Clothing Definitions — definitions of garments and clothing terms from Apparel Search
Evening dress is often synonymous with white tie — the most formal dress code in existence today — especially in the United Kingdom. The term is also used more generally for many types of formal wear, including black tie and morning dress. That double use causes confusion, because a reader expecting a woman's evening dress or gown is on a different subject entirely. This page explains the dress-code meaning of evening dress, how white tie, black tie and morning dress rank, and which garments belong to each level.
If you had thought an evening dress was for a women, you may wish to visit the Dress or Gown page instead.
| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/evening_dress). 5/26/06 |
Formal dress codes form a ladder, and evening dress sits at its top. White tie — full evening dress — is the most formal code in ordinary use: a black tailcoat, white waistcoat, white bow tie and a dress shirt with a stiff pique front and studs. It is reserved for state occasions, formal balls and the most ceremonial evening events. One step down, black tie replaces the tailcoat with a dinner jacket or tuxedo, a black bow tie and often a cummerbund or low-cut waistcoat; it is the standard code for formal evening parties, awards ceremonies and galas. Both codes are evening codes, worn after dark.
Morning dress is the daytime counterpart: a morning coat with striped trousers and a waistcoat, worn for weddings, race meetings and ceremonial daytime events. It is formal, but it is not evening wear, which is why its inclusion under the general heading of evening dress reflects the term's loose general use rather than a strict definition. In practice, an invitation's wording decides: white tie and black tie name exact outfits, while a bare instruction of evening dress is read in Britain as white tie and elsewhere as formal evening wear generally. The garments cross-referenced on this page — tuxedos, waistcoats, bow ties, cummerbunds, cufflinks, suits and, for women, gowns, ball gowns and cocktail dresses — are the building blocks from which each code is assembled.
As a dress code, evening dress is often synonymous with white tie, the most formal dress code in existence today, especially in the United Kingdom, though it is also used generally for formal wear including black tie and morning dress.
No. A woman's long formal dress is a gown or evening dress in the garment sense; readers looking for that subject should see the Dress and Gown pages, while this page covers the formal dress codes.
White tie is the most formal evening code. Its outfit is built around the tailcoat with the accessories of formal evening wear such as the waistcoat, bow tie and dress shirt with studs and cufflinks.