Fancy Jacket - Getting Dressed Up

The term fancy jacket can have several different meanings from the formal fancy jackets that you might choose to wear to a special event type meal to the fancy dress costume that you wear for a party. While each of these examples can be considered fancy, any other similarities are purely coincidental. For many older timers the main thought behind any type of fancy clothing is that it was something that you only got to wear on special occasions.

Special Occasions

For many years formal events were a major part of most adults lives, these occasions to wear a fancy jacket such as the suit coat that was saved for best or a tuxedo jacket included  weddings, funeral and retirement  parties. At the same time there were formal birthday parties and Christmas parties to attend and all of these events called for the men to put on their best fancy jackets and a tie if they wanted to attend.

Most likely these jackets were dark blue or black in color and very demure in styling so as to make the person wearing the look as distinguished as possible. In the 19th and early 20th century even most lower class working men had a jacket that they kept hung up in the wardrobe for as they put it back then "high days and holidays". In most cases this type of fancy jacket was never worn for any other reason and the man could expect to be buried in it.

A More Modern Approach

Today the same meaning can be assigned to the fancy jacket, but in most cases guys do not have the same needs so the term is more likely to be applied to any kind of jacket that is not plain and basic in appearance. Many fancy jackets have images on them that have either been printed or embroidered, other include those made from silks and satins that have a very shiny and unique appearance.

Elvis style jackets with plenty of sequins and color would qualify as would any of the several different styles that Michael Jackson wore, especially the red leather jacket worn for the Thriller video. While for some this type of jacket may seem more like a costume than anything else, you must stop and realize that many people wore jackets just like these on a regular basis.

Getting All Dressed Up

The last category is more likely to be one that most of us these days are familiar with fancy dress jackets than anything else as the number of occasions that call for a fancy suit jacket in our lives has diminished considerably. So with this in mind we look at costume jackets like the leather bomber jackets worn in the movie Grease as a fancy jacket or perhaps the heavily brocaded and sequined bullfighter's jacket might make the perfect costume and fit in to this category quite well.

Getting dressed up for any occasion can be  a lot of fun, but going out to a formal banquet or event and getting to pull your fancy jacket out of the closet is sure to be a good time if you approach it with the right attitude. While the suit and tie seem to have become, for the most part a thing of the past, they can still be a nice change of pace as long as you do not take them too seriously.