Morning Dress: What a Formal Daytime Wedding Asks For

Twice a year someone arrives at Culver Blvd holding an invitation that says morning dress, and asks, politely, whether that means a dark suit. It does not. Morning dress is a particular set of garments with a long and fairly rigid history, and it is still the most formal thing a man can wear before six in the evening. It is also rarer in Los Angeles than almost anywhere else in the world, which is why an invitation asking for it tends to cause more alarm than it deserves. The rules are narrow, but there are very few of them, and once they are set out the whole thing becomes straightforward.

What morning dress is

Three garments, with very little latitude in any of them. The morning coat is single breasted, fastens on one button at the waist, and its front edge curves away from that button towards the sides, running back into tails that finish just behind the knee. The lapels are peaked. The cloth is black or Oxford grey herringbone, and the weight is substantial, because the coat was drawn for a northern European climate and has never really been redrawn for anywhere else.

The trousers are not cut from the coat cloth. They are a formal striped worsted, grey and black, usually a fine cashmere stripe, worn with braces and finished without turn-ups. The waistcoat sits between the two: buff, dove grey or a pale blue, single or double breasted, and generally a shade lighter than everything around it. A waistcoat cut from the coat cloth is correct as well and reads as more sober, which is why it is the usual choice at a funeral or a civic occasion rather than a wedding.

Below all that, a white shirt with a stiff or semi stiff turndown collar, a tie or a cravat in grey or a muted pattern, black oxfords, and nothing that shines. A pocket square is welcome. A boutonniere is usual at a wedding. The top hat and grey gloves that once completed it survive now only at Ascot and at a handful of English weddings where somebody has decided to do the thing properly.

Why a dark suit is not a substitute

It is tempting to treat morning dress as a formality dial, with a charcoal suit one notch below it. The two are not on the same scale. A morning coat is cut on a different line entirely: the waist seam sits higher, the skirt sweeps back rather than hanging straight, and the whole garment is designed to be seen from the side as much as from the front. Standing in a receiving line beside men in morning coats, a man in a dark suit does not look slightly less formal. He looks as though he has come from somewhere else.

The honest counsel, then, is that if an invitation specifies morning dress and you intend to go, you commit or you ask the host. Hosts who ask for it almost always know why, and a quiet question six months before the day is received far better than an improvised compromise on the morning.

The half step: black lounge, or the stroller

There is one recognised garment between a suit and a morning coat, and it solves more problems in this city than morning dress does. In England it is called a black lounge; in America it has usually been called a stroller. It keeps the formal striped trousers and the grey waistcoat, and replaces the morning coat with a jacket in black or Oxford grey that has no tails, cut like a suit jacket but in the formal cloth, often with peaked lapels.

It is correct for a formal daytime wedding where the groom and his father are in morning dress and the rest of the party is not, for a daytime memorial of some weight, and for a civic or diplomatic lunch. It is also a good deal easier to wear a second time, since the jacket and waistcoat sit happily with grey flannel trousers afterwards. When a client wants the register of a formal daytime wedding without the commitment of tails, this is nearly always the answer we give.

When an invitation really means it

In practice, four situations. A wedding with a British, Irish or Continental family, where morning dress is simply what the men of the family wear. A wedding in that tradition held here, which happens more often than people expect on the Westside. A day at Royal Ascot or a comparable race meeting. And certain diplomatic, legal and investiture occasions where the dress is laid down rather than chosen.

Everything else that calls itself a formal daytime wedding in Los Angeles means something milder. If the invitation says formal, or black tie optional, or simply gives no instruction at all, it is not asking for a morning coat. For the vocabulary of the other daytime codes, our guide to business formal, professional and casual is the plainest account we have, and the evening codes are set out in black tie in Los Angeles.

What a formal daytime wedding here usually asks for instead

A three piece in a mid or light grey, cut cleanly, is the garment most daytime weddings in Southern California actually want. It photographs well in strong light, where a black suit goes flat and a navy one can read as office wear. The waistcoat does the work the morning dress waistcoat does, which is to keep the man looking dressed once the jacket comes off for lunch, and the case for one is made at length in our piece on whether a three piece suit is worth it.

