“What’s For Dinner?” The Dinner Suit Makes a Comeback

Life is slowly getting back to normal, and we are starting to congregate with others more freely- both at home and in restaurants. If fashion history proves anything, it’s that everything old is new again. Is it time for a dinner suit revival? I always take note of when a woman opts for a jacket-based evening look. It’s rather unexpected, and she will invariably stand out in a sea of dresses and gowns.

Elsa Schiaparelli popularized the dinner suit in the 1930s with her sleeveless ankle-length sheath dress and fitted jacket. Schiap’s embellished, wide-shouldered jackets were highly influential in Hollywood and endorsed by international café society darlings like Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), Daisy Fellows, and Wallis Simpson.

The Duchess of Windsor was always impeccably groomed and flawlessly turned out. Tailoring was one of the fashion icon’s signatures. For her 1937 wedding, Simpson wore a “Wallis blue” floor-length dress with a long-sleeved jacket designed by Mainbocher. He designed her trousseau and continued to dress the Duchess until his retirement in the early ’70s. Simpson wore many of the designer’s dinner suits, like the memorable version seen here, featuring a jacket adorned with white orchids on one shoulder and two jeweled leaves on the other. Photographed by Edward Carswell, the picture appeared in Vogue, December 1941.

Designers are continuingly reinventing the dinner suit with a number of high-profile style-setters wearing different iterations. For the virtual 2021 SAG awards, Catherine O’Hara wore a custom Thom Browne black-and-white sequined tuxedo suit comprised of a jacket worn over a long dress with a white silk faille corset vest and trompe l’oeil bow tie shirt. Catherine accessorized it with an elongated version of Browne’s signature Hector bag. She stole the show.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas made two eye-catching wardrobe changes during last weekend’s 2021 BAFTA Awards; each was a riff on the dinner suit. The real standout was a design by Ronald van der Kemp from his Fall 2020 Haute Couture Collection. The silk Mikado jacket is made entirely from recycled materials and decorated with hand-painted, beaded, and pleated butterflies, worn with a long narrow black plisse skirt.

Michael Halpern incorporated two versions of the dinner suit in his Spring 2021 collection. The native New Yorker (who shows in London) founded his eponymous label in 2017. He is known for his youthful and joyful approach to glamour, a love of fantasy, and the embrace of couture-like silhouettes. Among his muses are Donatella Versace (he worked for Versace in Milan) and his mother, a Studio 54 regular.

Ralph Lauren envisions his women enjoying an elegant dinner somewhere in the world and always provides them with the perfect outfit. Ralph’s midnight navy wool barathea “Callahan” jacket, $2190, and Woodson wool-crepe tuxedo pants with side stripe, $1490, evoke old Hollywood and are ideal for a formal celebration. Both are available at ralphlauren.com

Sequins are everywhere, but you don’t usually see them in dark brown. Ralph Lauren’s wool twill “Lilli” jacket is intricately embellished with tonal micro-sequins. Worn with a silk cravat, perfectly cut white trousers, and brown espadrilles, it’s festive yet relaxed. The jacket is $3990, and the wool crepe “Stanford” pants are $1090. Both are for sale at ralphlauren.com

Christopher Esber’s slightly oversized black jacket, long black skirt, abbreviated bra, and crystal body jewelry are a decidedly sexy, minimal take on the dinner suit. I would not be surprised to see Zendaya, Emily Ratajkowski, or Dua Lipa wearing this abs-baring creation. They are just some of the fans of this Sydney-based designer.

Many of us think the ultimate dinner suit is the red velvet pantsuit Tom Ford designed for Gucci, 1996 (the one that turned Gwyneth Paltrow into a household name). It’s back! For his Gucci 100th anniversary collection (named “Aria”), Alessandro Michele collaborated with (or should I say, “hacked”) Tom Ford and Balenciaga’s Demna Gvasalia.

This crystal dinner suit is perfect for those who want a logo (or two) to go along with the shimmer. It’s easy to see which part is Alessandro and which part is Demna.

And finally, I cannot do a story on dinner suits without including this very rare and admittedly cheeky design from Franco Moschino’s Fall 1989 “Show Off” Couture Collection. The three-piece suit features six gold-plated spoons, four forks, and six knives (2 are on the cuffs). It recently sold at an auction for $4500 but is available at 1stdibs for $2561. “Knives Out”!