For many, the smoking jacket conjures up one very vivid image: a libidinous magazine publisher, pipe clenched in teeth and arms wrapped round bunny-costumed, bleach blonde beauties. For others, the smoking jacket is a relic of another age, a remnant of a time when gentlemen socialized in overstuffed easy chairs at the club. The smoking jacket has managed to become both a curiosity from high-society days-gone-by and an icon of debauchery. How many other garments can say that?
History
In the 1850s, the Gentlemen's Magazine of London defined the smoking jacket as a "kind of short robe de chambre, of velvet, cashmere, plush, merino or printed flannel, lined with bright colours, ornamented with brandenbourgs, olives or large buttons" – but the smoking jacket actually got its start much earlier.
In the 17th century, trade began flowing into Europe from India, Asia, and the Americas, bringing in exotic goods like spices, tobacco, coffee, and silks, and it became fashionable to be depicted in a portrait wearing a silk robe de chambre. When the Crimean War during the 1850s popularised Turkish tobacco in England, smoking gained in popularity and the robe de chambre evolved into the short smoking jacket.
The classic smoking jacket is mid-thigh length and made from silk, velvet, or both. It has a shawl collar and turned-up cuffs, and is closed with either toggle or button fastenings, or a tie belt. After dinner, gentleman of yore donned a smoking jacket and retired to a den or smoking room. The jacket absorbed the odours from cigars or pipes and protected clothing from falling ash. When the smoking interlude came to an end, men slipped back into their dinner jackets and returned to their female companions.
These days, the classic smoking jacket has evolved into the velvet blazer. If a tuxedo is too formal, a sweater is too casual, and a suit feels too unimaginative, a velvet blazer is just right. It provides the perfect bridge between feeling comfortable and looking sharp.
In Popular Culture
The list of famous smoking jacket wearers contains some very impressive names indeed. In addition to Hef, the smoking jacket was made famous by Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Fred Astaire (who was even buried in one). Modern men who have rocked in the look include everyone from Brandon Flowers of The Killers, to Kanye, to Ryan Gosling, to Jude Law, to Usher, to Brad Pitt, to Tom Ford.
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