Saturday, May 19, 2012

The Dinner Jacket

How did the dinner jacket, popularly known as the "tuxedo," come to replace the traditional tailcoats in modern formal wear? According to The Wall Street Journal:
The story of how the tuxedo made its initial debut in American society dates back to the Gilded Age, when the founders of the posh Tuxedo Park resort in Orange County, N.Y., are thought to have introduced the coat at their exclusive sporting club. This fall, current residents of the Park, along with the local historical society and the distinguished Savile Row clothier Henry Poole & Co. plan to celebrate the legacy of the tuxedo in a manner befitting its eminent birth. But significant questions linger, like when and where the coat was truly born, or even why it's called the tuxedo.

For generations, one account eclipsed all others as the creation myth of choice. (Read entire article.)
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