Black tie has a reputation for being rigid, and mostly it's earned. Shirt's white, tie's black, trousers have a stripe. Not a lot of room to move.
The dinner jacket is where the room is.
Strictly speaking a dinner jacket is just the jacket half of a tuxedo, faced in satin or grosgrain at the lapel. In everyday American use the phrase has drifted somewhere narrower and more interesting: the jacket that isn't plain black, worn with black formal trousers. Ivory. Velvet. Midnight. A quiet jacquard. That's the version this guide is about.
The rule that makes any of them work
One expressive element. Everything else strictly correct.
A burgundy velvet jacket with black formal trousers, a white formal shirt, a black bow tie and polished black shoes looks elegant. That same jacket with a patterned shirt, a colored tie and brown shoes is a costume.
The jacket gets to be the whole idea. Nothing else on you should be competing with it.
Midnight blue
Buying one dinner jacket? Buy this one.
Midnight blue was the original fix for a problem with black. Under artificial light black absorbs everything and goes flat, and next to something genuinely black it can look faintly green or brown. Midnight reads deeper and richer under exactly the lighting these events use. It isn't a compromise on formality either. You could argue it's the more correct evening color.
It also passes at strict black tie, at black tie optional, and at anything looser, which is more than the expressive options can claim. Practically speaking, it's the one that gets worn.
Ivory
In most of the country the ivory dinner jacket is a curiosity that surfaces twice a decade. In Northeast Florida it's genuinely useful clothing.
It belongs at warm-weather evening events. Outdoor receptions, spring and summer galas, weddings on the water at Ponte Vedra or Amelia Island, anything where eight o'clock still feels like the afternoon. It reads relaxed and confident rather than stiff, which suits an outdoor evening far better than a full black tuxedo does.
Two rules keep it right. Black formal trousers, always, because an ivory suit and an ivory dinner jacket are different garments and the matching version isn't black tie. And a black bow tie, not a colored one.
Fabric matters more here than anywhere else, since the color shows everything. Tropical wool or a wool and mohair blend holds its shape through a humid evening. A soft low-twist cloth won't.
Velvet
Velvet is the winter answer and the holiday answer. Deep green, burgundy, ink blue, or black.
It carries weight and depth under low evening light in a way flat cloth can't, which is why it photographs so well. It's also warm, so it's a December and January garment down here rather than a year-round one. Wear velvet to an outdoor reception in May and you'll know about it within twenty minutes.
Black velvet is the subtle version and more useful than people expect. At a glance it reads as a standard tuxedo and the texture only announces itself up close. Colored velvet is the confident version, and it's squarely creative black tie territory.
Jacquard and patterned
The most expressive end of the range. A subtle woven pattern in a tonal color: black on black, midnight on midnight, a fine paisley, a small geometric.
What matters is tonal versus contrasting. A tonal jacquard, where the pattern sits in the same color as the ground and only shows as light moves across it, looks sophisticated. High contrast in two clear colors is a novelty jacket, and it'll look like one in the photographs for the rest of your life.
Shawl or peak
Two correct choices, saying different things.
The shawl collar is the unbroken curve. Softer, more classically evening, and the natural partner for velvet and for ivory. It reads as relaxed formality.
A peak lapel is sharper and more upright. Stronger choice for midnight blue, and for anyone who wants the jacket to look serious rather than easy.
The third thing you'll get offered is a notch lapel, which is the business suit lapel. It's common and it's the weakest of the three for evening. It's the single detail that makes a tuxedo look like a black suit with shiny lapels.
What to wear with it
Black formal trousers with a satin or grosgrain stripe matched to the facing on your jacket. White formal shirt, pleated or piqué front. Black bow tie, self-tie if you can manage it, because a pre-tied one sits too perfectly and always looks it. Polished black shoes on a slim sole. Studs and cuff links.
A cummerbund or a low waistcoat covers the waistband, which is what a waist covering is actually for. With a double-breasted dinner jacket you need neither, since the jacket already does that job.
Our guide on black tie explained covers the foundation, and black tie optional covers when a dinner jacket is right versus a dark suit.
Owning versus renting
A rental won't have any of this. Rental stock is black, notch-lapel, and sized to a range rather than a person, because that's the only way stocking works. Not a criticism, just the honest limit of it.
The moment you want ivory, velvet, midnight or a shawl collar, you're talking about something made. And the shoulder, which everybody reads without knowing they're reading it, is the part a rental can never get right.
Full comparison is in rent or buy a tuxedo.
Getting one made
Worth saying that a dinner jacket is a longer purchase than most clothes. People keep them fifteen and twenty years, and they get photographed in them at the evenings they remember. That's a decent argument for getting the shoulder right the first time.
We come to you, home or office, evenings and weekends included. Measurements and fabric take about an hour, and the fabric books are where most of it gets decided anyway.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a dinner jacket?
The jacket half of black tie, cut with satin or grosgrain facings on the lapels. In American use the phrase often means the colored or ivory version worn with black formal trousers, as opposed to a matching black tuxedo.
When can I wear an ivory dinner jacket?
Warm-weather evening events, which in Northeast Florida covers most of the year. It's at home at outdoor receptions, spring and summer galas, and destination weddings. Wear it with black formal trousers and a black bow tie, never with matching ivory trousers.
Is a velvet dinner jacket too much?
Not for creative black tie, holiday events, or New Year. It stays elegant instead of turning into a costume when everything else is strictly correct: black formal trousers, white formal shirt, black bow tie, polished black shoes.
What color dinner jacket should I buy first?
Midnight blue. It reads richer than black under evening light, it works at strict black tie as well as anything looser, and it won't sit unworn between December parties.
Related: Custom Tuxedos · Black Tie Explained · Modern Tuxedo Styles · Sport Coat vs Blazer vs Suit Jacket · Local Tailor vs Online Made to Measure