Position:Home>History> What is the history of the tuxedo?

First, who invented it!.

It's hard to pin down one person who invented it- the exact role of several people involved is in dispute!. There are a few names you will want to know: Henry Poole & Co!., The Prince of Wales, James Potter!.

The Black Tie Guide, which is basically the last word on tuxedos, argues that the tuxedo naturally evolved from the frock coat, the smoking jacket, and the tailcoat!. In short, no one man invented it!. However, it would not be entirely wrong to say that the first tuxedo was commissioned by the Prince of Wales (who later became King Edward VII) and made by his tailors at Henry Poole & Co!., the founders of Savile Row, London's legendary tailoring street!.

It gets confusing later- a later Prince of Wales, the man who became Edward VIII, was also highly influential in men's fashion, and even introduced the midnight blue tuxedo!. If you see 'the Prince of Wales' mentioned, check the time period!. Edward VII was Prince of Wales before 1901; Edward VIII was Prince of Wales from 1910 to 1936!. (This is why we don't have monarchies in America!. Too much to remember!.)

James Potter introduced this unnamed jacket to America!. (Saucy side note- the earlier Prince of Wales was rather taken with Cora Potter, James' wife!.) When the two stayed at the Prince's estate, the Prince had one of these jackets made for James!. James later wore it at a private club in New York!. That club's name!? Tuxedo Park!. Soon enough, the new jacket took off and became referred to as a "tuxedo!."

So, you could argue that the Prince of Wales thought up the tuxedo, Henry Poole & Co!. created it, and James Potter gave it its name!. That's as close as you can get to "who invented it!."

While some sources claim Pierre or Griswold Lorillard as the inventor, this is now known to be incorrect!. Griswold Lorillard caused a scandal by wearing something similar to a tuxedo, but not what we know as a tuxedo!.

Sorry, it's a complicated story!. Now, how it became fashionable and how it became the official formal wear!.

Before the tuxedo, evening formal wear meant white tie!. That is to say, a black tailcoat and trousers, a stiff-fronted white shirt with a stiff, detachable collar, and a low-cut white piqué vest and bow tie!. (Piqué is that waffle-ish weave of cotton!.) After the tuxedo's introduction, it was not entirely accepted by society, and was only acceptable at more informal events, such as a men-only dinner!. In the early days, men would often wear a white vest and sometimes a white tie as well, though the black bow tie was the defining characteristic!. Regardless, white tie was the standard and black tie an exception!.

But war changes everything!. After World War I, social change meant lavish white-tie affairs were less common!. Men on both sides of the Atlantic, used to comfortable military uniforms, didn't want to go back to stiff shirts and heavy jackets!. In fact, by 1922, etiquette expert Emily Post was already telling men that the tuxedo "is worn every evening and nearly everywhere, whereas the tail coat is necessary only at balls, formal dinners, and in a box at the opera!." As time went by, white tie became less and less common, while the tuxedo became the standard!. Frankly, tuxedos are more practical- while good white tie requires expert tailoring and stiff shirts, a man can look quite dashing in a soft tuxedo shirt and an off-the-rack jacket and pants!.

I could keep going, but that's the nuts and bolts of it!. Read through the history section in the Black Tie Guide- it has every detail you could imagine, with extensive illustration!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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Henry Poole & Company invented it!.

The history of the tuxedo dates from 1860 when Henry Poole & Co!. created a short smoking jacket for the then Prince of Wales to wear to informal dinner parties!.

In 1886, Potter's dinner suit proved popular at the Tuxedo Park Club; the club men copied him, soon making it their informal dining uniform!.

I assume this is where it took off on it's popularity!.


Wanna know anymore just ask and I'll answer!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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SmartyPanties is clearly a wookie, and therefore a geek =) so she meant:

Tuxedo (Transactions for Unix, Extended for Distributed Operations) is a middleware platform used to manage distributed transaction processing in distributed computing environments!. Tuxedo is a Transaction Processing System or Transaction Oriented Middleware, or Enterprise Application Server for C, C++, and COBOL!.

It was originally developed and designed by AT&T in 1983 for the creation and administration of Operations Support Systems that required online transaction processing (OLTP) capabilities!. The Tuxedo concepts were derived from the LMOS system!. The original Tuxedo team was comprised of seasoned members of the LMOS team!. In 1993 Novell acquired the UNIX System Laboratories (USL) division of AT&T which was responsible for the development of Tuxedo at the time!. In 1996, BEA Systems made an exclusive agreement with Novell to develop and distribute Tuxedo on non-NetWare platforms, with most Novell employees working with Tuxedo joining BEA!.

Tuxedo was designed from the beginning for high availability and to provide extremely scalable applications allowing Tuxedo to support applications requiring thousands of transactions per second on commonly available distributed systems!. One of the first applications within AT&T for Tuxedo was to support moving the LMOS application off mainframe systems on to much cheaper distributed systems!.

-Your stalker ;)Www@QuestionHome@Com

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