My favorite jacket from Steed isn’t even something I own. It’s a cream-colored DB Edwin once cut for style writer Glenn O’Brien. In an old feature at GQ, O’Brien said of it: “I have a few tuxes. I guess in case somebody books me in Vegas for a couple of nights. My first-string tux is a peak-lapel Anderson & Sheppard – makes me feel like a million plus. Another is a shawl-collar double-breasted tux. The oddball in my formal wardrobe is this double-breasted white dinner jacket I had made by Steed of Savile Row. It’s not really white, but sort of ‘clotted cream.’ Somehow I rarely wear it. Maybe I’ll throw it on for a party some hot night.”
If tailored clothing can be hard to wear in the 2016, semi-formal clothes are only more so (and none harder to wear than a cream-colored dinner jacket, as O’Brien notes). Generally speaking, such jackets are reserved for open-air social gatherings on hot, summer evenings. Think: country club dances, yacht club parties, and outdoor weddings (presuming you’re the groom).
Much of this comes from the jacket’s origins. In the 1930s, well-heeled vacationers wanted something formal they could wear in the tropics, but without having to endure the heavier, darker fabrics traditionally found on evening clothes. So they had white dinner jackets made, originally with single-breasted closures and shawl collar lapels, although double-breasted designs later became popular.
Today, given that social dress codes have all-but-disappeared, you can wear one in non-traditional settings, so long as you’re OK with dressing more formally than others. I like that my friend Andy wears one when he goes out for dinner with his wife. On why he wears tuxedos so often, he said: “because life is too short to wait for ‘an occasion’ and I look damn good in one!” Good enough reason for me.
For men who want to try something fashion forward, pair a cream-colored dinner jacket with casual cotton trousers and a simple dress shirt (see the photo from Eidos above, or this one of Lapo Elkann). Again, this sort of look would be great for an evening summer party, so long as you’re OK with bucking dress norms. You can find the Eidos dinner jacket at No Man Walks Alone, although J. Crew also has a single-breasted option for those on a budget.
If you’re less willing to stick out, try a cream-colored sport coat, such as the one seen on BRIO owner George Wang below. Still good for summer evening parties, but more versatile during the day. If you get one as a suit, you can also wear the two as suit separates (see my friend David’s very-useful guide on different shades of off-white pants). A cream-colored suit or sport coat won’t have the festive formality of true evening clothes, but the color will still feel special, no matter how you cut the jacket.
(photos via GQ, BRIO, The Sartorialist, A Suitable Wardrobe, Eidos, The Armoury, No Man Walks Alone, The Suits of James Bond, Voxsartoria, and Rubinacci)
