The black lounge suit ( UK), stroller ( U.S.), or Stresemann (

Continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...

), is a men's day attire semi-formal intermediate of a formal morning dress and an informal lounge suit; comprising grey striped or checked formal trousers, but distinguished by a conventional-length lounge jacket, single- or double-breasted in black, midnight blue or grey. This makes it largely identical to the formal morning dress from which it is derived, only having exchanged the morning coat with a suit jacket, yet with equivalent options otherwise, such as

necktie A necktie, or simply a tie, is a piece of cloth worn for decorative purposes around the neck, resting under the shirt collar and knotted at the throat, and often draped down the chest. Variants include the ascot, bow, bolo, zipper tie, crav ...

or bowtie for neckwear, a waistcoat (typically black, grey, or

buff Buff or BUFF may refer to: People * Buff (surname), a list of people * Buff (nickname), a list of people * Johnny Buff, ring name of American world champion boxer John Lisky (1888–1955) * Buff Bagwell, a ring name of American professional w ...

), French cuffs

dress shirt A dress shirt, button shirt, button-front, button-front shirt, or button-up shirt, is a garment with a collar and a full-length opening at the front, which is fastened using buttons or shirt studs. A button-down or button-down shirt is a dres ...

of optional collar type, and black dress shoes or dress boots. The correct hat would be a semi-formal homburg, bowler, or

boater hat __NOTOC__ A boater (also straw boater, basher, skimmer, The English Panama, cady, katie, canotier, somer, sennit hat, or in Japan, can-can hat, suruken) is a semi-formal summer hat for men, which was popularised in the late 19th century and e ...

. Just as morning dress is considered the formal daytime equivalent of formal evening attire

dress coat A tailcoat is a knee-length coat characterised by a rear section of the skirt, known as the ''tails'', with the front of the skirt cut away. The tailcoat shares its historical origins in clothes cut for convenient horse riding in the Early Mode ...

i e.

white tie White tie, also called full evening dress or a dress suit, is the most formal in traditional evening western dress codes. For men, it consists of a black tail coat (alternatively referred to as a dress coat, usually by tailors) worn over a wh ...

, so the stroller is considered the semi-formal daytime equivalent of the semi-formal evening attire dinner jacket, i.e.

black tie Black tie is a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and American conventions for attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically by its principal element f ...

(also called tuxedo). Unlike other dress codes, there is no clear equivalent for women, though typical morning dress and cocktail dress have both been identified as alternatives. Wearing black lounge suit the traditional way with formal trousers largely fell out of use following the

counterculture of the 1960s The counterculture of the 1960s was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon that developed throughout much of the Western world in the 1960s and has been ongoing to the present day. The aggregate movement gained momentum as the civil rights mo ...

, although its practice has still been observed occasionally ever since. For a semi-formal wedding day attire, the

groom A bridegroom (often shortened to groom) is a man who is about to be married or who is newlywed. When marrying, the bridegroom's future spouse (if female) is usually referred to as the bride. A bridegroom is typically attended by a best man ...

may dress in a dark-grey suit jacket with a dove-grey or buff waistcoat and optionally a wedding tie. For a semi-formal

funeral A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect ...

day attire, the mourner may wear a matching black jacket and waistcoat presumably with black necktie.

Name

British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Oxford Dictionaries, "English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadl ...

it is called ''black lounge suit''. Since black was reserved for

formal wear Formal wear or full dress is the Western dress code category applicable for the most formal occasions, such as weddings, christenings, confirmations, funerals, Easter and Christmas traditions, in addition to certain state dinners, audie ...

, it was unknown as a colour for lounge suits, so the term was unambiguous. It has also been referred to as ''Marlborough suit'' in the U.K. In

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...

the style is referred to as ''stroller suit'', ''club coat'' or ''sack coat''. Around

continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...

, the style is often called a ''Stresemann'' after the

German chancellor The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ge ...

Gustav Stresemann (1878–1929) of the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a Constitutional republic, constitutional federal republic for the first time in ...

, who wore the style as an alternative to morning coat. In German it is also known as (English: "

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

suit") after the capital of post

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Western Germany. It is also known as ''director's suit'' from the term inside director (especially in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

), or ''citydress''.

History

While early prototypes of black lounge suit did occur in the late 19th century, current form was settled on around 1900. Stresemann famously wore the suit during the negotiations of the

Locarno Treaties The Locarno Treaties were seven agreements negotiated at Locarno, Switzerland, during 5 to 16 October 1925 and formally signed in London on 1 December, in which the First World War Western European Allied powers and the new states of Central a ...

in 1925, and in Germany it became synonymous with him.

