The black lounge suit ( UK), stroller ( U.S.), or Stresemann ( Continental Europe), is a men's day attire semi-formal intermediate of a

formal Formal, formality, informal or informality imply the complying with, or not complying with, some set of requirements (forms, in Ancient Greek). They may refer to: Dress code and events * Formal wear, attire for formal events * Semi-formal attire ...

morning dress and an

informal Formal, formality, informal or informality imply the complying with, or not complying with, some set of requirements (forms, in Ancient Greek). They may refer to: Dress code and events * Formal wear, attire for formal events * Semi-formal atti ...

lounge suit A suit, lounge suit, or business suit is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles worn with a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. A skirt suit is similar, but with a matching skirt instead of ...

; 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 A tailcoat is a knee-length coat (clothing), 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 i ...

with a suit jacket, yet with equivalent options otherwise, such as necktie or

bowtie The bow tie is a type of necktie. A modern bow tie is tied using a common shoelace knot, which is also called the bow knot for that reason. It consists of a ribbon of fabric tied around the collar of a shirt in a symmetrical manner so that ...

for neckwear, a

waistcoat A waistcoat ( UK and Commonwealth, or ; colloquially called a weskit), or vest ( US and Canada), is a sleeveless upper-body garment. It is usually worn over a dress shirt and necktie and below a coat as a part of most men's formal wea ...

(typically black, grey, or buff), 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 dre ...

of optional

collar Collar may refer to: Human neckwear *Clerical collar (informally ''dog collar''), a distinctive collar used by the clergy of some Christian religious denominations *Collar (clothing), the part of a garment that fastens around or frames the neck ...

type, and black

dress shoe A dress shoe (U.S. English) is a shoe to be worn at smart casual or more formal events. A dress shoe is typically contrasted to an athletic shoe. Dress shoes are worn by many as their standard daily shoes, and are widely used in dance, for p ...

s 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 ear ...

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

, 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 ...

(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 A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage ...

day attire, the groom 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 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 Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...

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, Baptism, christenings, confirmations, funerals, Easter traditions, Easter and Christmas traditions, in addition to certain ...

, it was unknown as a colour for

s, 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, 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 Gustav Ernst Stresemann (; 10 May 1878 – 3 October 1929) was a German statesman who served as chancellor in 1923 (for 102 days) and as foreign minister from 1923 to 1929, during the Weimar Republic. His most notable achievement was the reconc ...

(1878–1929) of the

Weimar Republic The German Reich, commonly referred to as the Weimar Republic,, was a historical period of Germany from 9 November 1918 to 23 March 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is also r ...

, who wore the style as an alternative to

. 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 An inside director is a member of the board of directors of a corporation who is also a member of the corporation's management, almost always a corporate officer Corporate titles or business titles are given to corporate officers to show what ...

(especially in Japan), 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 ...

in 1925, and in Germany it became synonymous with him. Winston Churchill 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 European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. In the United Kingdom this mode of dress is now unusual, though the dress code sometimes does occur in fraternal orders 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 barristers. Indeed, the striped

formal trouser Formal trousers, also known as formal striped trousers or colloquially ''spongebag trousers'', are grey striped or patterned formal trousers for day attire in traditional Western dress code, primarily associated with formal morning dress or se ...

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 Continental Europe 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 ...

, 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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

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

valet A valet or varlet is a male servant who serves as personal attendant to his employer. In the Middle Ages and Ancien Régime, valet de chambre was a role for junior courtiers and specialists such as artists in a royal court, but the term "val ...

s 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'' (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

. 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 Westde ...

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 eveni ...

(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 ''Downton Abbey'' is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. The series first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United States on ...

'' (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 over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or ...

's valet. In the German

neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating s ...

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 combine ...

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

, German Foreign Minister

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 ...

in '' Vanity Fair'' (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 equivale ...

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 The bowler hat, also known as a billycock, bob hat, bombín (Spanish) or derby (United States), is a hard felt hat with a rounded crown, originally created by the London hat-makers Thomas and William Bowler in 1849. It has traditionally been wo ...

(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, representin ...

), 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 (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

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 Ronald Reagan and wife Nancy Reagan waving from the limousine during the inaugural parade 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