Mess dress
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Three Canadian officers in shawl or rolled collar jacket and waistcoat style mess dress or mess kit. Miniature medals and other accoutrements are also worn. |
Mess dress is the
military term for the formal
evening dress worn in the
mess or at other formal occasions. It is also known as
mess uniform and
mess kit.
British and Commonwealth Armies
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Cut away or cavalry style of mess jacket with vest. |
Mess uniforms first appeared in the
British Army in about
1845. The original purpose was to provide a relatively comfortable and inexpensive alternative to the stiff and elaborate full dress uniforms then worn by officers for evening social functions such as regimental dinners or balls. With the general disappearance of full dress uniforms after
World War I, mess dress became the most colourful and traditional uniform to be retained by most officers in British and
Commonwealth armies.
The formal designation of the most commonly worn mess uniform in the British Army is "No 10 (Temperate) Mess Dress". The form varies according to
regiment,
corps or service, but generally a short mess jacket is worn, which either fastens at the neck (being cut-away to show the
waistcoat — this being traditionally the style worn by
cavalry regiments), or is worn with a white shirt and black bow tie (traditionally the usual style for all other regiments, corps and services). Since the regimental amalgamations of recent years, the "cavalry style" jacket has been adopted by the majority of British Army regiments and corps, although the simpler "infantry style" uniform remains popular in Commonwealth armies.
The colours of mess jackets and overalls almost inevitably reflect those of the traditional full dress uniforms of the regiments in question, as worn until at least
1914. Thus, jackets are usually scarlet, blue or green, with collars, cuffs, waistcoats or lapels in the former facing colours of the regiments in question. In the case of those regiments which have undergone amalgamation features of the former uniforms are often combined. Thus the mess uniform of a modern regiment with several predecessors may have cuffs and lapels of differing colours. Waistcoats (vests) are often richly embroidered though with modern substitutes for the gold or silver braiding that made these items very expensive prior to World War II. Non-commissioned officers wear a mess dress that is usually simpler in design but in the same regimental colours as officers of the same regiment.
Most British Army regiments' mess dress incorporates high-waisted, very tight trousers known as "
overalls", the bottoms of which buckle under heeled boots (or "mess
wellies"). Ornamental
spurs are usually worn in cavalry regiments; some other regiments and corps prescribe spurs for "field officers" (
majors and above), since in former times these officers would have been mounted. Scottish regiments wear kilts or tartan trews, as well as tartan waistcoats.
In "No 11 Warm Weather Mess Dress" a white drill hip-length jacket is worn with either a waistcoat in the same material or a cummerbund of regimental pattern. Blue and various shades of red or green are the most common colours for the cummerbund. Trousers or overalls are the same as in No 10 Dress.
Female officers wear mess jackets resembling those of their male counterparts over dark coloured, ankle length, evening dresses. Black hand bags can be carried and black evening shoes are worn.
Royal Navy
Navy blue mess dress is generally worn as the naval equivalent of
white tie or
black tie. However, the
Royal Navy and some other navies distinguish between
mess dress, which is now the equivalent of civilian white tie, and
mess undress, which is the equivalent of black tie. Before
1939, there were three forms of evening dress, with the most formal,
ball dress, including a
tailcoat and gold
epaulettes. Mess dress included
trousers with gold lace, today there is no ball dress and gold laced trousers are not routinely worn.
The mess undress uniform comprises high waisted blue trousers, a short blue jacket, a marcella fronted shirt with black bow tie and a blue waistcoat or cummerbund. Rank markings are worn on the jacket cuffs and either full miniature medals, or medal ribbons may be worn. A silk bow tie is recommended and a pre-tied bow tie will incur a fine for the wearer, or host if the wearer is a civilian guest in the mess.
In mess dress the waistcoat or cummerbund is replaced by a white waistcoat and the wearer may opt for a starched shirt with a detached wing collar. Miniature medals should be worn.
Officers of the rank of
Captain and above still wear tailcoats with gold laced trousers, known as lightning conductors, for both mess dress and mess undress.
Cummerbunds are frequently decorated with badges or colours appropriate to the ship, or establishment, which the officer serves in: eg HMS Glasgow - Black Watch Tartan, HMS Illustrious - Green with the ships logo in gold (three crossed trumpets), Royal Naval Engineering College - Engineers Purple with the RNEC lettering in gold.
In tropical climes a white jacket with shoulder boards to indicate rank is preferred.
Royal Air Force
Mess dress in the
Royal Air Force is similar to that in the Royal Navy, except that the jacket and trousers are in mid-blue. For the most formal occasions, such as court balls and royal evening receptions, a white bow tie is worn with a white waistcoat. However for all other evening events, a black bow tie with a mid-blue waistcoat or a slate grey
cummerbund is worn. Cummerbunds of a particular squadron or unit design may also be worn. On Scottish units, a kilt of grey Douglas
tartan may be worn.
The use of mess dress in the
United States Armed Forces is a more recent trend, which started in the early 20th Century.
