The Smoking Jacket As Opposed To The Smoking Gun...

Relish The Gentleman

Sir Basil Seal

Mrs. P has started on haber as well as dash, so I, of course immediately started actually reading her post...I gleaned a bit about pipes, anniversaries and a suitable wardrobe as well as a mention of the venerable smoking jacket.  Well, as you have probably guessed by now, I not only own a velvet smoking jacket, but actually wear one.  And as such, I thought it best to discuss it with all of you first before Mrs. P can do irreparable harm.  Contrary to popular belief, you can wear a smoking jacket without actually smoking, although, I personally would consider you a complete and utter wuss if you don't puff like Bette Davis while wearing yours.  Yes, just as most of you wear a baseball cap (probably backwards) without actually being a member of a baseball team, you can don the jacket without actually lighting up (tobacco) and shocking all your friends at your Whole Foods organic balsamic vinegar tasting party.   Anyway, one treats a smoking jacket as if it were a dinner jacket, except that a smoking jacket is "at home wear" worn for entertaining at home.  It should be worn with a formal shirt (with bow tie) and trousers (black or midnight blue) or gray flannels and a pair of black velvet (personalized motif optional) or leather Alberts.  You can also wear a less formal shirt with a scarf or ascot tied jauntily about the neck.  The  smoking jacket is one of the last vestiges of men's wear which survives (barely) from the era when men wore different clothing based upon time-of-day and location.  If you are of a daring and devil-may-care nature you could also don the velvet smoking cap with tassel colored to match your jacket...But we are venturing into professional territory here, so tread carefully.  I must say that the smoking jacket is one of the quintessential items which need inhabit a gentleman's wardrobe and I've been told that the chicks dig it.  So, there you are.  A variation on the theme is the men's cashmere robe or gown, which is worn over your shirt and tie after you have removed your jacket.  This was a favorite look of Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street fame.  I wear them both to great applause.  So should you.  When you purchase your velvet smoking jacket, you need also pick up your gunmetal cigarette case, your Ronson lighter and several packs of Chesterfield King non-filters.  Do it right son, or don't do it at all...

Comments

[Mrs. Peperium]

"I wear them both to great applause."

Best line.

[MCNS]

I want one of these.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41JESeTGQcL._SS400_.jpg

[Old Dominion Tory]

Irish Elk, I believe that particular garment that you profess to desire would be worn with hideously rumpled "cargo shorts" that come below the knee, gamey "flip-flops" (or equally gamey "crocs"), a t-shirt displaying some trendy saying, and a ball cap, worn backwards. The pipe, of course, should be replaced by a bong or a can or bottle of some appalling beverage (outrageously claimed to be beer) of the type nigh continuously advertised during televised sporting events. Also, the model here is far too well-groomed; a three- or four-day growth of beard and head of hair about six weeks past the time when attention from a barber was essential would be much closer to type.

[MCNS]

ODT, all this may be true, but the rewards are great. http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31FKWAWE40L._AA280_.jpg

[Mrs. Peperium]

I love Catholic priests. Why didn't someone give him a smoking jacket - not that he needed it :

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MzI4MDdiMjYzZTlkZGE0N2VhMmQ4ODRkNTE3OTc0MjE=

[Robbo]

As I recall, Sir Watkyn Bassett dined in a smoking jacket with soup stains all down the front, thus earning an entry in Gussie Fink-Nottle's little book of personal flaws with which he planned to nerve himself to make his Wedding Breakfast speech.

[Mrs. Peperium]

Ah! One of my favorite passages in one of my favorite Wodehouses. Yes, I have always taken that detail as proof positive of Sir W's innate, inborn insufficiency for the post in life he had recently assumed.

I'm with Bertie. He must have stuck to the fines like glue in order to afford that shack at Totley.