Formal wear origins

BACK IN THE DAY
FORMAL WEAR ORIGINS
Looking to the past is always helpful in a fashion world where trends come and go.
Nothing is more classical than formal wear and this type of clothing should not be
subject to radical change. Nevertheless, history shows how the style was born and its
main evolutions – a classic story that never ends.
Traditional formal wear
has been produced by
some of the world’s best
tailors and dressers
dating back to the
English Regency.
Prior to that time, aristocratic finery
had been largely a peacock affair,
consisting of opulent materials and
elaborate embellishments. Then
menswear underwent a dramatic
revolution during the Georgian
period, when the popularity of the
‘country gentleman’ look emphasized
horsey, practical clothing. Renowned
dandy Beau Brummell perfected
the look around the turn of the
century, combining the understated
colours and materials of the country
squire with the impeccable tailoring
and exquisite finish of the London
gentleman. At the core of Brummell’s
new look was the tailcoat, a long coat
that had originally been cut away in
front for ease of wear when riding
on horseback which soon became
accepted by the aristocracy as the
English Regency outfits were the birth of formal wear
new dress coat. Because clothing was
occasion-specific for the leisure class,
different interpretations of the coat
were used for a gentleman’s daytime
and evening wardrobes. Brummell
preferred his evening tailcoats in dark
blue or black and would typically pair
them with a white waistcoat, black
pantaloons or black knee breeches,
white cravat and thin shoes. Other
Regency dandies experimented
with more elaborate versions of this
ensemble, but by the mid-century,
Brummell’s original vision had
become a strict black-and-white dress
code that has been the basis for formal
evening wear ever since. Around
this time, the daytime version of the
tailcoat was replaced by the kneelength
frock coat, creating a more
distinct demarcation between evening
dress and the newly coined ‘morning
dress’. Thanks to the unrivalled
dominance of English tailors during
this period, the island’s dress codes
were adopted by nations throughout
the western world.
As the Victorian industrial revolution
unfolded, these dress codes were
adopted by a growing middle class
whose striving towards genteel
respectability led to the rules becoming
increasingly strict. Not surprisingly,
men began to seek a respite from the
practice of dressing like an orchestra
conductor just to eat dinner in their
own homes. Some English squires
began to substitute their tailcoat with a
similarly styled version of the smoking
jacket for less-formal evenings, a trend
that gained legitimacy when adopted by
Queen Victoria’s son Edward, Prince
of Wales. Sartorial legend has it that
American millionaire James Potter then
discovered this comfortable alternative
during a visit to the Prince’s country
estate in 1886 and brought it back to the
exclusive enclave of Tuxedo Park. When
fellow New Yorkers noticed the town’s
residents wearing the novel jacket to
dinner in public, they associated it
with the town’s name, although polite
society generally preferred the British
moniker “dinner jacket”.
However it was referred to, the new
evening jacket’s popularity grew
during Edward’s reign as king. Also
during this era, the frock coat was
gradually usurped as formal day
wear by the less formal morning coat
(cutaway in American English), a type
of tailcoat invented in the 1850s that
was originally intended for horseback
riding, like its evening counterpart.
World War I significantly relaxed
social mores, as wars are wont to do.
One of the consequences was the
“semi-formal” tuxedo’s acceptance
as standard evening wear while the
tailcoat became reserved only for very
formal society affairs such as balls,
elaborate formal dinners and a night
at the opera. Another outcome was
the arrival of the black lounge jacket
(stroller in American English) as a
similar alternative for the morning coat.
Both of these Jazz Age developments
were championed by the twentiethcentury
Beau Brummell, a dashing
young Prince of Wales, better known
today as the Duke of Windsor. His
global influence continued into the
Great Depression fostered by advances
in tailoring and textiles that led to the
golden age of menswear. This period
marked the acceptance of midnight
blue evening wear and swank warmweather
alternatives such as doublebreasted
and white dinner jackets. Its
legacy also included the codification of
the accoutrements for the morning coat,
tailcoat and tuxedo, giving rise to the
‘white tie’ and ‘black tie’ classifications
in the process. Not surprisingly, the
standards set during this remarkable
era have been the benchmarks of
proper formal wear ever since.
The sartorial golden age ended with the
advent of World War II, and a further
decline in dress and social standards.
As the business suit became more
acceptable after dark, many began to
regard the tuxedo as special-occasion
attire rather than de facto evening
wear and the tailcoat consequently
became relegated to mostly ceremonial
occasions. Conversely – and
paradoxically – the semi-formal stroller
failed to catch on and the morning
coat remained standard attire for
formal daytime functions, at least in
Britain. In the more casually inclined
United States, morning dress became
increasingly viewed as an anachronism.
During the counterculture movement
of the 1960s and 70s, traditional
formal wear approached extinction, as
leisure suits and turtlenecks gained
acceptability and youth were warned
not to trust anyone over 30. The
period’s ‘Peacock Revolution’ assaulted
formal attire with a riot of coloured
and flashy materials, an onslaught of
neo-Edwardian ruffles and frills and a
barrage of mod alternatives such as the
Nehru jacket and ‘formal jumpsuit’.
The election of Conservative leader
Margaret Thatcher in 1979 and
Republican US President Ronald
Reagan in 1980 signalled an end to
this bohemianism, as well as the dawn
of unprecedented consumerism. The
result was a boom in formal wear’s
popularity and styling not seen since
the thirties. American tuxedo sales
skyrocketed as the formal suit returned
Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964)
influenced Indian people to fight for their independence
and also inspired fashionistas with his famous
‘Nehru jacket’
to its classic black-and-white roots,
while simultaneously being updated
by fashion designers recently imported
from the world of women’s couture.
In the 1990s, some of these stylists
attempted to completely redefine
black tie with band-collar and black
shirts, long ties and uncovered waists,
looks eagerly adopted by the young
Hollywood glitterati.
The Yuppie-era boom finally came
to an end with the rise of GenX and
the ‘age of whatever’, reinforced
by George W. Bush’s and Gordon
Brown’s protests against white tie
and Barack Obama’s ignorance of, or
ambivalence towards, conventional
black tie. Despite this, formal
fashions remain fairly conservative.
In fact, Tom Ford recently revitalized
the tuxedo with a return to goldenage
styling, proving yet again that
when it comes to formal wear there
is no better formula for success than
sticking to classical details.
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© Life
Peter Marshall