This Week In Cigar History July 7 - 11

One of the most acclaimed symbols of 20th century fashion, Yves Saint Laurent's Le Smoking tuxedo for women, took its debut strut down Parisian couture runways this week in July 1966.

Hailed as a breakthrough for women, the androgynous pantsuit -- inspired by its masculine equivalent -- enabled women to dress with 'alpha male' swagger.

The history of the original Tuxedo, a semi-formal men's dress suit, dates back to 1860 when founders of London's Saville Row bespoke tailoring traditions, Henry Poole and Company, constructed a short smoking jacket for the cigar loving Prince of Wales (Edward VII of the United Kingdom) to wear to informal dinner parties at his Norfolk hunting estate, Sandringham. Reputedly, the Prince, who had a number of mistresses, fancied the married Cora Potter...and in 1886 invited her and her wealthy New York husband, James Potter, to a weekend jaunt. Reports vary as to whether Potter asked the Prince for dinner dress advice…or if the Prince strongly urged his guest to visit his tailors, thereby freeing up the wife's availability. Regardless, Henry Poole and Co. tailored a smoking jacket for visiting Americans.

When the couple returned to New York, Potter wore his Saville Row tailored smoking jacket to the exclusive Tuxedo Park Club. Admiring club members soon had tailors sewing up copies for themselves...and the "Tuxedo" became the informal uniform of the club's "stag" dinners.

This Week in Cigar History

7/7/08

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