Garment · Tailoring
The dinner jacket
A dinner jacket is a black or midnight blue evening jacket with silk-faced lapels, now the formal standard after replacing the tailcoat.
A dinner jacket is evening wear: a jacket in black or midnight blue with silk-faced lapels, worn with matching trousers carrying a silk stripe, a white shirt with a turndown collar, a black bow tie and no belt. It was created as a relaxed alternative to the tailcoat and has become the formal standard in its place.
Where it came from
In 1865 Henry Poole & Co made a short blue silk smoking coat for the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, to wear at Sandringham instead of a tailcoat. The order is recorded in Poole's ledgers, which is why this origin story is unusually well documented.
It reached America through a guest who had one made and wore it at the Tuxedo Park club in New York, which is why Americans call it a tuxedo. The English call it a dinner jacket; the French and Italians call it a smoking, from the smoking jacket it descends from.
The rules that actually matter
- Black or midnight blue. Midnight blue reads blacker than black under artificial light, which is why it was traditionally preferred.
- Silk-faced lapels: peak or shawl, in grosgrain or satin. A notch lapel is a modern compromise and the clearest sign of a garment made to a price.
- No belt loops. The trousers are held by side adjusters or braces, and there is a silk stripe or braid down the outside seam.
- A waist covering: a cummerbund or a low-cut waistcoat. The waistband should not be visible.
- A black bow tie, tied by the wearer. A pre-tied bow tie is symmetrical in a way a real one is not.
- Shoes: patent leather pumps or highly polished black oxfords. Not brogues.
What gives a rental away
Notch lapels, a shiny black polyester that catches light wrong, a fused front, belt loops on the trousers, a pre-tied bow tie, and a jacket that fits nobody in particular. The single most useful upgrade for anyone who wears black tie more than twice a year is to own one that fits.
The one thing the rules will not save you from is the wrong length in the trouser. Evening trousers are worn at the natural waist, which is higher than most men are used to, and a trouser worn at the hip with a cummerbund above it looks precisely as awkward as it is.
At a glance
Makers associated with it
01
Bespoke tailor Henry Poole & Co
Henry Poole & Co is Savile Row's oldest tailor and made the Prince of Wales's 1865 evening jacket that led to the dinner jacket and tuxedo.
02
Brand Tom Ford
A designer's idea of a suit (wide lapel, strong shoulder, high armhole) made in Italy at a very high price.
03
Brand Brioni
Brioni is a Rome tailoring house founded in 1945, known for staging what is called the first men's fashion show and for clean, firm-shouldered suits.
04
Bespoke tailor Cifonelli
Cifonelli is a Paris tailoring firm, founded by a Roman family in the 1920s, famous for a padded, rounded shoulder and a very close-fitting chest.
Picture credits 5
- A dinner jacket with a grosgrain lapel: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
- An illustration of the house's recorded cut: soft shoulder, full canvas chest, balanced english; moderate shoulder, natural waist. Not a photograph of the house's own work.: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
- Tom Ford 2009: Photograph · Nicogenin · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Brioniboutique: Photograph · Coolcaesar · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
- An illustration of the house's recorded cut: roped shoulder, full canvas chest, sculpted shoulder, very clean close chest, high waist. Not a photograph of the house's own work.: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art