The fair haired boy of the beach walk
Esquire, January 1935: “This is the semi-formal evening outfit that will be worn by the best-dressed men at Palm Beach this winter. It consists of a white shawl collar dinner jacket with dress trousers of black or midnight blue tropical worsted. The jacket is of lightweight washable material in the single-breasted model that finally won out over the double-breasted type in the preferences of Newport and Southampton men by the end of last summer.
“The soft shirt is of white silk with collar attached, worn with a black rep dress tie in the popular semi-butterfly shape. The hose are sheer black silk with a deep maroon clock, and the pumps are patent leather. The maroon silk foulard handkerchief in the breast pocket here replaces the omnipresent red carnation. A tan camel’s hair topcoat and a sennit straw hat complement this outfit on cool evenings. A wine silk cummerbund is recommended here.”
Unless you do vacation in the classic sunspots of North America, and go to a lot of dinner events, I can’t recommend a white dinner jacket. But those going to this season’s awards dinners should take note of the other aspects of the dinner ensemble, including wine-coloured accessories and use of silk.
Mine came in handy over Christmas in the Caribbean. I used a red silk in the pocket and standard issue black cummerbund.
Simon, I’ll admit that this year I’m a bit lost on what to wear for summer. I had only one unlined summer jacket last year (my first, a light linen jacket), and before that I generally wore only shirts. I’m 35 now and looking to improve my summer wardrobe.
I’ve always taken more interest in cooler climate clothes, but I’d like to see summer through on a more stylish note.
I hope you’ll be posting about classic summer looks over the next few months. I’d like to pick up a few ideas.
One thing that confuses me a bit is..are you suppose to wear tuxedo bottoms as part of the ensemble or can you accompany this dinner jacket with plain black trousers???
Dear Julio B.,
You definitely want to opt for tuxedo trousers with a single braid.
If you look closely enough, you will see that the gentleman in the picture also wears tuxedo trousers.
Gentleman’s Gazette,
Thanks! for the heads up, and yes I looked at the picture a second time around and noticed 🙂
Regards,
Julio B.
I wonder if a dinner jacket like the one showed in the picture is acceptable in a wool/linen fabric. Would it be unpractical for the chance of wrinkles because of the linen blend? or would it be of lower quality because of the fact that it’s a blend all together?
Julio B.
Julio, the biggest issue would be that a wool/linen blend simply wouldn’t have the formality of the jacket pictured. Linen would give the cloth greater texture as well, as you say, of increasing wrinkles.
Simon
Simon,
Very true, I had a feeling of this but I was blinded by a designer piece.
Thanks for the feedback,
Julio B.