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[i]If I may have you attention please[/i]
instrumentofwar
Member Posts: 1,545 ✭✭✭✭✭
Where there's smoke, there's a smoking jacket
Associated Press
The smoking jacket, a relic of 19th century England, is returning to fashion along with the dry martini and a fine cigar.
And for good reason, according an executive of Cigar Aficionado.
"When you smoke a cigar, you often find that the aroma lingers on your clothes,'' Niki Singer, senior vice president of the New York-based magazine, says. "So, one of the reasons to wear a smoking jacket would be to absorb the aroma.''
The notion of a gentleman's smoking jacket is time-honored.
The smoking jacket was introduced in the mid-19th century, typically velvet or silk with shawl collar and a sash. It was de rigueur for casual entertaining at home.
A red velvet jacket in the November 1934 issue of Esquire was one "which a host may wear for an informal dinner party at home. This is an idea that has been borrowed from the British. It may properly be worn with the white tie, or with dinner clothes ... or with street dress.''
Smoking jackets suggested the final bastion of masculinity, as men found camaraderie with a good Churchill in hand. As Esquire explained in March, 1936: "(Women have) long since taken our cigarettes, and in salient features through sissified form, our pipes and even our pants, but the cigar counter is the last unfallen fort in the invaded land of man.''
No more.
"Women are smoking cigars everywhere,'' says Lorraine Wardy, a loungewear designer in El Paso, Texas. "There are even women's cigar clubs around the country.''
So last June she introduced smoking jackets for both men and women.
Other parameters have changed, too. Today's smoking jacket isn't just for at-home wear. Nor do you have to light up to suit up. In velvet, silk or brocade, it is an eminently suitable stand-in for a tux. Indeed, the French call a tux "le smoking.''
Neal J. Fox, president and CEO of Sulka New York, a century-old retailer of men's luxury goods, says sales of smoking jackets are up 50 percent this year. "And women are buying the smaller men's sizes,'' he adds.
Just what sort of woman is breathing new life into the old-boy jacket?
"Our customer is obviously exceedingly affluent and into an elegant lifestyle,'' Fox says.
Indeed, dear fellow. Think Gomez Addams. Hef lounging at the Playboy Mansion.
Sulka's custom jackets, $1,750 apiece, can be made in a variety of silk brocades and silk prints in burgundy, forest green or navy. The wrap jacket with tassels on a tie belt is sold at stores in New York; Chicago; San Francisco and Beverly Hills, Calif; Bal Harbour, Fla.; Paris and London.
This season, Alfred Dunhill, tobacconist and purveyor of luxury menswear for 103 years, introduced a brown cotton velveteen smoking jacket with shawl collar, silk frog closures and silk cord trim. It is $795 at Alfred Dunhill stores in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston.
"It's very traditional and very English because of the shawl collar and frog closures. And because it's very traditional, it's a fashion piece right now,'' Charlotte Dyslin, New York vice president of the London-based company, says.
"We pair it with very subtly colored brown plaid wool trousers, a regular formal shirt in white or cream, and an evening slipper in chocolate brown velvet.''
You can spend less and still look well-heeled.
Neiman Marcus stores have a cotton and rayon houndstooth check jacket by Tachi Taylor, $315. And Saks Fifth Avenue has a taupe cotton velveteen smoking jacket and matching lounging pants. They're by Michael Kors, $198 in the women's department.
Some people just shouldn't be allowed to breed
Associated Press
The smoking jacket, a relic of 19th century England, is returning to fashion along with the dry martini and a fine cigar.
And for good reason, according an executive of Cigar Aficionado.
"When you smoke a cigar, you often find that the aroma lingers on your clothes,'' Niki Singer, senior vice president of the New York-based magazine, says. "So, one of the reasons to wear a smoking jacket would be to absorb the aroma.''
The notion of a gentleman's smoking jacket is time-honored.
The smoking jacket was introduced in the mid-19th century, typically velvet or silk with shawl collar and a sash. It was de rigueur for casual entertaining at home.
A red velvet jacket in the November 1934 issue of Esquire was one "which a host may wear for an informal dinner party at home. This is an idea that has been borrowed from the British. It may properly be worn with the white tie, or with dinner clothes ... or with street dress.''
Smoking jackets suggested the final bastion of masculinity, as men found camaraderie with a good Churchill in hand. As Esquire explained in March, 1936: "(Women have) long since taken our cigarettes, and in salient features through sissified form, our pipes and even our pants, but the cigar counter is the last unfallen fort in the invaded land of man.''
No more.
"Women are smoking cigars everywhere,'' says Lorraine Wardy, a loungewear designer in El Paso, Texas. "There are even women's cigar clubs around the country.''
So last June she introduced smoking jackets for both men and women.
Other parameters have changed, too. Today's smoking jacket isn't just for at-home wear. Nor do you have to light up to suit up. In velvet, silk or brocade, it is an eminently suitable stand-in for a tux. Indeed, the French call a tux "le smoking.''
Neal J. Fox, president and CEO of Sulka New York, a century-old retailer of men's luxury goods, says sales of smoking jackets are up 50 percent this year. "And women are buying the smaller men's sizes,'' he adds.
Just what sort of woman is breathing new life into the old-boy jacket?
"Our customer is obviously exceedingly affluent and into an elegant lifestyle,'' Fox says.
Indeed, dear fellow. Think Gomez Addams. Hef lounging at the Playboy Mansion.
Sulka's custom jackets, $1,750 apiece, can be made in a variety of silk brocades and silk prints in burgundy, forest green or navy. The wrap jacket with tassels on a tie belt is sold at stores in New York; Chicago; San Francisco and Beverly Hills, Calif; Bal Harbour, Fla.; Paris and London.
This season, Alfred Dunhill, tobacconist and purveyor of luxury menswear for 103 years, introduced a brown cotton velveteen smoking jacket with shawl collar, silk frog closures and silk cord trim. It is $795 at Alfred Dunhill stores in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston.
"It's very traditional and very English because of the shawl collar and frog closures. And because it's very traditional, it's a fashion piece right now,'' Charlotte Dyslin, New York vice president of the London-based company, says.
"We pair it with very subtly colored brown plaid wool trousers, a regular formal shirt in white or cream, and an evening slipper in chocolate brown velvet.''
You can spend less and still look well-heeled.
Neiman Marcus stores have a cotton and rayon houndstooth check jacket by Tachi Taylor, $315. And Saks Fifth Avenue has a taupe cotton velveteen smoking jacket and matching lounging pants. They're by Michael Kors, $198 in the women's department.
Some people just shouldn't be allowed to breed