Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-31
THE EVENING JACKET.
The Why's and Wherefores of It's Pop
ularity Here.

From the HaberdaSher.
With each recurring season 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 per-
haps ceremonious Newport. the evening
jacket was worn with the straw hat by
men who dress intelligently. Still another
concession to its 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
9Th avenue shops, and are still confined to
the upper class trade.
The "Tuxedo's" antecedents are interest
ing. while the very conditions that give 1t
vogue in this country at present are indi-
cations that the vogue will continue. The
evening jacket appeared in England some
fifteen years ago, and was designed as
semi-dress garment to be taken on yacht
ing trips and for wear at shore functions
Outdoor life was then beginning to make an
scented the earliest departure from strict
Formally. From Its associations with
yachting 1t received the name Of 'Cowes
coat after Cowes. in the Isle OF Wight.
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 abandon 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 even
ing Jacket is tabooed in England.
When brought to America and renamed
Tuxedo coat" after the well-known resi-
Dental park. 1t was at once taken up by
the exclusive set. The same interest was
then being manifested In outdoor recrea-
tons. and the garment furnished a happy
medium between the informality of outdoor
dress and the severity of the frock coat.
Presently 1t passed out of the exclusive set
and was adopted by the American middle
classes" where its popularity grew at an
amazing pace, Class lines in America are
vague. IL 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 conditions. American So
ciety had entered the evolutionary stage
that marks 1t today Increasing wealth,
foreign travel and the exploding of many
INTERCHANGEABLE prejudices against old
world life and manners were producing a
society not ashamed to observe niceties and
refinements. When a man began to change
from the plain democratic caterpillar to the
social butterfly, the evening jacket was the
first step in the transformation. making
the process painless and easy. The evening
the cocoon Is In nature. 1t was garment
needed badly. and this need is stronger to-
day than ever before.
Moreover. the Tuxedo" has also much to
recommend 1t in point Of convenience.
America has no true leisure class. We are
one per cent of the people who make up our
society have time to devote to formal dress.
The crowded homes In New York make 1t
practically impossible for the average man