---
title: "Editor's Letter: Black Tie Season Starts Early This Year"
description: "The rate rise, the strong pound, Harry Kane's Ballon d'Or and the velvet dinner jacket: Darie Nani introduces Rich Man's November 2026 edition."
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-11-06T17:33:26.177Z
updated: 2026-11-06T17:33:26.190Z
canonical: https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/editor-s-letter-black-tie-season-starts-early-this-year
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/rich-man-november-2026-black-tie-season-card.webp
categories: Lifestyle
content_type: Letter from the Editor
region: United Kingdom
publication: Rich Man Magazine
schema_type: Article
---

When did you last feel ready for everything December could ask of you?

I ask myself that question every November. The invitations arrive, the year-end figures come in and the dinner jacket comes out of the wardrobe. We have called this edition Black Tie Season, and I want it to help you walk into every one of those evenings with your money, your health and your family in good order. A dinner jacket looks its best on a man who has the rest of his life in order.

![The front cover of Rich Man Magazine's November 2026 Black Tie Season edition, showing a smiling man in a black velvet dinner jacket in front of a blue-grey door.](https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/rich-man-november-2026-black-tie-season-front-cover.webp)
*Rich Man, November 2026: Black Tie Season — Photo: Cover image courtesy of M.J. Bale*

Our cover feature, [Black Tie Season](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/black-tie-season-velvet-dinner-jacket-party-plan), sets out what the dress code on your invitation means, why one velvet dinner jacket covers every evening on your list and how to plan the season so you reach January rested. Our cover star wears M.J. Bale's limited edition Ruby Velvet Jacket, from the Australian tailor that opens its first UK store on Jermyn Street this month.

Start with your money. On Thursday 5th November the Bank of England raised Bank Rate to 4%, its first rise since August 2023, and [the pound reached its strongest level since the Brexit vote](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/pound-to-euro-sterling-strongest-since-brexit-vote). If you have a euro payment ahead, £1 now buys just under €1.20. On the same Thursday, [a $3 trillion Wall Street sell-off hit British savers](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/bank-of-england-rate-rise-nasdaq-correction-isa-pension), and markets now put [a December rise at even odds](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/uk-interest-rate-predictions-bank-of-england-december). If you hold crypto, read why [the $6.3 billion Binance heist](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/binance-hack-crypto-exchange-risk) is a reason to move it off an exchange.

The wider world moved this month too. Voters in the US midterms [turned on AI data centres](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/data-center-moratorium-midterms-ai), and Goldman Sachs puts 45% of planned US capacity at risk. We report [the result in the House and Senate](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/democrats-win-congress-how-men-voted) and the [leadership lessons from winners and losers in both parties](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/leadership-lessons-2026-midterms). If you love a gadget as much as I do, Aina has unveiled [a $399 AI ring with a screen](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/ai-ring-aina), and our [eight steps to keep your smart home safe](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/smart-home-cyber-attack-protection-steps) protect the rest of your house.

Leadership showed on the pitch as well. A year ago Harry Kane said he could not win the Ballon d'Or without the Champions League or the World Cup. He won neither, and [he took the Ballon d'Or anyway](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/harry-kane-ballon-dor-bayern-contract), by 28 points, three years after he left Tottenham at 30 to prove himself again in Munich. If you are weighing a late change in your own career, his story is worth ten minutes of your evening.

Then look after the body that will wear the suit. Our guides show you how to [lower your cholesterol this winter](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/lower-cholesterol-winter), [prevent type 2 diabetes](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/prevent-type-2-diabetes) and [lower your dementia risk](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/lower-dementia-risk) through 14 factors you can change. When the diary fills, [the NHS's own advice on stress](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/how-to-stress-less-year-end) helps you reach the end of the year rested, and our [eight things successful people do in November](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/how-to-finish-the-year-strong) help you finish it strong.

Your family needs you present this season. Boys with fewer close friends feel lonelier, and we give you [seven ways fathers can help](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/loneliness-in-boys-7-ways-fathers-can-help). We also ask whether [boys should learn to cook](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/should-boys-learn-to-cook), and the answer may bring your son into the kitchen with you this Sunday.

For daytime, we tell the stories of [Harris Tweed, Prince of Wales check and Balmoral tartan](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/harris-tweed-prince-of-wales-check-balmoral-tartan-british-cloths), and we choose [five raincoats worth owning this November](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/mens-raincoats-november), from the Mackintosh to the waxed jacket.

When you finally switch off, travel slower. [A longer city break costs less in 2027](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/tourist-taxes-europe-2027) than a string of short ones, more travellers are [swapping weekend breaks for longer stays](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/slow-travel-6-ways-to-take-fewer-longer-trips), and we have [eight luxury escapes to take before Christmas](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/luxury-destinations-before-christmas-2026) and [eight underrated Christmas markets in Europe](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/underrated-christmas-markets-europe-2026).

Pack a book. Intelligence now ranks among the most attractive traits, and we explain [how reading makes you better company](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/reading-makes-you-better-company-6-books). This year's Pulitzer winners give you a [war story told in a single sentence](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/angel-down-pulitzer-2026), [the Americans who tried to rewrite the Constitution](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/we-the-people-pulitzer-2026), [the Schuyler sisters brought out of Hamilton's shadow](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/pride-and-pleasure-pulitzer-2026), Yiyun Li's [memoir of losing her two sons](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/things-in-nature-merely-grow-pulitzer-2026), [poems for dark times](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/ars-poeticas-pulitzer-2026) and a [report on homeless families who work full time](https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/there-is-no-place-for-us-pulitzer-2026).

Black tie was never about the jacket alone. It is a promise you make to everyone in the room: you are here, and you came prepared.

Read one story tonight. Send another to a friend who needs it.

Then write and tell me how you are getting ready for the season. I would love to hear from you.

Darie Nani Co-founder