page_title: Uniforms of the United States Army
section_title: Mess uniform
hierarchical_section_title: Uniforms of the United States Army / Current designs / Standard uniforms / Mess uniform
caption_attribution_description: English: Colonel Thomas Palmatier, 9th Commander of the U.S. Army band
context_page_description: The uniforms of the United States Army distinguish soldiers from other service members. U.S. Army uniform designs have historically been influenced by British and French military traditions, as well as contemporary U.S. civilian fashion trends. The two primary uniforms of the modern U.S. Army are the Army Combat Uniform, used in operational environments, and the Army Green Service Uniform worn during everyday professional wear and during formal and ceremonial occasions that do not warrant the wear of the more formal blue service uniform.
context_section_description: Mess dress is the military term for the formal evening dress worn in the mess or at other formal occasions. This is generally worn as the military equivalent of white tie or black tie. The Army has two versions, a blue winter version and a white summer version, each worn with different accessories depending on the formality of the occasion. 
  The blue mess uniform comprises the Army blue mess jacket, high-waisted trousers, white semiformal dress shirt with a turndown collar, black bow tie, and black cummerbund. The blue trousers are cut along the lines of civilian dress trousers, with a high waist and without pleats, cuffs, or hip pockets. The trouser leg ornamentation consists of an ornamental braid worn on the outside seam of the trouser leg, from the bottom of the waistband to the bottom of the trouser leg. General officers wear pants of the same color as the jacket, with two ½–inch, gold-colored braids, spaced ½ inch apart. Current stated uniform regulation for mess dress is that all other officers and enlisted personnel wear lighter blue trousers with a single 1 ½ inch, gold-colored braid. When worn for white tie events, it is worn with a white formal dress shirt with a wing collar, white waistcoat, and white bow tie instead of the black tie versions.
  The white mess uniform is similar, but features a white mess jacket and black high-waisted trousers instead. The trousers are the same for all ranks.
caption: Colonel Palmatier in the "Special Evening Dress" worn as an optional alternative to the Army Mess Uniform by officers from 1902 to 1969
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