C McG,


Once again, you are spot on. You might try looking for jackets both under "Dress Mess" and under "Mess Jacket".

I agree with you on the red lapels. I believe the Royal House of Windsor livery includes red lapels, even if I have botched the reference or phrasing. Somewhere there are pics of the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duke of Rothesay in jackets with contrasting lapels ( and kilts). Chances are, they would be too polite to observe the faux pas of your wearing such a jacket in their presence. The US Army uses red lapels for certain units and gold ones for others. The US Air Force has/had a solid blue jacket with shawl lapels. Some British units use all red jackets or red jackets with black or green lapels and cuff facings.

Some American jackets delineate rank with braid and/or knots at the cuffs and I believe it would be more polite to remove this, along with any other insignia that might be present.

Not to disparage anybody's clothes, but I find the Spencer/Eton jackets sold new for under $50 to be, well, a little too waiterly, if you will. Better to buy a used one that originally cost a little more, if the choice is available.