The velvet tuxedo jacket and the smoking jacket

A velvet tuxedo jacket, or velvet dinner jacket, is an evening jacket cut in velvet and worn in place of a wool tuxedo jacket on evenings that allow a little latitude. It descends from the smoking jacket, the velvet garment Victorian gentlemen wore in the smoking room. Worn correctly, velvet lets you stand out while staying entirely within the spirit of black tie.

The smoking jacket: a garment for the smoking room

In mid-nineteenth-century Britain, gentlemen would leave the dining table after dinner and retire to the smoking room. There they put on a separate jacket so that smoke and ash settled on it rather than on their evening clothes, then took it off before rejoining the ladies. Velvet was the natural choice: thick, soft, warm and quietly luxurious.

The classic smoking jacket has a shawl collar, often faced in satin or quilted. It fastens with frogging or a tie belt at the waist, and the sleeves usually finish in turn-back cuffs. Colours run deep: burgundy, bottle green, navy, black.

From smoking jacket to dinner jacket

In the 1860s the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, had his tailors Henry Poole make him a short, tailless jacket for informal dinners. That was the forerunner of the dinner jacket. In 1886 the style appeared at the Tuxedo Park club in New York, and Americans have called it a tuxedo ever since. You can read more in our piece on the origins of the tuxedo.

The dinner jacket took from the smoking jacket its relaxed spirit and its soft shawl collar. Today the two live side by side: the true smoking jacket, with frogging and a tie belt, belongs to evenings at home; the velvet tuxedo jacket is tailored like any other dinner jacket, with a button front and satin-faced lapels, and goes out to the party.

Smoking jacket or velvet tuxedo jacket

	Smoking jacket	Velvet tuxedo jacket
Origin	Worn in the Victorian smoking room	A variation on the dinner jacket
Fastening	Frogging or a tie belt	Cloth-covered buttons, usually one
Lapels	Shawl, satin-faced or quilted	Shawl or peak, faced in satin or grosgrain
Occasion	Intimate evenings, hosting at home	Evening parties, black tie optional, creative black tie
Worn with	Dark trousers, velvet slippers	Black trousers with satin stripe, white shirt, black bow tie

When to wear a velvet tuxedo jacket

By tradition, velvet is associated with the host at home. As a guest at a strict black tie event, a black or midnight blue wool tuxedo remains the safe choice. If you are unsure what an invitation is asking for, take a look at the dress code levels.

Where velvet comes into its own:

• Evenings marked black tie optional or creative black tie.
• New Year's Eve, Christmas parties and company year-end dinners.
• Private dinners and birthday celebrations in elegant settings.
• An evening wedding reception, when the groom wants to set himself apart from his groomsmen.

One thing to weigh in Ho Chi Minh City: velvet is dense and holds heat. It belongs in air-conditioned hotel ballrooms and restaurants rather than at outdoor parties. If you like velvet but dread the heat, velvet lapels on a wool jacket, as on TUX-006, give you the texture while keeping things cooler.

Colour and details

Velvet looks richest in deep shades, because the pile absorbs light and returns a soft glow. The familiar choices:

• Burgundy. Warm and classic, made for the year-end season. TUX-131 pairs burgundy velvet with contrasting black satin peak lapels and a single button. More in this palette in the Burgundy and jewel tones collection.
• Midnight and navy. Quiet and easy to wear, and they sit comfortably next to groomsmen in black.
• Bottle green. Unusual yet perfectly polite.
• Black. Black velvet reads deeper than black wool, a difference that only shows under the lights.
• Smoke grey with a tonal pattern. For the man who enjoys something more elaborate, as on TUX-012.

On lapels, the shawl carries the smoking-jacket spirit and feels softer; the peak is sharper and more formal. Lapels are usually faced in black satin to contrast with the pile. Jetted pockets without flaps keep the front clean and properly evening.

How to style a velvet tuxedo jacket

The jacket is already the statement, so everything else should be restrained.

• Trousers: black wool with a satin side stripe. Velvet trousers are rare, since velvet wears and shines quickly at the knee and seat.
• Shirt: white, with a pleated or piqué front, and simple studs and cufflinks.
• Bow tie: black, self-tied, in satin or velvet. A velvet bow tie with a velvet jacket makes a lovely tonal match.
• Waist: with a single-breasted jacket, still cover the waistband with a black cummerbund or waistcoat.
• Shoes: patent leather, opera pumps, or velvet slippers. Velvet slippers began as house shoes, which suits the smoking-jacket spirit.
• Pocket square: white, in a straight fold, no pattern needed.

Caring for velvet

Velvet has a nap: look at it one way and then the other and you will see two different depths of colour. When cutting, the tailor must lay every pattern piece in the same direction of the nap; otherwise each panel reads as a slightly different shade. That is why velvet demands more skill and more careful handling than wool.

At home, a few rules:

• Never press directly on the pile, which will crush into shiny marks. Steam from a distance, or leave it to a dry cleaner used to working with velvet.
• Hang it on a broad-shouldered hanger with space around it, never squeezed between other jackets.
• Brush lightly in the direction of the nap with a soft brush after each wear.
• Keep it out of the rain; if it does get wet, let it dry naturally somewhere airy.

How Mon Amie can help

A TUXEDO by Mon Amie consultant can show you velvet jackets in person, compare velvet colours under evening light and suggest the right trousers, shirt and bow tie for the occasion. You can book a showroom visit or call or message us on Zalo at 0888.111.118.