The dinner jacket: how to buy, wear and care for one

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Most men own a dark suit and wear it everywhere. The dinner jacket is the other garment, the one that appears a few times a year and has to be right on those occasions. If you are learning how to wear a dinner jacket, the rules are shorter than the invitation suggests: black, plain, well fitted, and accompanied by a handful of small things worn correctly. Daniel Craig’s Bond in Casino Royale is a useful reference because the look is so little decorated. Everything below is about the garment and the reader. The films only supply examples.

The short answer

Buy a single-breasted dinner jacket in black or very dark midnight wool, with a peak or shawl lapel faced in satin or grosgrain, one button, and no vents. Wear it with matching trousers carrying a single braid down the side, a white dress shirt with a turndown collar and double cuffs, a self-tied black bow tie, braces rather than a belt, plain cufflinks and black plain-fronted shoes. Have the jacket altered to fit. Hang it on a wide hanger, brush it, and dry clean it only when it is truly marked. That is the whole of it.

Dinner jacket or tuxedo

They are the same garment. In Britain it is a dinner jacket, or a dinner suit when the trousers are included, and the dress code is black tie. In America it is a tuxedo, a name taken from Tuxedo Park in New York. Bond’s film wardrobe uses both words, and so do the makers: the catalogue lists a Brioni tuxedo and Tom Ford’s Atticus tuxedo alongside what we would call a dinner suit. We use dinner jacket for the jacket and tuxedo where a maker does.

The distinction that matters is not the name but the dress code. Black tie means a dinner jacket, a white shirt and a bow tie. It does not mean a black suit with a black tie, which is what a lot of hire shops quietly sell. If you are unsure what a host means, black tie is the one that asks for the full set.

The jacket: lapel, cloth and buttons

Start with the lapel, because it is the one feature that makes the jacket formal. A peak lapel is the more traditional choice, with the points of the lapels rising toward the shoulders. A shawl collar, a single unbroken curve with no notch, is softer and slightly more relaxed. Both are right. A notch lapel, the kind on a business suit, is the one to avoid in a dinner jacket. The facing should be silk: satin, which has a pronounced sheen, or grosgrain, a ribbed finish that is quieter under bad light. We lean to grosgrain on a first jacket for that reason.

The cloth should be black or midnight blue wool, matte, and dense enough to hang cleanly. Wool also travels well and forgives a long evening. The Brioni tuxedo in Casino Royale is described by its retailer as black wool with satin lapels, made in Italy, and it is a fair template for what to look for: one colour, one point of sheen, nothing announcing itself. Brioni’s current version is the Brioni tuxedo, a current design rather than the garment on screen, so we treat it as a route to the same look and not a copy. Its RRP at the time of writing (October 2026) is US$7,200.

One button is the classic arrangement and it keeps the front line clean. Two buttons are acceptable. Double-breasted is a style choice rather than a rule. Pockets should be jetted, with no flaps, and the jacket works best without vents so that the line falls uninterrupted over the seat. Buttons covered in the same silk as the facing disappear, and that is the idea.

Fit and tailoring

A dinner jacket is judged more harshly than a suit, because it is darker, plainer and worn under lights. The shoulder should sit flat, the collar should rest against the shirt collar without a gap, and the jacket should be long enough to cover the seat. Allow about a centimetre of shirt cuff to show beyond the sleeve. If you are deciding between a better-cut jacket and a famous name, take the better cut.

Trousers

The trousers match the jacket in cloth and carry a single stripe of braid or satin down each outer seam. They have no turn-ups, and they are cut high enough at the waist that no shirt shows between waistcoat or cummerbund and the waistband. A waist worn higher is the reason braces work so well here: the trouser hangs from the shoulders rather than gripping the hip.

The trouser is the more interesting half of a dinner suit. The Tom Ford Atticus evening trousers, which Craig’s Bond wears with the matching jacket in No Time To Die, are a wool and mohair cloth with a satin side stripe and satin waistband, made in Italy. The retailers disagree on the exact proportion of wool to mohair, so check the page of whoever you buy from. They are dry clean only. Mohair gives a dry crispness and a clean fall, which is what you want from a trouser that spends the evening standing and sitting.

If you are dividing a budget, a good pair of evening trousers can work with another maker’s dinner jacket of similar finish, though the cloths should be close. A midnight-blue jacket over black trousers is a long-established combination, but the black will look darker beside it.

The shirt

A white cotton shirt, with a concealed or pleated front, a turndown collar and double cuffs. Wing collars are more formal still and belong to white tie. Studs on the front are traditional; a concealed placket is the modern answer and the one Bond wears. The shirt should be smooth rather than textured, because the jacket and the tie will provide the only variation in the picture.

The Turnbull & Asser Casino Royale white dress shirt is the one Daniel Craig’s Bond wears with the Brioni tuxedo at the poker table. It is plain cotton poplin with a concealed front, double cuffs and a collar of the maker’s own design, made in the United Kingdom. Turnbull & Asser sells the model made for the film, not one of the originals. In our view it is the right white shirt for black tie.

The bow tie

Tie your own. A pre-tied bow tie is symmetrical in a way that gives it away, and a self-tied one has a small, pleasing irregularity. Choose black silk, of a width that suits your face: a slim bow tie reads modern, a wider butterfly shape reads traditional.

Turnbull & Asser supplied the tie for Casino Royale, and it sells the Casino Royale bow tie in black Shantung silk: 100% silk, 2in (5cm) wide, made in the United Kingdom, with a faintly slubbed texture where most formal ties are smooth. The maker says the current tie has been refined to sit closer to the one on screen, so we would call it a close interpretation. The texture is the point: it sits against smoother silk facings and gives the eye a little to rest on.

