Morning dress

Not to be confused with mourning dress.
From right to left: Japanese emperor Hirohito, United States president Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy in 1983, both men in morning coats with formal trousers, known as morning dress
Part of a series on
Western dress codes
and corresponding attires
Formal (full dress)
Semi-formal (half dress)
Informal (undress, "dress clothes")
Casual (anything not above)
Supplementary alternatives
Legend:

= Day (before 6 p.m.)
= Evening (after 6 p.m.)
    = Bow tie colour
= Ladies
= Gentlemen

Fashion portal

Morning dress, also known as formal day dress, is the formal Western dress code for day attire,[1] consisting chiefly of a morning coat, waistcoat, and formal trousers for men, and an appropriate gown for women. Men may also wear a popular variant, where all parts (morning coat or waistcoat, and trousers) are the same colour and material, often grey, and usually called "morning suit" or "morning grey" to distinguish it;[2] considered properly appropriate only to festive functions,[3] such as summer weddings and horse races,[4][5] which consequently makes it slightly less formal. The correct hat would be a formal top hat, or if on less spacious audience settings, optionally a collapsible equivalent opera hat.

Debrett's states, that morning dress should not be specified as the dress code for events starting after 6 p.m. If a formal event will commence at or after 6 p.m., a white tie should be specified instead.[1][6] The semi-formal daytime counterpart of this code is the black lounge suit.[7][8]

Morning dress is generally restricted to certain weddings, royal, government, or municipal audiences, and social season events, e.g., horse races. It may also be seen sometimes worn at church services, as well as fraternal orders, and gentlemen's clubs.

  1. ^ a b Wyse, Elizabeth (2015). Debrett's Handbook. Mayfair, London: Debrett's Limited. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-9929348-1-1.
  2. ^ "Morning Suits – Cad & the Dandy". Archived from the original on 2012-10-19.
  3. ^ Donald, Elsie, ed. (1981). Debrett's Etiquette and Modern Manners. London: Debrett's Peerage Limited. pp. 385–386. ISBN 0-905649-43-5.
  4. ^ Antongiavanni, Nicholas (2006). The Suit. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. p. 169. ISBN 978-0-06-089186-2.
  5. ^ Keers, Paul (1987). A Gentleman's Wardrobe: Classic Clothes and the Modern Man. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 105. ISBN 0-297-79191-5.
  6. ^ Wyse, Elizabeth (2015). Debrett's Handbook. Mayfair, London: Debrett's Limited. pp. 185–187. ISBN 978-0-9929348-1-1.
  7. ^ Tuckerman, Nancy; Dunnan, Nancy (1995). The Amy Vanderbilt Complete Book of Etiquette: 50th Anniversary Edition (1 ed.). New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc. p. 284. ISBN 978-0-385413428.
  8. ^ Post, Anna; Post, Lizzie (2014). Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette (6 ed.). New York: The Emily Post Institute, Inc. p. 260. ISBN 978-0-06-232610-2.