White tie

A caricature in Vanity Fair from 1899, showing a British peer wearing white tie

Throughout the Early Modern period, western European male courtiers and aristocrats donned elaborate clothing at ceremonies and dinners: coats (often richly decorated), frilly and lacy shirts and breeches formed the backbone of their most formal attire. As the 18th century drew to a close, high society began adopting more austere clothing which drew inspiration from the dark hues and simpler designs adopted by country gentlemen.[3] By the end of the 18th century, two forms of tail coat were in common use by upper-class men in Britain and continental Europe: the more formal dress coat (cut away horizontally at the front) and the less formal morning coat, which curved back from the front to the tails. From around 1815, a knee-length garment called the frock coat became increasingly popular and was eventually established, along with the morning coat, as smart daywear in Victorian England. The dress coat, meanwhile, became reserved for wear in the evening.[4] The dandy Beau Brummell adopted a minimalistic approach to evening wear—a white waistcoat, dark blue tailcoat, black pantaloons and striped stockings.[5] Although Brummell felt black an ugly colour for evening dress coats, it was adopted by other dandies, like Charles Baudelaire, and black and white had become the standard colours by the 1840s.[6][7]

Over the course of the 19th century, the monotone colour scheme became a codified standard for evening events after 6 p.m. in upper class circles.[3] The styles evolved and evening dress consisted of a black dress coat and trousers, white or black waistcoat, and a bow tie by the 1870s. The dinner jacket (black tie/tuxedo) emerged as a less formal and more comfortable alternative to full evening dress in the 1880s.

The German actor Rudolf Platte wearing white tie on stage in 1937

By the early 20th century, full evening dress meant wearing a white waistcoat and tie with a black tailcoat and trousers; white tie had become distinct from black tie.[8] Despite its growing popularity, the dinner jacket remained the reserve of family dinners and gentlemen's clubs during the late Victorian period.[3]

Guests at the white-tie Royal Ball in Brisbane, 1954

By the turn of the 20th century, full evening dress consisted of a black tailcoat made of heavy fabric weighing 500 to 560 grams per metre (16 to 18 oz/yd). Its lapels were medium width and the white shirt worn beneath it had a heavily starched, stiff front, fastened with pearl or black studs and either a winged collar or a type called a "poke", consisting of a high band with a slight curve at the front.[9] After World War I, the dinner jacket became more popular, especially in the US, and informal variations sprang up, like the soft, turn-down collar shirt and later the double-breasted jacket;[10] relaxing social norms in Jazz Age America meant white tie was replaced by black tie as the default evening wear for young men, especially at nightclubs.[3] According to The Delineator, the years after World War I saw white tie "almost abandoned".[11] But it did still have a place: the American etiquette writer Emily Post stated in 1922 that "A gentleman must always be in full dress, tail coat, white waistcoat, white tie and white gloves" when at the opera, yet she called the tuxedo "essential" for any gentleman, writing that "It is worn every evening and nearly everywhere, whereas the tail coat is necessary only at balls, formal dinners, and in a box at the opera."[12]

It also continued to evolve. White tie was worn with slim-cut trousers in the early 1920s; by 1926, wide-lapelled tailcoats and double-breasted waistcoats were in vogue.[13] The Duke of Windsor (then Prince of Wales and later Edward VIII) wore a midnight blue tailcoat, trousers and waistcoat in the 1920s and 1930s both to "soften" the contrast between black and white and allow for photographs to depict the nuances of his tailoring.[14] The late 1920s and 1930s witnessed a resurgence in the dress code's popularity,[11][15] but by 1953, one etiquette writer stressed that "The modern trend is to wear 'tails' only for the most formal and ceremonious functions, such as important formal dinners, balls, elaborate evening weddings, and opening night at the opera".[16] It was the dress code for the Lord Mayor of London's Mansion House dinner until 1996.[17]

The last president to have worn white tie at a United States presidential inauguration was President John F. Kennedy in 1961, who wore morning dress for his inauguration, and a white tie ensemble for his inauguration ball.

While rare in the early 21st century, it survives as the formal dress code for royal and public ceremonies and audiences, weddings, balls, and a select group of other social events in some countries.

Notable international recurrent white tie events include the Nobel Prize ceremony in Sweden[18] and the Vienna Opera Ball in Austria.[19]

In Scandinavia and the Netherlands, white tie is the traditional attire for doctoral conferments and is prescribed at some Swedish and Finnish universities, where it is worn with a top hat variant called a doctoral hat. In Sweden and Finland, a black waistcoat is worn with white tie for academic occasions in the daytime.[20][21][22][23][24] In the Netherlands, the attendants of the graduate student, called paranymphs, will also wear white tie.

Some fraternities such as Freemasons and Odd Fellows wear dress coats to their meetings.[25][26]

In Britain, it is worn at certain formal occasions such as state banquets,[27][28] City of London livery dinners[29][30] and certain balls at Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, and St Andrews universities.[31][32][33] White tie is also seen as part of a few public schools' uniform, such as Harrow School where the Head Boy is allowed to wear white tie to special events.

President John F. Kennedy, wearing white tie, and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, wearing a gown designed by Ethel Franken of Bergdorf Goodman, arrive at the D.C. Armory in Washington D.C. for an inaugural ball held on the evening of Inauguration Day, January 20, 1961.

A few state dinners at the White House apply white tie, such as the one held for Queen Elizabeth II in 2007.[34] Other notable examples include the Gridiron Club Dinner in Washington, D.C., the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York City, in additions to a few debutante balls such as the International Debutante Ball in New York City, and the Veiled Prophet Ball in St. Louis.

In the southern United States, white tie is sometimes referred to as "costume de rigueur", adapted from French language due to the historical background of New France. It is sometimes used in invitations to masquerade balls and Mardi Gras celebrations, such as the Mardi Gras in Mobile in Alabama,[35][36] or New Orleans Mardi Gras in Louisiana, emphasising the white tie expectations for men and full-length evening gowns for ladies.[36]

When the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala in New York City announced a white tie dress code in 2014, a number of media outlets pointed out the difficulty and expense of obtaining traditional white tie, even for the celebrity guests.[37][38]

• Philip Carter (January 2011). "Brummell, George Bryan (Beau Brummell) (1778–1840)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online ed. (subscription or UK public library membership required). Retrieved 28 September 2015. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/3771
• D. T. Jenkins (2003). Cambridge History of Western Textiles, vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521341073
• O. E. Schoeffler (1973). Esquire's encyclopedia of 20th century men's fashions. New York: McGraw-Hill ISBN 978-0070554801
• Rosalind H. Williams (1982). Dream Worlds: Mass Consumption in Late Nineteenth-century France. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520043558