U.S. Army
In 1902, when the
U.S. Army introduced its last standing collar blue uniform for full dress, a modified form of civilian "tail coat" was introduced as evening dress worn with a white tie and vest. This was known as the special uniform for evening wear. At the same time a mess uniform resembling the British pattern was authorised for less formal evening occasions. The mess jacket was either dark blue or white according to climate. After 1911 the blue jacket included lapels in branch colour (yellow for cavalry, red for artillery etc). The individual officer had the option of either wearing full dress or either of the evening dress alternatives for social functions. In view of the expense involved it was usually senior officers who appeared in mess or evening dress uniforms. While the blue full dress was worn during 1902-17 by all ranks for ceremonial parades within the continental USA, the two optional evening uniforms were authorised only for officers.
The various blue uniforms ceased to be worn after 1917. However the white mess uniform for commissioned and warrant officers was authorised again in 1921. In 1928 wearing of the full range of blue dress uniforms was authorised for all ranks but only when off duty and at the expense of the individual. In practice this meant that only the pre-1917 mess uniform and, to a lesser extent the special evening wear, reappeared in significant numbers.
After
World War II, the evening dress and mess dress uniforms were reintroduced, with the "tail coat" having a single "Austrian knot" over the branch-of-service color (General Officers had stars over an oak-leaf braid), with the rank placed in the bottom opening of the knot, while the mess coat, for black-tie affairs, used an Austrian knot rank system, with the
branch insignia at the bottom. The number of knots indicated the officer's rank: five for Colonel, four for Lt. Colonel, three for Captain, two for First Lieutenant, and none for Second Lieutenant. This complicated system was replaced with the evening coat style (which lost its "tails" in the late 1960's) in 1972, using a single knot and the rank placed above the branch-of-service color. A white mess coat, for summertime wear, was introduced in the 1950's.
The special evening dress finally disappeared in 1975, replaced by the mess uniform, which in its modern form closely resembles that of 1911.
U.S. Navy and Coast Guard
Officers and Chief Petty Officers of the
U.S. Navy and
U.S. Coast Guard utilize the same mess
uniform, consisting of a black waist-length "tuxedo" coat with gold buttons and rank stripes on the sleeves, and worn with a white bowtie and vest for state occasions, or a black bowtie and gold cummerbund for semi-formal occasions. A white coat with black shoulder boards is worn for the summer. Midshipmen at the
United States Naval Academy utilize the same uniform, but wear shoulderboards to denote rank. Members of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary wear the same uniforms, but with a silver cummerbund and Coast Guard Auxiliary officer insignia in place of the gold insignia. Petty Officers and below may, at their option, wear this same uniform but with a black cummerbund and silver buttons.
A second set of standards exists, for personnel under the rank of
Lieutenant (O-3) using the standard dress uniform. These simply replace the ribbons worn on the left with miniature size medals. Enlisted who are E-6 (
Petty Officer First Class) and below wear their standard dress uniform, the traditional blue or white jumper (sailor suit), with miniature medals.
U.S. Air Force
The
U.S. Air Force wear an identical pattern to the USN, except that coat and trousers are dark blue, dark blue bow ties and dark blue cummerbund are used for black tie affairs and white bow tie with white waistcoat for white tie affairs, silver trimmed shoulder boards and silver wrist braid replace the rank stripes (enlisted members wear sleeve rank insignia instead of shoulder boards), and silver buttons replace the gold buttons. No cover (hat) is worn. General officers have solid silver shoulder boards and wider silver wrist braid. Enlisted members also have the option to wear the Semi-Formal Uniform, essentially an issued service dress with a white shirt substituted for the blue shirt, but most
non-commissioned officers elect to purchase a mess dress. Women's Mess Dress Uniforms have a long skirt replacing the trousers and the deletion of the button chain clasp.
U.S. Marine Corps
The
U.S. Marine Corps, since the late 19th Century, has worn the most elaborate of the mess dress uniforms in the US Armed Forces. The uniform coat is fastened at the neck, similar to that of the Dress Blue uniform, but is left open, cavalry style, to expose the shirt and cummerbund, which is scarlet (General Officers have a scarlet vest with small gold buttons). Rank, in gold or silver wire, is embroidered directly on the shoulder epaulets, which is bordered with gold wire and scarlet piping (as is the collar), with the cuffs, also bordered in gold wire and scarlet, having a "quatrefoil"--the coiled rope-like decoration found on the officer's cap, for Warrant Officers and Junior Commissioned Officers (2d Lieutenant to Captain), a single row of oak leaves for Senior Commissioned Officers (Major to Colonel), and a double row of oak leaves for General Officers. The uniform is complete with black trousers with gold & red stripes, and a "boatcloak," a black knee-length cape lined in scarlet silk. Staff Non-Commissioned Officers (Staff Sergeant to Sergeant Major/Master Gunnery Sergeant) wear a mess uniform similar to that of the Navy's officers, except with the traditional light blue trousers with "blood stripe," scarlet cummerbund, and black bowtie. A white vest, for all officer ranks, and the white bowtie and vest, for SNCOs, is worn for evening dress functions. A summer white mess dress, identical in design to the U.S. Navy/U.S. Coast Guard uniforms, but with shoulder epaulets instead of rank boards, was worn until the mid-1990's, when it was phased out.
The phrase
mess kit may also refer to a compact kit of cooking and eating utensils for use by soldiers and campers, also known as
mess tins and
mess gear.
