Dress Code (Western) - Full Dress, Half Dress, and Undress

Full Dress, Half Dress, and Undress

Before the modern system of formal, semi-formal, and informal was as strictly applied as it is now, the terms were looser. For example, black tie (originally dinner clothes) was initially described as informal, while the "lounge suit," now standard business attire, was originally considered (as its name suggests) casual wear. Before this, the principal classifications of clothing were full dress and undress, and, less commonly, half dress. Full dress covered the most formal option: a frock coat for daywear, and dress coat for eveningwear. Since the frock coat has dropped out of use, the term is now only applied to white tie. Half dress, when used, was variously applied at different times, but was used to cover modern morning dress (note that the term morning dress is fairly undescriptive and has not always meant modern morning dress). Undress (not to be confused with naked) in turn was similarly loose in meaning, corresponding to anything from a dressing gown to a lounge suit or its evening equivalent of dinner clothes (now one of the most formal dress codes possible).