The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1903-12-04
THE EVENING JACKET.
The Why's and Wherefores of Its Pop
uIarity in This INT

! ne why's ana Wherefores OF Its Pop.
uIarity in This Country.
Haberdasher: With each recurring sea-
son it becomes more and more apparent
that nothing will %displace the evening
Jacket in the affections Of the average
well-dressed American. For every dress
coat made in the United States today there
are sold fully ten "Tuxedos." AT Saratoga
and Long Branch this summer and at
every smart resort, In fact, save perhaps
ceremonious Newport, the evening Jacket
was worn with the straw hat by men who
dress intelligenuy. Still another conces-
sion to it's vogue appears In the new
waistcoats for wear with "TuXedos," made
in gray and pearl tones and white self eff
fects. These were first seen in the best
Fifth avenue shops, and are still confined
to the upper class trade.
The "TuXedo's" antecedents are inter-
esting. while the very conditions that give
it vogue in this country at present are in
dications that the vogue Will continue. The
evening Jacket appeared in England some
fifteen years ago, and was designed as a
semi-dress m to be taken on yacht
ing trips and for wear ut shore functions.
outdoor life was then beginning to make
an impress upon dress, and the Jackets
represented the earliest departure from
strict formalty. From Its associations
with yachting it received the name of
'Cowes. coat" after Cowes, in the Isle Of
Wight. TIL garment was so convenient
for many kinds of semi-formal affairs that
it spread rapidly. Presently the middle
classes took 1t up. This is always the
signal for the English gentleman to aban-
don a mode. Glass distinctions over there
are very real. and the gentleman has an
Unborn horror of anything that Will cause
him to be identified with the middle
classes" Today the evening Jacket is
tabooed in England.
When brought to America and rapa med,
Tuxedo coat" after the ~well-known rest
dentlal park, 1t was at once taken up by
the exclusive set. The same Interest was
then being manifested In outdoor recrea-
tons, and the m furnished a happy
medium between the informality of out-
door dress and the severity Of the frock
coat. Presently 1t passed out Of the ex-
elusive set and was adopted by the Amer
lean middle classes where its POPULAR
ity grew at an amazing pace. Class lines
in America are vague, If they exist at all,
and the evening jacket met none Of the
opposition that had checked 1t abroad. It
was also stimulated by certain social con-
ditions. American society had entered the
evolutionary stage that marks 1t today.
increasing wealth, foreign travel and the
exploding of many ultra-deinocratio
prejudices against old world life and man.
ners were producing a society not ashamed
to observe niceties and re1inements. Whenl
q man began to change from the plain
democratic caterpillar to the social but
terfly, the evening Jacket was the first
step in the transformation, making the
process painless and easy. The evening
jacket has been to American society what
the cocoon is in nature. 1t was a gar
ment needed badly, and this need a.
stronger today than ever before.
Moreover, the Tuxedo" has also much
to recommend 1T in point of convenience.
America has no true leisure class. We are
all busy, and the idler is rara avis. Not
one per cent. of the people who make up
our society haye time to devote to for.
NAL dress. The crowded homes In New,
York make 1t practically impossible for
the average man to keep up an elaborate
wardrobe. After a days moiling at the
desk most of us must forego our evening
at the theater IL 1t be q matter Of formal
dress and top or opera hat. Convenience,
common sense and the conditions Of our
lives favor the evening Jacket, which may
be donned quickly and makes a man pre-
sentable anywhere ave at ceremonious
functions. The Tuxedo" Is also cheaper
"a point that means much-and need not
fit SO scrupulously as the froCk coat. Dur
ing the summer 1t is practically the most
formal dress, while In the social life OF
our growing suburbs it is displacing the
tail coat. Even in the formal society Of
the large cities a man WIN be likely to
wear his Tuxedo" twice where the frock
coat is worn once. Men who have time
and means to observe the forrnalities will
avoid the evening Jacket, but they are q
minority in America. Our great middle
class finds the garment most convenient
to its means, life and taste, and as a con-
sequence 1t has grown with US into a per-
manent institution. Nothing can displace
1t, seemingly, short of an upheayal in 30
ciety and dress and a return to our origi-
nal cave dwellings and garments OF
aurochs hide.