page_title: Black tie
section_title: Jacket
hierarchical_section_title: Black tie / Composition / Jacket
caption_attribution_description: English: Publicity photo for one of Ken's concerts.
context_page_description: Black tie is a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and American conventions for attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically by its principal element for men, the dinner suit or dinner jacket. In American English tuxedo is common. The dinner suit is a black, midnight blue or white two- or three-piece suit, distinguished by satin or grosgrain jacket lapels and similar stripes along the outseam of the trousers. It is worn with a white dress shirt with standing or turndown collar and link cuffs, a black bow tie, typically an evening waistcoat or a cummerbund, and black patent leather dress shoes or court pumps. Accessories may include a semi-formal homburg, bowler, or boater hat. For women, an evening gown or other fashionable evening attire may be worn.
  The first dinner jacket is traditionally traced to 1865 on the then Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII. The late 19th century saw gradual introduction of the lounge jacket without tails as a less formal and more comfortable leisure alternative to the frock coat.
context_section_description: The original and most formal model of dinner jacket is the single-breasted model. The typical black tie jacket is single-breasted with one button only, with jetted (besom) pockets and is of black or midnight blue; usually of wool or a wool-mohair, or wool-polyester blend, although other materials, especially silk, are seen. Although other materials are used, the most appropriate and traditional for the dinner jacket are wool barathea or superfine herringbone. Double-breasted models are less common, but considered equally appropriate. Dinner jackets were commonly ventless before World War I, but today come ventless, with side vents, or with centre vents. The ventless style is considered more formal, while the centre vent is the least formal. The lapels (traditionally pointed and shawl) are usually faced with silk in either a grosgrain or a satin weave, but can also be silk barathea. A notched lapel is not always considered to be appropriate for a dinner jacket. However, according to the Black Tie Guide, the peaked lapel and shawl collar are equally authentic and correct. The buttons should be covered in similarly coloured material to the main part of the jacket, which would ideally be either self-faced or covered with the same material as the lapels. Some higher-end single-breasted jackets, both new and vintage, tend to be fastened with a link front closure which is visually similar to a cufflink; this method of closure is still common in the United Kingdom.
  The double-besomed jetted (slit) hip pocket is the only style understated enough to complement the dinner jacket. Flap pockets are not considered appropriate for formal attire's refined minimalism due to their busier and bulkier design and are simply an attempt by dinner jacket manufacturers to save money by using standard suit patterns (although sometimes they will trim the edges of a flap pocket so that the flap can be tucked in or removed if desired). Besom welts can be of self fabric or trimmed with the lapel's silk facing, though classic menswear scholar Nicholas Antongiavanni suggests that for the English this latter touch "is a sure sign of hired clothes".  The dinner jacket should also have a welt breast pocket to hold a pocket handkerchief, which should generally be self-faced rather than covered with silk.
  Emily Post, a resident of Tuxedo Park, New York, stated in 1909 that "[Tuxedos] can have lapels or be shawl-shaped, in either case they are to have facings of silk, satin or grosgrain". She later republished this statement in her 1922 book Etiquette, adding that only single-breasted jackets are appropriately called tuxedos. There is a fashion movement suggesting that a man's appearance when wearing the wider and higher peak lapel is superior to the narrower notch lapel.
  White dinner jackets are often worn in warm climates. They are ivory in colour rather than pure white, and have self-faced lapels (i.e., made of the same fabric as the jacket) rather than silk-faced lapels. They are generally worn with the same types of shirts and accessories as black dinner jackets, though the turndown collar and cummerbund preferred to the wing collar or waistcoat. Similarly, the shawl lapel is more common in white dinner jackets. In the United Kingdom, the 20th-century etiquette was that white dinner jackets are never worn, even on the hottest day of summer, but are reserved for wear abroad. Today, white dinner jackets are frequently seen at weddings, formal beach events, and high-school proms, in the United States and at some concerts (famously for instance the Last night of the proms) in the United Kingdom. In tropical climates, such as in Imperial Burma, the desert fawn was historically used as the less formal colour. At one time, the (civilian) mess jacket was also an option in warmer climates.
  It is generally considered inappropriate for a man to remove his jacket during a formal social event, but when hot weather and humidity dictate, the ranking man (of the royal family, the guest of honour) may give men permission by noticeably taking off his jacket. In anticipat
caption: A white dinner jacket
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