This is the true story of how a British dinner jacket became known as the Tuxedo. It is taken from a short book by the team at Henry Poole & Co. It's one of our favourite stories.

Henry Poole was, as Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli described him in his novel ‘Endymion’: "The most fashionable tailor in London and consummate in his art".

He made tailoring history in 1860 by creating a short evening or smoking jacket cut for the Prince of Wales to wear at informal dinner parties at Sandringham. When invited to one such weekend, American Mr James Potter of Tuxedo Park, asked Henry Poole about the jacket and enquired about buying one.

Poole cut Porter a dinner jacket in the style popularised by his host, the Prince of Wales.

When Potter returned to New York, he wore his new smoking jacket at the Tuxedo Club. It was quickly copied and became the informal uniform for Club stag dinners.

As a result, the Henry Poole and Co dinner jacket became known as a 'Tuxedo' in America.