"old" Tuxedo
suit worn instead.

A gentleman is always supposed to change his clothes for dinner, whether
he is going out or dining at home alone or with his family, and for this
latter occasion some inspired person evolved the house, or lounge, suit,
which is simply a dinner coat and trousers cut somewhat looser than
ordinary evening ones, made of an all-silk or silk and wool fabric in some
dark color, and lined with either satin or silk. Nothing more
comfortable--or luxurious--could be devised for sitting in a deep
easy-chair after dinner, in a reclining position that is ruinous to best
evening clothes.

Its purpose is really to save wear on evening clothes, and to avoid some
of their discomfort also, because they can not be given hard or careless
usage and long survive. A house suit is distinctly what the name implies,
and is not an appropriate garment to wear out for dinner or to receive any
but intimate guests in at home. The accessories are a pleated shirt, with
turndown stiff collar, and black bow tie, or even an unstarched shirt with
collar attached (white of course). The coat is made with two buttons
instead of one, because no waistcoat is worn with it.

=FORMAL AFTERNOON DRESS=

Formal afternoon dress consists of a black cutaway coat with white pique
or black cloth waistcoat, and gray-and-black striped trousers. The coat
may be bound with braid, or, even in better taste, plain. A satin-faced
lapel is not conservative on a cutaway, but it is the correct facing for
the more formal (and elderly) frock coat. Either a cutaway or a frock coat
is always accompanied by a silk hat, and best worn with plain black
waistcoat and a black bow tie or a black and white four-in-hand tie. A
gray silk ascot worn with the frock coat is supposed to be the correct
wedding garment of the bride's father. (For details of clothes worn by
groom and ushers at a wedding, see chapter on weddings.)

Shoes may be patent leather, although black calfskin are at present the
fashion, either with or without spats. If with spats, be sure that they
fit close; nothing is worse than a wrinkled spat or one that sticks out
over the instep like the opened bill of a duck!

Though gray cutaway suits and gray top hats have always been worn to the
races in England, they do not seem suitable here, as races in America are
not such full-dress occasions as in France and England. But at a spring
wedding or other formal occasions a sand-colored double-br