Morning Dress - Occasions

Occasions

Men wear morning dress when members of a wedding party. In common with court dress, mess dress, and white tie, morning dress is for prestigious and important social occasions. Despite its name, morning dress may be worn to afternoon social events before five o'clock, but not to events beginning after seven o'clock in the evening; the term "morning" is best understood as "daylight".

White tie is the correct, equivalent formal dress for evening social events. The cutaway front of the morning tail coat differs from the evening tail coat (dress coat) in that the waist of former is cut obliquely while the waist of the latter is cut horizontally, and the tail is cut differently from the swallow tailcoat used for evening dress. The skirt waist construction of the coats is equestrian in origin, to ease the wearer's riding his horse. In the U.S., the morning coat is sometimes referred to as a cutaway coat.

In the UK, morning dress is worn to certain equestrian events (such as Royal Ascot and The Derby). It is also worn, both in the UK and certain other Commonwealth countries such as Australia and New Zealand, by the male members of a wedding party. Men at upper and upper-middle class weddings usually wear their own morning coats and their own ties. On these occasions they may wear their old school ties . It is currently popular in the English lower middle/middle-middle class for only the 'wedding party' to wear morning 'suits'. These tend to be hired and far more 'co-ordinated' than those worn by their upper-middle and upper-class counterparts. The men usually dress in identical, hired, outfits along with identical ties, handkerchiefs and waistcoats. In Europe, the groom sets the sartorial tone: the guests may wear morning dress if he does. In the U.S., morning dress is rare; it usually is worn in traditional weddings and political formal events, although the Reagan inauguration of 1981 was the last use for that ceremony. In the American South, morning dress is commonly worn by a governor-elect when sworn to office. The United States Solicitor General and deputies wear morning coats during oral argument before the United States Supreme Court, as does the Marshal and Clerk of the court during all sessions of the court, unless they are female.

In Iran, during the Shah's period, morning dress was used in formal events of the royal court. But the Shah himself never wore this suit, though he often wore white tie in formal occasions, such as greeting with U.S. president or other kings and queens of world.

In fiction or popular culture, it may be used to refer, possibly satirically, to a rich ruling class, for example in cartoons.