Official Dress
On normal sitting days, the Speaker wears a black silk lay-type gown (similar to a QC's gown) with (or without, in the case of Bercow) a train and a mourning rossette (also known as a 'wig bag') over the flap collar at the back.
On state occasions (such as the Opening of Parliament), the Speaker wears a robe of black satin damask trimmed with gold lace with full bottomed wig and, in the past, a tricorne hat.
The current Speaker no longer wears the traditional court dress outfit, which included knee breeches, silk stockings and buckled court shoes under their gown, or the wig. Betty Boothroyd first decided not to wear the wig and Michael Martin chose not to wear knee breeches, silk stockings or the traditional buckled shoes favouring flannel trousers and Oxford shoes. Bercow chose not to wear court dress altogether in favour of a lounge suit as he felt "uncomfortable" in court dress (he wore morning dress under the State Robe at State Openings). However, there is nothing stopping any given Speaker, if they choose to do so, from assuming traditional court dress or anything they deem appropriate.
Read more about this topic: Speaker Of The House Of Commons (United Kingdom)
Famous quotes containing the words official and/or dress:
“I thought it altogether proper that I should take a brief furlough from official duties at Washington to mingle with you here to-day as a comrade, because every President of the United States must realize that the strength of the Government, its defence in war, the army that is to muster under its banner when our Nation is assailed, is to be found here in the masses of our people.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)
“At the milliners, the ladies we met were so much dressed, that I should rather have imagined they were making visits than purchases. But what diverted me most was, that we were more frequently served by men than by women; and such men! so finical, so affected! they seemed to understand every part of a woman’s dress better than we do ourselves; and they recommended caps and ribbons with an air of so much importance, that I wished to ask them how long they had left off wearing them.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)