page_title: Informal wear
hierarchical_section_title: Informal wear
caption_attribution_description: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and First Daughter and Advisor to the President of the United States Ivanka Trump attending the World Assembly for Women in Tokyo.
context_page_description: Informal wear, also called business wear, corporate/office wear, tenue de ville and dress clothes, is a Western dress code for clothing defined by a dress shirt with necktie, sometimes with a business suit for men, and cocktail dress or pant suit for women. On the scale of formality, it is considered less formal than semi-formal wear but more formal than casual wear, yet retaining availability for more personal expression than semi-formal wear. Thus, informal should not be confused with casual wear such as business casual or smart casual despite that some people may refer loosely to informal dress as "formal" in contrast with merely casual.
  The suit originated as leisure wear in the late 19th century but eventually replaced the frock coat as every day wear in the city. After World War I, the suit was established as informal daily wear. Hats, such as fedora or bowler hats, are sometimes worn with informal wear.
  Informal wear is commonly applied for office use in professions like politics, academia, law and finance, business, as well as certain events such as job interviews in other sectors.
context_section_description: Informal wear, also called business wear, corporate/office wear, tenue de ville and (colloquially) dress clothes, is a Western dress code for clothing defined by a dress shirt with necktie, sometimes with a business suit for men, and cocktail dress or pant suit for women. On the scale of formality, it is considered less formal than semi-formal wear but more formal than casual wear, yet retaining availability for more personal expression than semi-formal wear. Thus, informal should not be confused with casual wear such as business casual or smart casual despite that some people may refer loosely to informal dress as "formal" in contrast with merely casual.
  The suit originated as leisure wear in the late 19th century but eventually replaced the frock coat as every day wear in the city. After World War I, the suit was established as informal daily wear. Hats, such as fedora or bowler hats, are sometimes worn with informal wear.
  Informal wear is commonly applied for office use in professions like politics, academia, law and finance, business, as well as certain events such as job interviews in other sectors. It is a traditional dress code that aims to indicate respect to the situation and not draw attention.
caption: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Ivanka Trump, daughter of U.S. President Donald Trump, both wearing Western business suits (2017).
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