Mess Dress

Mess dress is the military term for the formal worn by military officers in the mess or at other formal occasions. It is also known as mess uniform and, more informally, as mess kit. It frequently consists of a mess jacket and trousers worn with a formal shirt and other formal accessories, though the exact form varies depending on the uniform regulations for each service.

Prior to World War II this style of military dress was largely restricted to the British, British Empire and United States armed forces; although the French, Imperial German, Swedish and other navies had adopted their own versions of mess dress during the late nineteenth century, influenced by the Royal Navy.

At the present time mess dress is also sometimes worn by members of civilian uniformed services and members of a Royal Household. While predominantly a uniform worn by commissioned officers for whom it is mandatory, it may also be worn as an optional uniform by senior enlisted personnel in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force, and by non-commissioned officers in the British Army and Royal Air Force.

The Australian Army has separate mess kits for summer and winter. The summer mess kit is a white jacket, almost identical between different branches of the army. The winter mess kit is made of thicker material, with jackets in the colour (scarlet or dark blue) of the wearers' corps. The winter mess dress includes a waistcoat. Both kits have the same barrathea blue trousers, but trousers vary in the colour and width of leg stripe denoting corps. Women's mess attire is the same, except that women wear a skirt instead of trousers. Both versions are worn with a bow tie and white shirt; Marcella for winter and plain for summer.

Mess dress is worn as formal evening attire for mess dinners. Uniforms range from full mess dress (with dinner jackets, cummerbunds or waistcoats) to service dress worn with a bow tie for individuals not required to own mess dress (generally non-commissioned members or members of the reserves). Mess dress is not provided at public expense. However, all commissioned officers of the regular forces are required to own mess dress within six months of being commissioned.

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