Dude-ing up for the prom

It's a rite of spring for many young men: shopping for a prom tux. But few go it alone.

[Times photo: Dave Scheiber]

St. Petersburg Catholic High School junior Daniel Martino ponders his tuxedo choice with help from his mother, Jackie, and Joe Maschino, manager of a Sacino’s Formalwear store in St. Petersburg.

ST. PETERSBURG - The tall kid in baggy basketball shorts looks like he'd be more at home on a high school hoops court than a hardwood dance floor.

But on a recent Saturday afternoon, Daniel Martino is mulling over strategy for an important date on his schedule. Carefully, the St. Petersburg Catholic High junior sizes up the challenge: a full-court press on the fanciest clothes he has ever seen in one place.

Does he go for the top hat and cane? Does he go with flashy white or more conservative black? Square-toe shoes or standard? Bow tie or no tie?

For Martino, prom time live is fast approaching. And in this game, it all comes down to finding just the right uniform: his first tuxedo.

"It sort of feels like the Oscars, getting ready to walk down the red carpet," Martino, 17, says inside the Fourth Street outlet store of Sacino's Formalwear, a family-owned chain in its 87th year in business around the Tampa Bay area and beyond.

Prom season is in full swing, and male students like Martino are flocking to tux shops to suit up for the big dances. In many cases, the guys are new to the world of tuxes, so they show up with puzzled looks, as well as parents and dates to provide guidance.

Or they rely on experts like Joe Maschino, manager of the Fourth Street Sacino's, which began as the chain's original location on Central Avenue.

"This is our Christmas," Maschino says. "We quadruple our normal business around now."

Maschino offers some tips to Martino as the boy's parents, Lee and Jackie Martino, look on.

For them, seeing the younger of their two sons fitted for a rented tux is a landmark moment and brings back fond memories. Lee and Jackie attended Northeast High School, class of '72, and attended the school's senior prom, though not with each other. They didn't start dating until later.

"Picking out your first tux isn't easy," says Lee, city president of Wachovia bank. "It's something you've never, never done. And it's just an exciting time in a kid's life. You get nervous you won't pick out the right one. It's sort of a rite of passage."

Jackie smiles as her son, the basketball player and student government rep, checks out an assortment of snazzy jackets.

"My husband got his first tux here, and so did our older son, but it's still exciting because this is his first one," she says. "The opportunity to share this with him as his mom is a big deal. There's the prom and then their wedding."

Daniel's older brother, Mike, wore a white tux for his senior prom at St. Petersburg Catholic last year. So Daniel decides to hold off on white until his senior year in 2004 and stick with black for this prom, taking place tonight at the Gulfport Casino. "My date's dress is black, so it's an easy one to match," he says. "I know somebody who's trying to match a hot pink dress, and that's definitely a lot harder."

"Hey, I have a hot pink cummerbund, so it can be done," Maschino chimes in.

After 15 minutes or so, Daniel has decided against a handkerchief, picked out a nonpleated shirt and long tie, and earned praise from Maschino for his efficiency. "He knew what he wanted and what he was questionable about," he says. "I've had guys going back and forth and calling their girlfriends up, just going crazy."

The Martinos leave, and all is quiet for a spell inside Sacino's with closing time an hour away. "It's the day before Easter, so things are a little slower than usual," Maschino says. "But just watch. With all the proms coming up in the next few weeks, I'm sure we'll get a few more customers."

Like clockwork, a young man and woman enter the store. Jessica Doldt, 18, is a Northeast High School senior, and she's going to the school's prom with a friend, 19-year-old Matt Sutterlin, who attended St. Petersburg Catholic last year and now goes to the University of South Florida.

Sutterlin, wearing a ball cap turned backward, is an old hand at tux renting, having attended proms as a sophomore, junior and senior. He says the biggest challenge is finding something to complement what his date will wear, in this case a reddish-pink dress. He quickly opts for black as well. "I always go black," he says. "If you spill something on it, you can't see it."

Doldt likes the selection. "If I was a guy, I wouldn't be able to do this on my own," she says. "There are so many decisions to make, I'd definitely need a girl to assist me."

As Sutterlin gets fitted for his jacket and pants, another twosome arrives, Stefani Stauffer, a 17-year-old senior at Osceola High, and her boyfriend, Adam Duff, 20. Duff graduated two years ago from St. Petersburg High School, but this will be the first prom he has attended.

"It's exciting since this is my last prom," Stauffer says. "I've never really gone tux shopping before. But I think it's a lot harder buying a dress. They come in all sorts of colors. Tuxes are mostly black or white."

They have just come from picking out Stauffer's dress, a pale green number. And they want something not only to match that color but fit Osceola's tropical prom theme.

Duff, wearing shorts and flip-flops, scrutinizes the selections. "I don't really like black; it looks too formal," he says. "I have more of a surfer image. So I'm looking forward to a Hawaiian type. White or ivory."

Duff, tall and lean, settles on white, choosing a jacket with extra buttons. "He's built for that jacket," Maschino tells Stauffer. "The heavyset guys get into that and they look either like a big chef or the Pillsbury Doughboy."

"We have to get him some shiny shoes," Stauffer interjects.

"Yeah, you can't put old tires on a Rolls-Royce," Maschino says.

The shoes are packaged with a vest for $19.95, separate from the $39.95-$124.95 rental price for the jacket, pants, shirt, cuff links, studs, cummerbund and bow tie. Maschino throws in suspenders because the pants are light. "You don't want them dragging on the ground and getting the bottoms dirty," he says.

Duff tries on the white tux.

"You look so good!" Stauffer says, beaming.

"Get a turquoise lei," Maschino adds, "and you're there, bud."

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