Short History of Tuxedo

The tuxedo's history dates from 1860, when Henry Poole & Co. (Savile Row's founders), created a short smoking jacket for the Prince of Wales (Edward VII of the United Kingdom) to wear to informal dinner parties. Per sartorial legend, in spring of 1886, because the Prince fancied Cora Potter, he invited her husband, James Potter, a rich New Yorker, to Sandringham house, his Norfolk hunting estate. When Potter asked the Prince's dinner dress recommendation, he sent Potter to Henry Poole & Co., in London. On returning to New York 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.^[1]

Linguistically, the word tuxedo predates dinner jacket by two years, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. It has been inaccurately used to denote any form of formal dress or semi-formal dress including white tie, morning dress, and strollers.