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

is depicted in many photographs and paintings wearing a black lounge suit and striped formal trousers while serving as

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. In the United Kingdom this mode of dress is now unusual, though the dress code sometimes does occur in

fraternal order A fraternal order is a fraternity organised as an order, with traits alluding to religious, chivalric or pseudo-chivalric orders, guilds, or secret societies. Contemporary fraternal orders typically have secular purposes, including social, cu ...

s such as

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

for semi-formal daytime meetings. It is also still worn within the legal profession, especially by

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and givin ...

s. Indeed, the striped formal trouser are in some circles referred to as "barrister trousers". The stroller's apparent decline in use, as opposed to the staying power of its evening counterpart the dinner jacket, could be attributed to several factors: daytime formality in general, and specifically the standard of changing clothes for various occasions, fell out of general use in post-

Western culture; and strollers were sometimes associated with uniformed servants, a concept which had also fallen out of favour. By the late 20th century, fictional characters in media depicted wearing strollers were often portrayed as self-important or inflexible snobs, often in opposition to more sympathetic characters dressed casually. Traditionally, in

and the British

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the C ...

, morning dress is worn to formal day events, and

for formal evening events. However, when both dress codes declined in use in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, this also affected the use of the stroller. Yet, notably, at his first inauguration in 1981, former U.S. President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

wore a black stroller. When his planned attire was announced it generated some controversy among D.C. lawmakers who thought they were being told to acquire such suits as well.

In media

Gentlemen's valets of the early 20th century are often depicted in television and film wearing black lounge suits as their standard apparel. In the 1964

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

film ''

Mary Poppins It may refer to: * ''Mary Poppins'' (book series), the original 1934–1988 children's fantasy novels that introduced the character. * Mary Poppins (character), the nanny with magical powers. * ''Mary Poppins'' (film), a 1964 Disney film star ...

'' (set in the 1910s), the character of Mr. Banks wears a black lounge suit to work every day at the bank. '' Thunderball'' (1965) of the ''James Bond'' films features a black lounge suit wedding. The ''

Pan Tau Pan Tau (Czech for "Mr. Tau") is a character created for a children's television series. There were 33 episodes in 3 series made by the Czechoslovak Television (ČST) in cooperation with Barrandov Studios and the West German TV network Westdeu ...

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

(1969–1978) features a black lounge suit-wearing protagonist with the same name. In the long-running BBC sitcom '' Are You Being Served?'' (1972-1985), the character Captain Peacock always wore a stroller as the store's floorwalker. The character of John Bates of '' Downton Abbey'' (2010–2015) typically appears in a stroller while serving as his

lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the Peerage ...

's valet. In the German neo-noir

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and comb ...

'' Babylon Berlin'' (2017-), set during the

, German

Foreign Minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

Gustav Stresemann wears a Stresemann suit accordingly.

Gallery

File:Edmond About Vanity Fair 20 November 1880.jpg, Caricature of

Edmond François Valentin About Edmond François Valentin About (14 February 182816 January 1885) was a French novelist, publicist and journalist. Biography About was born at Dieuze, in the Moselle ''département'' in the Lorraine region of France. In 1848 he entered the Éc ...

in ''

Vanity Fair Vanity Fair may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Literature * Vanity Fair, a location in '' The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1678), by John Bunyan * ''Vanity Fair'' (novel), 1848, by William Makepeace Thackeray * ''Vanity Fair'' (magazines), the ...

'' (20 November 1880) File:William C. Mooney 1915 2.jpg, William C. Mooney,

congressman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

from Woodsfield,

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

, in stroller and bowler hat (1915) File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-08487, Berlin, deutsch-litauische Verhandlungen.jpg, Gustav Stresemann (sitting on the right, with

Augustinas Voldemaras Augustinas Voldemaras (16 April 1883 – 16 May 1942) was a Lithuanian nationalist political figure. He briefly served as the country's first prime minister in 1918 and continued serving as the minister of foreign affairs until 1920, representing ...

), Berlin (1928) File:2016-06 cromford stresemann.jpg, A stroller in an exhibition of the Textilfabrik Cromford, Ratingen,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

File:Macht der Mode - Der Stresemann (3).jpg, Further detail File:The Reagans waving from the limousine during the Inaugural Parade 1981.jpg, U.S. President

and wife

Nancy Reagan Nancy Davis Reagan (; born Anne Frances Robbins; July 6, 1921 – March 6, 2016) was an American film actress and First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989. She was the second wife of president Ronald Reagan. Reagan was born in Ne ...

waving from the limousine during the

inaugural parade The inauguration of the president of the United States is a ceremony to mark the commencement of a new four-year term of the president of the United States. During this ceremony, between 73 to 79 days after the presidential election, the pres ...

in Washington, D.C. (1981) File:President John F. Kennedy wears a stroller suit to a diplomatic reception in 1961.jpg, President Kennedy wears a black lounge to a diplomatic reception at the White House in 1961 File:Carter, Mondale, and Reagan in stroller suits.jpg, President Carter, Vice President Mondale and President elect Reagan in stroller suits before Reagan's Inauguration in January 1981. File:James-bond-wedding-look.jpg, Actor George Lazenby, as James Bond, in a stroller suit for the film On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).

References

External links