Braces, studs and cufflinks

Braces, not a belt. A belt breaks the clean line of a dinner suit and adds a buckle where there should be none. White moiré silk braces are the Craig-era choice, but black ones are the quieter default. Use the kind with leather or braid ends that button to the inside of the waistband, and keep them hidden.

Albert Thurston’s white moiré braces are the pair Bond wears in Casino Royale, and they return in Skyfall and Spectre. They are moiré silk with white goatskin joints and braid ends, and the maker adds an elasticated back for ease of movement. The clips in Casino Royale are gilt, and in Skyfall nickel, so check which finish a retailer is showing.

Cufflinks should be plain. Silver or gold tone, small, and with no design that competes with the shirt. The S.T. Dupont Diamond Head square cufflinks are a modest example: palladium, 17.06mm across and 23g as listed by the maker, with a pattern of raised diamond tips that catches the light only when the cuff moves. Bond wears them with a dinner jacket in Quantum of Solace. The 5172 is the reference seen on screen; Dupont now sells the pattern as 005568, at an RRP of €210 at the time of writing (October 2026).

If you prefer gold, Tom Ford’s cylinder cufflinks in 18K white gold are a restrained alternative: a small barrel, reference JM0093U-G18KW, sold by the maker as the Striped T cufflinks. White gold sits easily with a steel watch, which is the other metal on the wrist.

Shoes

Black, plain-fronted and polished. A black calf Oxford with a closed lacing and no toe cap is the standard; a patent version is traditional but optional.

It helps to know what to avoid. The Crockett & Jones Highbury that Bond wears in Skyfall is an excellent shoe, a plain-fronted derby in black calf with a rubber City sole, but we would not wear it with black tie. A derby has open lacing and a sole built for wet pavements, which makes it a business shoe. With a dinner suit we would reach for something finer, closed-laced and leather-soled.

Colours and variations

Midnight blue is the one variation worth owning. Under artificial light it reads blacker than black, and in daylight it reads as navy, which is why many tailors prefer it. White or ivory dinner jackets are for summer, warm climates and evenings on the water, and they take black trousers, not white. A cummerbund or a low waistcoat is for covering the waistband if the jacket may come off.

What we would choose

One black, single-breasted, one-button dinner jacket with a peak or shawl lapel in grosgrain, matching trousers with a single braid, a plain white double-cuff shirt, a self-tied black silk bow tie, black braces, plain cufflinks and black closed-laced shoes. Spend on the jacket and its alteration, then buy the small things once.

Care and storage

A dinner jacket is worn rarely, so most of its life is spent in a wardrobe. Hang it on a wide, shaped hanger so the shoulders keep their line, in a breathable garment bag rather than plastic. Brush wool with a soft clothes brush after wearing; brush silk facings gently or not at all, as satin shows marks. Air it overnight before putting it away.

Dry clean as rarely as you can. Every cleaning wears the cloth and can flatten silk facings, so spot-treat small marks and send the suit out only when it needs it. Press the trousers rather than washing them.

For travel, a suit carrier saves the folds. In No Time To Die, Paloma unrolls an olive carrier to present Bond with his Tom Ford tuxedo, and the carrier half of the Bennett Winch S.C. Holdall is the model seen on screen. It has a 24oz waterproof British canvas exterior and a soft cotton lining; the jacket and trousers lie over the holdall rather than folding hard. The holdall itself never appears in the film.

Questions

Is a tuxedo the same as a dinner jacket?

Yes. Dinner jacket is the British term and tuxedo the American one. Both describe the same black-tie jacket with silk-faced lapels.

What colour should a first dinner jacket be?

Black, or midnight blue if you prefer. Black is the safer choice and works at every black-tie event. Midnight blue looks richer under artificial light.

Do you wear a belt with a dinner suit?

No. Wear braces, which sit under the jacket and leave the waistline clean. If the jacket may come off, add a cummerbund or low waistcoat to cover the waistband.

How should you store a dinner jacket?

On a wide hanger, in a breathable garment bag, brushed and aired first. Dry clean only when it needs it.

The pieces mentioned

• Brioni Tuxedo (Casino Royale): black wool, satin lapels, made in Italy.
• Tom Ford Atticus Evening Trousers (No Time To Die): wool and mohair with a satin side stripe.
• Turnbull & Asser Casino Royale White Dress Shirt: plain poplin, concealed front, double cuffs.
• Turnbull & Asser Casino Royale Shantung Silk Bow Tie: black silk, 5cm wide.
• Albert Thurston White Moiré Braces: silk, with goatskin joints.
• S.T. Dupont Diamond Head Square Cufflinks: palladium, double-cuff.
• Tom Ford Cylinder Cufflinks, Striped T: 18K white gold.
• Bennett Winch S.C. Holdall with Suit Carrier: waterproof canvas, brass hardware.

For the wider wardrobe, browse Formalwear & Dinner Suits, or see Daniel Craig’s Bond.

Shop the story

Brioni Tuxedo (Casino Royale)View the pieceTom Ford Atticus Evening Trousers (No Time To Die)View the pieceTurnbull & Asser Casino Royale White Dress Shirt (Casino Royale)View the pieceTurnbull & Asser Casino Royale Shantung Silk Bow Tie (Casino Royale)View the pieceAlbert Thurston White Moiré Braces (Spectre)View the pieceS.T. Dupont Diamond Head Square Cufflinks 5172 (Quantum of Solace)View the pieceTom Ford Cylinder Cufflinks, Striped T in White Gold (Skyfall)View the pieceBennett Winch S.C. Holdall with Suit Carrier in Olive (No Time To Die)View the piece