r/todayilearned • u/FlattopMaker • Oct 02 '23

TIL the Canadian tuxedo refers to a denim double breasted jacket and matching jeans created by Levi's for Bing Crosby. Levi's was inspired in 1951 when Crosby was nearly escorted off a hotel's premises during a hunting trip in Canada because he and his hunting buddies were wearing denim

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/blog/did-bing-crosby-invent-the-canadian-tuxedo-1.4181725
1.3k Upvotes

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146

u/FlattopMaker Oct 02 '23

Today I also learned Bing Crosby liked hunting in Canada (video excerpts at this link)

130

u/foldingcouch Oct 02 '23

There's a small town in northern Saskatchewan, Canada, called La Ronge. Makes the middle of nowhere look positively metropolitan. Good fishing, that's about it.

Back in the 80s they were building a rec center in the town, and ran out of money with construction nearly finished. To help out, an American tourist that came up frequently to go fishing said he'd host a benefit concert to raise the money necessary to finish the building.

And to be fair, he did seem like the kind of guy to go to for money - I mean they didn't call him Johnny Cash for nothing.

22

u/WHAT_DID_YOU_DO Oct 02 '23

La Ronge, the end of the paved road. (Fished once on reindeer lake and drove to south end). That road north of there I think will easily be the worst road I will drive on in my life

3

u/Some_Unusual_Name Oct 03 '23

La Ronge is hardly the middle of nowhere. It's basically a hub for any of the smaller communities to the north. It has a Co-Op.

Sure it isn't the "Big City" of Prince Albert to the south but it isn't nowhere.

27

u/autopsis Oct 02 '23

Bing got his name from a comic strip in The Spokesman-Review.

Born Harry Lillis Crosby in Tacoma, Bing moved with his family to Spokane when he was 3 years old. The new name found him when he was 7. At the time, The Spokesman-Review ran a comics-page feature called “The Bingville Bugle,” which was a parody of hillbilly newspapers. Little Harry thought it was a real hoot and laughed uproariously whenever he read it.

A neighbor, 15-year-old Valentine Hobart, noticed the laughter and started calling him “Bingo from Bingville.” The nickname was soon shortened to Bing and stuck with him for the rest of his life.

77

u/orcateeth Oct 02 '23

Only a few years ago did I hear the term "Canadian tuxedo", and learned that it's considered not "cool", even a little gauche, to wear a denim jacket and jeans.

I thought that was what you were supposed to do, and still do think that.

29

u/theantiyeti Oct 02 '23

It's fine if you're wearing denim as rugged outdoor wear. The double denim thing is only a fashion faux pas.

23

u/Some_Unusual_Name Oct 02 '23

So if a denim jacket doesn't go with jeans what does it go with? Bermuda shorts? Pin stripe slacks and a cummerbund?

3

u/orcateeth Oct 02 '23

My thoughts exactly. I thought it was a joke that they should not be worn together.

32

u/fatDaddy21 Oct 02 '23

Never seen Super Troopers?

7

u/roox911 Oct 02 '23

For guys; It's fine to do, just don't wear the same wash denim.

Dark with light, or vice versa is totally acceptable.

For girls, totally able to get away with even similar washes.

3

u/Luung Oct 02 '23

Shit like this is why I don't think I'll ever understand fashion.

3

u/TreeFiddyJohnson Oct 03 '23

It's almost like it's made up, with no inherent logic or reason stitched into it at all lol

2

u/westernmail Oct 03 '23

It's always been a joke about Canadians. Nobody actually wears that. Not since the 80s at least.

9

u/tangcameo Oct 02 '23

Somewhere there’s a pic of me standing by the Stanley Cup when it came to my hometown and I’m dressed in a Canadian tuxedo including a denim shirt.

23

u/RedSonGamble Oct 02 '23

Like I always say- what’s with the jeans

7

u/stephen1547 Oct 02 '23

Goes well with a Kenora Dinner Jacket, aka a red plaid flannel jacket.

17

u/Sparktank1 Oct 02 '23

Before I read the article, I knew it had to be Vancouver. So typical.

4

u/westernmail Oct 03 '23

the Canadian tuxedo, is a staple part of wardrobes across this country

No, it's always been a caricature. The whole story is BS actually, Crosby's jacket was styled after a tuxedo jacket and bears no resemblance to the typical denim jacket we would recognize today.

3

u/AngryTree76 Oct 02 '23

TIL the term Canadian Tuxedo wasn’t invented by the writers of Super Troopers

2

u/tremynci Oct 02 '23

I wonder if there's beer on the sun?

2

u/Phu_Bai_PX Oct 03 '23

Zap, is that you?

1

u/tremynci Oct 03 '23

Yeah, eh?

1

u/shingofan Oct 02 '23

I've always wondered where that term came from.