White tie

Evening dress (also known as full evening dress) or white tie is the most formal dress code that exists for civilians today.¹

There exists a semi-formal counterpart known as black tie.

What it is

Evening dress is more regimented than other forms of dress, and properly consists of:

• Black tailcoat with silk facings, sharply cut-away at the front
• Black trousers with two rows of braid down each leg
• White stiff-fronted shirt
• White stiff wing collar
• White bow tie
• White low-cut waistcoat
• Black silk stockings
• Black patent leather shoes

Shirt studs and cufflinks should be silver or white. A white handkerchief and flower may be worn. At occasions of state, and in the presence of royalty, state decorations are worn by those who possess them: miniature medals plus up to four breast stars, a narrow neck riband and a broad riband (sash).

Outdoors a black silk plush top hat is appropriate, with an opera cloak or overcoat, even during the summer. White gloves, scarf and cane are optional extras.

When it is worn

Like black tie, evening dress is generally only worn after 6 p.m. (see note 1 for an exception). Occasions that require white tie are increasingly rare, but in the United Kingdom these still include:

• State dinners (e.g. dinners with visiting heads of state)
• Commemoration balls and May balls (at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge respectively)
• Hunt balls
• Some balls during the London Season

In Austria and elsewhere in Continental Europe there are many balls where white tie is worn.

Related forms of dress

White ties were historically worn by clerics and in the professions that formerly were filled by priests and minor clerics. In various forms they are still worn as part of:

• Clerical dress (by persons in holy orders)
• Clerical dress (by clerks etc. in Parliament)
• Court dress (in courts of law)
• Court dress (in the Royal court)
• Academic dress (in the older universities such as Oxford and Cambridge)