For a garden ceremony at one in the afternoon, a light grey or a soft fawn in a high twist wool is better than anything heavier. For a church at eleven followed by a formal lunch, mid grey with a pale waistcoat sits exactly right. And if the celebration runs into the evening and the invitation turns black tie after dark, that is a separate commission rather than a change of tie, which is why we keep the two conversations apart on the custom tuxedo Los Angeles page and on our wedding suits Los Angeles page.

Having morning dress made

Morning dress is a poor candidate for renting and a very good candidate for making, for the simple reason that the fit of a cutaway coat is unforgiving. The front edge has to break away from the waist button in one clean curve, and the tails have to hang from a balanced back. A rented coat that is roughly your size shows the fault immediately, because there is no straight front edge to hide behind.

Everything we make is full canvas and fully bespoke, cut from a pattern drawn for one person. We do not offer made to measure, which is the adjustment of an existing block to approximate a figure. For a wedding, six months is perfect, three months is comfortable, and six weeks is a rush we can sometimes take. Our usual making time is four to twelve weeks, with the garment made by hand in our own atelier in France.

The consultation is an hour, free, by appointment, with Robb or Ben, at 221 Culver Blvd in Playa del Rey, with free parking outside. We will tell you honestly whether the occasion wants morning dress, a black lounge or a good grey three piece, and we are glad to say so even when the answer is the least expensive of the three. To book a fitting, use https://calendly.com/info-robbp/bespoke-mr-james-fitting or call 310-503-3592. The wider range of what we make is on the bespoke suits Los Angeles page.

Questions we are often asked

What is morning dress?

The most formal daytime dress code there is. A morning coat in black or Oxford grey, single breasted, fastening on one button, with a front edge that curves away into tails behind the knee. With it go formal striped trousers in grey and black, a buff, dove grey or pale blue waistcoat, a white shirt with a stiff or semi stiff collar, a tie or cravat, and black oxfords.

Is morning dress the same as a morning suit?

The words are used interchangeably in Britain and both are understood. Strictly, a morning suit means the coat, waistcoat and trousers cut from one cloth, which is a more modern and slightly less formal arrangement. Traditional morning dress uses a black or Oxford grey coat with separate striped trousers, and that is the version an invitation normally intends.

Can I wear a dark suit instead of morning dress?

Not if the invitation specifies morning dress and the family is wearing it. A morning coat is cut on a different line, with a higher waist seam and a skirt that sweeps back, so a dark suit beside it does not read as slightly less formal, it reads as the wrong garment. If you would rather not commit to tails, ask the host whether a black lounge is acceptable. It usually is.

What is the difference between morning dress and black tie?

Time of day. Morning dress is worn before six in the evening and black tie after it. They are the two halves of the same idea rather than two rungs of one ladder, and nothing crosses between them: a dinner jacket at a midday wedding is as out of place as a morning coat at a gala.

What is a stroller or a black lounge suit?

The step between a suit and morning dress. It keeps the formal striped trousers and the grey waistcoat and replaces the morning coat with a tailless jacket in black or Oxford grey, often with peaked lapels. It suits a formal daytime wedding where only the groom and his father wear tails, and it has the practical virtue of working afterwards with grey flannel trousers.

Do grooms in Los Angeles wear morning dress?

A few do each year, almost always where one family is British, Irish or Continental, or where the ceremony is held in a church at a traditional hour. For most daytime weddings here a three piece in mid or light grey is the garment that actually suits the light, the venue and the hours involved, and we will say so rather than sell you a coat you will wear once.

How long does it take to have morning dress made?

Our making time is four to twelve weeks. For a wedding, six months ahead is perfect, three months is comfortable, and six weeks is a rush we can sometimes accommodate. A cutaway coat is less forgiving than a suit jacket, so we would rather have the time for an unhurried series of fittings than promise a date we would have to chase.