The smoking jacket: ideal for a celebration

I'd like to wish you all a Very Happy New Year. Whether you saw in the New Year lounging in front of the television or dressed up to celebrate over a good meal, I'm sure you did it in great style.

I enjoyed wearing this smoking jacket. Not strictly part of the black tie dress code, a smoking jacket is a fun alternative to the black or dark blue evening suit; perhaps slightly less conventional and therefore more for a party or less formal dinner. It has become increasingly popular in the last few years as men look for a wider range of choice in formal and evening wear. 

Bottle green velvet smoking jacket with frogging from Oliver Brown (right) 

From Victorian times, a velvet or silk coat would be worn by a chap to keep the smell of tobacco off his clothes. The smoking jacket generally has a shawl collar, turned-up cuffs, and frogging (ornamental braiding, often seen on military uniforms). It developed from the seventeenth century oriental dressing gown, which shared some of the same features but was generally longer.  

I've been wanting to try one for a while and am grateful to Oliver Brown for lending me one for the New Year's celebration. The bottle green jacket (illustrated above) is tailored from especially soft velvet, made from cotton milled in Yorkshire and has a canvassed construction, hand-crafted frogging at the buttons and cuffs, cord bordering the shawl collar and is finished with velvet-covered buttons. Available in regular and long fittings and other styles and colours, it's a beautiful coat. See Oliver Brown Evening Wear.

Velvet suits: Jigsaw shows us how to party - A Grey Fox Photoshoot

I have to confess that I thought I'd never wear a velvet jacket again. The trauma of owning a bottle green velvet jacket in the mid-seventies, with slim waist, long in the body and HUGE wide lapels had left mental scars that I thought would never be eradicated. But when Jigsaw asked me to try a navy Italian velvet suit and damson jacket for a photo shoot I decided to give it a chance and to experiment a bit. After all, this is a search for style.

I'd forgotten how comfortable good quality velvet is to wear. Its depth of colour and sheen bring out the peacock in any man contemplating a party. So, with Christmas around the corner, here's your correspondent resplendent in velvet. I've avoided the obvious bow tie styling and imagined a party that falls short of the black tie dress code. From a casual (denim shirt) to a more formal look (with roll neck sweater or white shirt and tie), here's my take on how to wear a velvet suit and jacket.

Navy or damson Bloomsbury Italian velvet suit jacket £249 and matching trousers £119. White pique slim dress shirt £89. All from Jigsaw Menswear (other clothes property of Grey Fox).

Photography by Nick Maroudias. Styling by David Evans, Grey Fox Blog. Please get in touch if you'd like your products featured in a Grey Fox photoshoot.

Beaufort & Blake - printed dress shirts and accessories

Beaufort & Blake was founded in 2012 by three university friends who created a patriotic themed dress shirt for a friend attending a ‘Best of British’ May Ball. After moving to London they developed their own range of of printed clothing and accessories. 

I recently attended a ball wearing one of their beautifully-made Liberty print dress shirts (above) with fox-head (of course) studs.These revive the eighties popularity of shirts with colourful printed arms and back, invisible when worn under evening wear, but shown in all their glory once the jacket is removed. This can be traced to the mess rooms of the British Army where traditional black-tie dress is regularly worn and officers. To mark their individuality once formal proceedings were completed, they would remove their jackets to display humorous and colourful shirts. 

Grey Fox dressing for the ball; bow tie needs a tweak. Beaufort Blake shirt and fox studs

Only 120 shirts are made in each colour way, offering traditional shirting heritage and bold, vibrant colours. All products are made with 100% cotton and manufactured to the highest quality. Liberty prints are used in some of the designs.

Other products include boxer shorts and shirt studs. For more information, or to buy, go to Beaufort & Blake.

Mr Porter x Brioni evening suit - dine and party in elegant style

With the festive season coming up, many of us will be looking for new evening wear. I love the midnight blue of this evening suit - an elegant change from all black. This will be a bit of a luxury purchase for most, but the family-owned Italian brand Brioni bring a touch of quality to this collaboration with Mr Porter.

Mr Porter have matched the suit with a pale blue shirt and deep blue bow tie and cummerbund. The old school may believe that 'black tie' means just that, worn with a white dress shirt and black dinner jacket/evening suit (tuxedo in US). However, the elegance of this suit shows why rules are made to be broken. For wear here in the UK, I'd use a white dress shirt to give it a crisper and more traditional feel, but US tastes are changing our British adherence to black and white.

This puts my old double-breasted evening suit to shame and I covet it! See Mr Porter here.