Dressing Formally and Informally

Informal attire consists of, for men, a suit, the main components of which are a pair of trousers with a matching jacket. The suit is typically dark-colored with or without a pattern, grey, dark blue, brown, or black. The suit is worn with a long-sleeved shirt and a tie. Informal attire for women in its strictest interpretation is patterned after the male standard — a suit consisting of a jacket with matching skirt or trousers, plus a blouse. This interpretation of informal attire is not quite so commonly worn by women as by men, as there are other forms of female attire acceptable in informal settings. Informal attire is today considered a conservative form of dress, appropriate for nearly all formal settings that do not require white tie or black tie. For instance, it is commonly worn in religious services, funerals, government, schools, and other contexts where casual attire is not accepted but formal attire would be considered excessive. At present, informal attire is the typical dress at daytime weddings in the United States, where it is a replacement for the increasingly rare morning dress. Formal wear and formal dress are the general terms for clothing suitable for formal social events, such as a wedding, formal garden party or dinner, débutante cotillion, dance, or race. The Western style of formal evening dress, characterized by black and white garments, has spread through many countries; it is almost always the standard formal social dress in countries without a formal national costume. A dress code is a set of rules governing a certain combination of clothing; some examples are black tie and morning dress. Formal dress is the grouping of all the dress codes which govern clothes worn to formal events. The traditional rules that govern men's formal dress are strictly observed by whom? From these derive the evening dress variants worn on many occasions, such as high school prom dances, formal dances, and entertainment industry award programs. The dress codes considered formal in the evening are white tie and black tie.