Last year was the 150th anniversary of the little black jacket. A resident of Tuxedo Park New York, James Brown Potter vacation in England and were introduce to the then Price of Wales who later became King Edward VII, After asking advice on Formal dress Mr Potter went to Henry Poole & Co of Savile Row wear he was fitted a short black black jacket with no tails. Once taken back to the United States and worn for the first time at formal events it was to be forever know as the 'tuxedo'.
To celebrate this iconic garment I teamed up with Henry Poole in a project to reinvent to tuxedo for the modern gentleman. The inspirations for my tuxedo have came from looking at pre and post its invention. After doing my initial research on the Tuxedo and it origins, the fact that it derived from the tail coat and how it has evolved into the modern dinner jacket we all know today, I started to play around with period looks but with modern cuts. I have taken inspiration from all eras from 17th century brocade and 19th century British Regency to Dickinson and the modern catwalk. I wanted to take the best parts of these eras as well as a mix of dinner jacket, frock coat, tail coat, dressing gown, smoking jacket and create something new with a traditional beauty. Together with Dormeuil fabric I used brocade silks, jacquards, satins to craft an outfit that is splendiferous, I want it to be lavish and decadent, and I want the wearer to feel like a king.
If the dress coat could be described as the
most elegant of nineteenth century male attire, then the frock coat must be the
most dignified. Combined with the top hat, the general effect was very
impressive.
From a technical point of view, the frock
coat follows a similar development to the dress coat. The standard pattern has
a panel at the front (double-breasted), a waist seam (I 820s) and - by 1840 —
it included the sidebody panel. Waist
lines were raised or lowered and sleeve styles changed according to prevailing
fashion. There were also variations in the coat length.
Apart from changes in the style of collar
and lapel, the most notable difference in the frock coat from one period to
another was in the style of the skirt. This ranged from being very full and
flared in the earlier period to hanging straight with very little fullness from
1880 to 1900.
Towards the end of the century the frock
coat was mainly replaced by the morning coat.
My Jacket at a photo shoot in Paris
and at the launch party at Quintessentially, London.
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