After returning home from the Korean War, Joseph’s eldest son Patrick DeLora Sr. took over the daily operations of DeLuxe Cleaners. Searching for a way to diversify the business he decides in 1955 to open DeLuxe Formal Wear. Today our Formal Wear Department is considered one of the leading stores in Northern New Jersey. Dealing with both rentals and sales, our showroom offers all the latest styles in formal wear, with such famous names as After Six, Ike Behar, Ralph Lauren, Perry Ellis, Jean Yves, Ike Behar Slim and many more.

Bob Genuardi

In 1985, Patrick’s nephew, Robert Genuardi, became General Manager of the DeLuxe Formal Wear division. With well over 40 years experience in the formal wear industry, Robert has satisfied many discriminating customers including: The Valley Regency, Crystal Springs Resort, The Legacy Castle, The Bethwood, The Venetian, Westmount Country Club, The Cosmopolitan, SST Corporation and many more.

The History of the Tuxedo

The tuxedo was a truly American invention, in that it embodied a rebellion against the cultural standards of Europe. Invented by Pierre Lorillard IV of New York for a specific, rather informal occasion, the tuxedo became an essential item of formalwear, in the US and abroad.

The Lorillards were tobacco magnates, and moved in the highest social circles. They owned land in Tuxedo Park, New York, a town about forty miles north of Manhattan. For that town’s Autumn Ball of 1886, Pierre Lorillard IV, the heir to the family fortune, decided to wear something less formal than the black tie and tails that had become the standard of men’s formalwear in the early 1800s in Britain.

He designed several coats that were black but without tails, shaped like the red jackets then worn for fox hunts. A tailor custom-made the coats, but on the night of the Ball Lorillard did not go through with his plan. However, his more impulsive son, Griswold, and many of his friends did wear the revolutionary jackets, adding to the ensemble scarlet vests in honor of the riding coats that had inspired the elder Lorillard. The lofty social status of the young men wearing the outfit soon resulted in its being imitated, rather than condemned.