Dress uniform (often referred to as Full Dress Uniform, to distinguish it from Mess Dress, and from semi-formal uniforms, such as the British Army's Service Dress), is the most formal military uniform, typically worn at ceremonies, official receptions, and other special occasions; with order insignias and full size medals. The uniform design may be distinct to a service (Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force, etc.), or to a Regiment or Branch of Service. Although they are often brightly colored, and adorned with ornaments (gold braid, lanyards, lampasses, etc.), most originated as practical uniforms that, with the adoption of even more practical uniforms, have been relegated to ceremonial functions.
Although many services use the term dress generically for uniforms, allowing it to refer to more modern combat uniforms, with suitable modifiers e.g., the British Army's obsolete Battle Dress (BD), and the US Army's obsolete Battle Dress Uniform (BDU), the term Dress Uniform, without a prefixed modifier, is always assumed to refer to the full, ceremonial dress.
Famous quotes containing the words dress and/or uniform:
“A blond in a red dress can do without introductions—but not without a bodyguard.”
—Rona Jaffe (b. 1932)
“The sugar maple is remarkable for its clean ankle. The groves of these trees looked like vast forest sheds, their branches stopping short at a uniform height, four or five feet from the ground, like eaves, as if they had been trimmed by art, so that you could look under and through the whole grove with its leafy canopy, as under a tent whose curtain is raised.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)