TUXEDO

Fashion Orientation

Submitted By-
Mubeen Ahmed
Date-07/09/16
INTRODUCTION
A Tuxedo is a formal evening suit distinguished primarily by satin or grosgrain facings on the
jacket's lapels and buttons and a similar stripe along the outseam of the trousers.

The suit is typically black or midnight blue and commonly worn with a formal shirt, shoes and other
accessories, most traditionally in the form prescribed by the black tie dress code.

In Britain, the word "tuxedo" often refers to a white dinner jacket.

ORIGIN
In 1865, the Prince of Wales and future King Edward VII, known to his family and intimates as Bertie, asked his tailor
and friend Henry Poole to cut a short celestial blue evening coat to be worn at informal dinners at Sandringham. No
earlier reference to any similar garment has been found in the historic Henry Poole & Co ledgers, which date back to
1846or the surviving ledgers of any other tailor or period illustration. This royal evening coat was the blueprint for
what we now know in England as the dinner jacket.

The Americans christened the British DJ a tuxedo. The well-known story from the Tuxedo Park Club, north of New
York City, offers the theory that a James Brown Potter met the Prince of Wales in 1886. The Prince had a notorious
wandering eye, and it fell upon Browns devastatingly gorgeous wife, Cora. This frisson of Royal lust led to an
invitation to dine and sleep at Sandringham. Potter, not knowing the form for a Royal informal evening, asked his
tailor, Henry Poole, what he should wear. Poole answered with no little confidence that a short celestial blue
evening coat was appropriatebecause he had already made the very thing for the prince to wear at Sandringham.

The story continues that Potter ordered the short evening coat from Henry Poole and, on his return to the United
States, introduced this new dinner jacket to the Tuxedo Club and New Yorks fashionable social scene.
Unfortunately, due to damage and loss, any record of an American customer named James Potter has disappeared
from Henry Pooles ledgers. However, the founding fathers of the Tuxedo Club, Messers William Waldorf Astor,
Robert Goelet, Ogden Mills and Pierre Lorillard, are all well-documented as Poole customers in the 1860s, when
Bertie first ordered his prototype dinner jacket. It is therefore more than likely that these social peacocks copied the
Prince of Wales and introduced the dinner jacket to New York society (and subsequently the Tuxedo Club) a full
twenty years before the apocryphal Potter incident. However it got to America, the tuxedo started at Henry Poole.
Today, known by different terms around the world (to Germans, it is a Smoking), the Henry Poole dinner jacket, in
black or midnight blue, remains the universal standard for mens eveningwear.
TYPES
Tuxedos are typically worn for formal or black tie events. They come in several colors, lapel styles as well
as fits. Because there are so many options, we have broken down all the components of a tuxedo below
for you to choose from. The way to distinguish a tuxedo from a suit is the satin. You can find that satin on
the lapels, buttons and sometimes pockets whereas a suit will have the same fabric all throughout.
Colored Tuxedos
The black or white tuxedo is a classic but its increasingly common to find navy tuxedos, burgundy
tuxedos and grey tuxedos in weddings and red carpet events.
The White Dinner Jacket
The White Dinner Jacket typically has no satin but it is a unique look for any formal themed parties or
weddings. This look was made popular by James Bond and also The Great Gatsby. We have seen this
trend on almost every red carpet arrival! The dinner jacket is typically paired with black pants and a black
bow tie.
Lapel Styles
Shawl Lapel
This style gives the tuxedo a sleek look. It is characterized by the rounded edges. This style is not very
common on suits. Some styles have a black contrasting lapel on coats that are in a different color.

Notch Lapel
The notch lapel is the most common type of suit lapel style. You
see this style on both suits and tuxedos. The notch lapel is very
popular because people are familiar with it and feel comfortable
wearing it, but it is not the classic tuxedo style (shawl lapels and
peak lapels are).
Framed Lapel
If youre looking for a tuxedo with more of an edgy look, the narrow satin trim in a contrasting color is the
perfect choice. Or if you want to wear a tuxedo with only a little satin, a framed lapel in the same color as
the coat is a good fit for you.

Peak Lapel
The peak lapel is one of the more popular lapel style on the red carpet. It is also considered more formal
and stylized than the others.
Tuxedo Accessories
Cummerbund
This accessory isnt too popular right now but some men still wear it to traditional black tie events. The
purpose of the cummerbund is to cover the waistline where the pants meet the shirt and it can only be
worn with a bow tie, never with a long tie!

Bow Tie
The bow tie is common to wear with both tuxedos and suits.
Different types of bow ties include the batwing, diamond point,
or butterfly.
Long Tie
The purpose of the long tie is to cover up the buttons on the shirt. Although the tie was originally created
for suits, it is quite popular to wear it with a tuxedo.
Women in Tuxedos
Tuxedos are not just limited to men. Many women have made this trend popular, especially on the red
carpet! Both Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively rocked it with their well-tailored tuxes.

C
Trickle Down Theory
The oldest theory of distribution is the trickle-down theory described by Veblen in 1899. To
function, this trickle-down movement depends upon a hierarchical society and a striving for
upward mobility among the various social strata. In this model, a style is first offered and
adopted by people at the top strata of society and gradually becomes accepted by those
lower in the strata (Veblen; Simmel; Laver). This distribution model assumes a social
hierarchy in which people seek to identify with the affluent and those at the top seek both
distinction and, eventually, distance from those socially below them. Fashion is considered a
vehicle of conspicuous consumption and upward mobility for those seeking to copy styles of
dress. Once the fashion is adopted by those below, the affluent reject that look for another.

As it is clear, that Trickle Down Theory fits on Tuxedos. It was innovated by King Edward
VII. And then made its way to people.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuxedo
https://henrypoole.com/history-of-henry-poole-tailor-of-savile-
row/the-tuxedo/
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240527487041322045762
85250103874450
http://www.jbsuits.com/blog/origin-of-tuxedo/
https://www.friartux.com/blog/13679#.V8-fiih97IV
http://fashion-history.lovetoknow.com/fashion-history-
eras/theories-fashion