Themess jacket is a type of formal jacket that ends at the waist. It features either a non-fastening double breast cut or asingle-breasted version that fastens.[1] The jackets have shawl or peaklapels. Used in militarymess dress, during the 1930s it became a popular alternative to the white dinner jacket in hot and tropical weather forblack tie occasions. It also was prominently used, in single-breasted form, as part of the uniform for underclassmen atEton College, leading to the alternative nameEton jacket.[1] Its origin was aspencer, a tail-less adaptation of thetailcoat worn by both men and women during theRegency period.
The waist-length style of jacket first appeared in the 1790s whenGeorge Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer removed the tails from histailcoat.[1] Spencer, it was thought, singed the tails of his tailcoat while standing beside a fire and then cut off the ends, unwittingly starting a new fashion.[2] In the early 1800s, Eton College adopted it for first year students' uniforms; it was referred to as an Eton jacket.[3][4] Civilians first adopted a white mess jacket in 1933 to wear in the tropical weather ofPalm Beach, Florida, a popular tourist destination.[1] It was adopted as part ofmess dress, the military formal evening wear equivalent to civilianwhite tie andblack tie.
The mess jacket soon fell out of fashion for two main reasons. One is that the jacket only worked well with an athletic and slim fit. The other reason is that the mess jacket had gone on to be worn by musicians, bellhops and waiters, leading the class conscious of the era to abandon the garment. It is still used in service industries.[1] The jacket also continues to be used as part of military mess dress.
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