There is a quote in Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer that seems to perfectly sum up the spirit of the smoking jacket:
“It's beautiful to have a smoking jacket, a good cigar and a wife who plays the piano. So relaxing. So lenitive. Between the acts you go out for a smoke and a breath of fresh air.”
One of the more iconic pieces of traditional menswear, the smoking jacket has evolved from a functional frock coat to what it is today - a sort of pseudo ceremonial lounge jacket for formal evenings, or conversely, whiling an evening away at home with a fine Sancho Panza and a nip of Louis XIII. While its original purpose may have changed along with the general lung health of the population, the smoking is no less loved because there is simply nothing quite like it. Part robe, part blazer, part warm loving hug from an old friend, it is the difference between a good sartorial wardrobe and a splendid one.
An old flame
The history of the smoking jacket is really quite remarkable, and few pieces of contemporary menswear can claim to have such long and interesting lifespans. It is the widely held belief that the first incarnations of the smoking jacket came in the form of the French robe de chambre and most likely date back to the 1600s. With the silk trade going great guns, European nobility were discovering new and increasingly ornate ways to use the fabric, and the more one had on display, the wealthier one would appear. Hence floor-length robe de chambre became the garment to wear for one's portrait.
It wasn't until the mid-19th century that the robe began to take on more of a jacket silhouette. In 1850, Gentleman’s Magazine of London put out the earliest description of what a classic smoking jacket should look like, saying it was “a kind of short robe de chambre, of velvet, cashmere, plush, merino or printed flannel, lined with bright colours, ornamented with brandenbourgs, olives or large buttons.”
Sounds divine, and yet the popularity of the jacket didn't take off until a few years later with the outbreak of the Crimean War. It was only then that the British people began to sample Turkish tobacco and so the smoking jacket provided the perfect combination of style on the one hand and protection from falling ash and the smell of tobacco smoke on the other. Gents could therefore retreat after a meal to light up a cigar or cigarette wearing their smoking jackets, safe in the knowledge that their wives would not complain of the terrible smell on their clothes. Also popular at the time were smoking caps, which would protect one's hair from the tobacco smoke.
