History's Relevance

19th Century Origins

Edwardian Era (1900s, '10s)

Jazz Age (1920s)

Classic Age (1930s)

War & Post War ('40s, '50s)

Jet Age ('50s, '60s)

Peacock Revolution ('60s,'70s)

Classic Revival I (Late '70s)

Classic Revival II (1980s)

Dress-Down Days (1990s)

Edwardian Era: Evening Informal

The Tuxedo or short dinner coat with a black tie is intended only for dinners where women are not present.  Although its use on other occasions is common, it is not correct, and ill accords with the elaborate gown which is usually worn at the formal dinner.

The Etiquette of To-day (1913)

• Edwardian Etiquette

Edward VII’s affinity for wine and women loosened the moral strictures of his mother’s reign and the rise of the automobile shifted the focus of social life from the private home to more public places of entertainment.  Despite these social shifts, dress codes retained their Victorian stringency thanks the new king’s taste for fine fashions and extravagant entertaining which the aristocracy eagerly adopted.  Thus, for an evening out in public the formal tailcoat ensemble remained de rigueur while the dinner jacket stayed largely confined to a man’s home or his club. 

The prescribed accoutrements for the informal evening jacket continued to be in flux during this period and were often the same as those worn with full dress.  The shirt was often the stiff-bosom variety and the collar was the starched wing style used with the tailcoat but pleated fronts and turndown collars were also permissible provided they were equally well starched.  Even the trousers were interchangeable since the distinctive styles of braid that today distinguishes black-tie and white-tie counterparts was not yet a fixed tradition; the only rule was that the trousers match the jacket which had now become acceptable in oxford gray. 

As in Victorian times, the waistcoat could also match the jacket or it could be the white piqué style borrowed from formal evening dress and the bow tie was still allowable in either color.  However, the choice of black for both the waistcoat and bow tie would become the norm by the end of the first decade, establishing the basics of a dress code that would remain intact for the rest of the century.  

The late Victorian acceptance of less formal standards for warm weather was also continuing as seen at upscale holiday getaways on both sides of the Atlantic.  As the Sartorial Art Journal reported in July 1904, “At every fashionable summer resort the Tuxedo suit is not only worn as half-dress and as dress negligee, but when the weather is extremely hot is tolerated as acceptable full dress, except on ultra formal occasions."

• Edwardian Evening Wear

According to Esquire's Encyclopedia of 20th Century Men's Fashions, formal evening clothes in turn-of-the-century America differed from the common “lounge” or “sack” suit in that they were shapelier than their heavily padded, loose-fitting and high-buttoned daytime cousins.  However, period illustrations from other sources suggest that bulky styling did not disappear from formal wear until the teens. 

Dinner suits further differed from daytime suits in that they had a single waist button and their shawl or peaked lapels were faced in satin or grosgrain.  One of the very few traits that both outfits had in common was the heavy fabric that weighed up to 20 ounces to the yard – twice the weight of the average modern suit.   In this era comfort was not expected in men’s clothing, night or day. 

Other notable traits of Edwardian informal evening wear were the tiny bow ties of the day, jacket cuffs that were frequently turned back and trimmed with the lapel finish and the recent appearance of French cuffs on some formal shirts.  Initially evening waistcoats were almost exclusively U-shaped but by the teens the V-shaped model was quickly gaining in popularity.  

• The Great War: End of an Era

The rigid class system which defined the Edwardian Era came to a close with the advent of World War I.  While the English monarchy would survive the struggles that brought an end to a number of its European counterparts, the aristocracy would never be the same.   The ability to host the lavish social affairs of previous times was greatly impacted by the tremendous cost of the war and by former household staff’s unwillingness to return to servitude after having fought shoulder to shoulder with their previous employers.  In addition, men of all classes were reluctant to give up the newfound comfort of military clothing for the constrictive and heavy attire that constituted formal day and evening wear prior to the war.

As a consequence of these shifts in social attitude the occasions demanding the strict formality of the tailcoat dwindled considerably.  But at the same time, the end of the war and the subsequent Jazz Age provided numerous reasons to celebrate and the middle class was not yet prepared to jettison tradition entirely when it came to dressing for a night on the town.  Thus it was that the dinner jacket’s skillful balance of traditional elegance and contemporary comfort would gradually come to elevate it from a mere tailcoat alternative to an eveningwear standard.