A special year in sartorial history, 2011 marks an important anniversary for the tuxedo, a revolutionary style that modernized formal wear by inspiring men to replace traditional tailcoats with more casual shortened dinner jackets.

The story of how the tuxedo made its initial debut in American society dates back to the Gilded Age, when the founders of the posh Tuxedo Park resort in Orange County, N.Y., are thought to have introduced the coat at their exclusive sporting club. This fall, current residents of the Park, along...