Tuxedo vs smoking jacket: a house garment is not evening dress

A smoking jacket is a house garment for relaxing after dinner, usually in velvet or silk, fastened with a tie belt or frogging. A tuxedo is evening dress for going out to a party or the theatre. They share a lineage but not a purpose: one is for a private room, the other for a crowded evening. Wearing a smoking jacket to a black tie event would be read as a mistake.

What a smoking jacket really is

The garment emerged in Britain in the mid-nineteenth century, when gentlemen retired after dinner to the smoking room or library. They put on a separate jacket so the smell of smoke would not cling to their evening clothes, then returned to the drawing room. It sits closer to a dressing gown than to a coat.

Typical features:

• Velvet, silk or embroidered brocade, sometimes quilted.
• Shawl collar faced in contrasting satin or silk.
• Fastened with frogging (braided cord loops) or a tie belt at the waist.
• Deep turn-back cuffs, often trimmed.
• A longer, looser cut with little structure.

Colours run deep: burgundy, bottle green, navy, black. It is a garment of privacy and needs to please nobody but its wearer.

The tuxedo is evening dress for going out

The tuxedo goes out into the world. The jacket is short and close-cut, with satin lapels and covered buttons, worn with satin-striped trousers, a dress shirt, a black bow tie and patent shoes. It is built to the black tie standard for wearing among a formal crowd, and every detail aims at a tidy, uniform line that never slackens.

Shared roots, different jobs

The tuxedo inherited from the smoking jacket an easy evening spirit and the shawl collar. By the familiar account, in the 1860s the Prince of Wales had a short tailless jacket made for informal dinners, and that was the forerunner of the dinner jacket. In 1886 the style appeared at the Tuxedo Park club in New York. Read more in the origin of the tuxedo.

An interesting twist: in much of continental Europe the tuxedo itself is called "smoking". The name comes from the smoking jacket, but there it denotes evening dress and no longer a house garment. So when you meet the word "smoking" in France or Italy, it means your tuxedo, not a dressing jacket.

Side by side

Feature	Smoking jacket	Tuxedo
Purpose	House garment, relaxing	Evening dress for going out
Cloth	Velvet, silk, brocade	Fine wool, mohair, sometimes velvet
Fastening	Frogging or tie belt	Covered buttons
Cuffs	Deep turn-back, decorative	Neat, with cufflinks or buttons
Cut	Long, loose	Short, close
Worn with	Lounge trousers or dark trousers	Matching satin-striped trousers
Occasion	At home, private room	Evening reception, black tie

When a smoking jacket is appropriate

The smoking jacket has its place; it is simply not at a black tie event:

• Receiving close friends at home after dinner, with a drink and a cigar.
• A cigar lounge or private club that leans on the classic atmosphere. An evening of cigars and whisky says more about this setting.
• A photo shoot or themed event that calls for period style.
• A weekend at home, if you want a garment with character.

If you love velvet but want to wear it out, the velvet tuxedo jacket is made as genuine evening wear: buttoned, satin-faced and fit for a party. See the velvet tuxedo jacket, or a real example such as TUX-012, a smoke grey velvet jacket with a black satin shawl collar.

Avoiding confusion when buying

If a shop calls a velvet jacket with a tie belt a tuxedo, check it: a belt or frogging and a long, loose cut mean a house garment. A short cut, covered buttons and satin lapels mean evening wear. When ordering made to measure, say clearly which you want so the tailor makes the right one.

Tips from the Mon Amie workroom

The Mon Amie workroom specialises in evening wear for going out: tuxedos, velvet jackets and dinner jackets. If you want a velvet jacket you can wear to a party, book a visit at a showroom to choose cloth and lapel.