month atelier records.

Across 6,500 wedding suits commissioned at Lupo Bianco in the past 24 months, only 240 were tuxedos. That equalled 3.7% of orders, which sat below the national 6% black-tie preference.

Lupo Bianco suit orders

Search behaviour also showed stronger demand for cocktail dress codes. Australian interest in “cocktail attire” grew 197% from 2015 and peaked at 11,581 monthly searches in November 2025.

Brandon Li, Executive Tailor and Owner of Lupo Bianco, described a sharp change in demand. “Five years ago every second groom asked for black tie. This year it’s not even in the conversation.”

Li linked the change to the age of Australian grooms. The median groom is now 33, so many buyers want a suit that lasts beyond one wedding day.

He also pointed to use beyond the ceremony. A navy or mid-grey tailored suit can work at a wedding, in a boardroom and at a summer race day.

According to Lupo Bianco, the dress code has also split into smaller categories. Elevated cocktail, semi-formal cocktail and beach cocktail each call for different fabric weights and colour palettes.

Venues have changed as well. Australian weddings now often take place in gardens, vineyards, cellar doors and converted warehouses instead of ballrooms.

Li said the setting matters because black tie was built for formal indoor rooms. “A tuxedo is a one-day costume; a tailored cocktail suit is a versatile investment.”

The November 2025 search peak was almost five times the baseline recorded a decade earlier. That trend matched the drop in tuxedo orders across Lupo Bianco’s 24-month order book.

Taken together, the Easy Weddings surveys, Ahrefs search figures and Lupo Bianco records point in the same direction from 2015 to 2025. Cocktail attire grew, while black tie became a smaller part of Australian wedding dress codes.