[Winhes2]

Does anyone know of these?

It appears to hang more as a light cotton windbreaker than a dinner jacket

Seems entirely unstructured except for some shoulder padding.

I'd think it would be for a woman, but it has a hole for a boutonnière in the shawl lapel.

It is said to be 70 or 80 years old.

Being only cotton with a light lining, it wouldn't be too warm on hot summer nights.

 

[drpeter]

If memory serves, I believe my late father had one. It was a cream cotton dinner jacket, double-breasted and with peaked lapels. I don't remember whether it had a four-button front or a six-button one. I'm pretty sure it was unlined, or at most partially lined at the back. He worked in Colonial Malaya from 1930 to 1960, roughly, and the weather there is both hot and humid.

 

[Matt S]

Do you have a photo of it? I don't think I've ever seen an unstructured ivory dinner jacket, but they were commonly half-lined or quarter-lined (which has nothing to do with canvassing). Are you sure it doesn't have a lightweight canvas? If it has shoulder padding, it likely has some canvassing too.

 

[drpeter]

Do you have a photo of it? I don't think I've ever seen an unstructured ivory dinner jacket, but they were commonly half-lined or quarter-lined (which has nothing to do with canvassing). Are you sure it doesn't have a lightweight canvas? If it has shoulder padding, it likely has some canvassing too.

Gosh, I last saw it some time in the late 1960s! It has long been gone, my memories are rather vague, and no, I had no photo of it, not even one of my father wearing it, regrettably. I do know that it was bespoke, since all of his clothes, and my clothes as well from my youth, were all made by tailors. My Dad would take me and my brother each year to his tailor in Kuala Lumpur, and he had a large shop with long polished wooden counters, very lovely, and behind it racks and racks of wood and glass enclosed cases filled with bolts of suitings and shirtings. My father and our tailor taught me about clothes, and like my Dad, I developed an affinity for good clothes and dressing well. The tailor would outfit us for the school year and take our measurements. Everything fit so well, and I had no idea what ready-made clothes were like until I was eighteen! Another world, another life.

 

[Winhes2]

Here it is. The seller thinks it may be from Hong Kong. Light dinner jacket

 

[drpeter]

Here it is. The seller thinks it may be from Hong Kong. Light dinner jacket

Thanks for the link with all the photos. My impression is that it is indeed a dinner jacket for tropical wear, rather than an odd jacket with a shawl collar. It's hard to figure out how it will look on a man (as opposed to a mannequin). The almost complete lack of structure puzzles me. A dinner jacket needs to have some structure in order to give it good shape and a decent silhouette. This jacket appears to have neither, although one can't be certain of this since there are no images of how it would look on an actual person. Are you thinking of purchasing this piece, @Winhes2 ?

 

[Matt S]

That jacket likely has a lightweight inner structure, but it needs to be pressed. I don't think it would have that much shoulder padding but not have canvassing. The fabric looks very lightweight, so if it isn't well-pressed it's going to look messy even with structure.

It says there's a union-made label, so I'm guessing that would mean it's American?

 

[Winhes2]

I was considering it and asked the seller several questions. He confirmed that it is not canvassed. He thinks it may have been made in Hong Kong for that climate. I was considering acquiring it because it would be very light for summer, but there are more structured ones available at similar prices and I don't have the experience or knowledge to know whether this one could be made to look nice. There is no way to confirm the material. So, I'll pass. It was a matter of idle hands. I wear my current formal wear about once every 5 years, so I really don't need one of these. On the other hand, there is plenty in my closet I wear only rarely.