Western dress codes

= Day (before 6 p.m.) = Evening (after 6 p.m.)    = Bow tie colour = Ladies = Gentlemen Western dress codes are a set of dress codes detailing what clothes are worn for what occasion that originated in Western Europe and the United States in the 19th century.

Conversely, since most cultures have intuitively applied some level equivalent to the more formal Western dress code traditions, these dress codes are simply a versatile framework, open to amalgamation of international and local customs.

[1][2][3] Ceremonial dress, military uniform, religious clothing, academic dress, and folk costume appropriate to the formality level are encouraged, but face-covering garments (niqab, hijab) are not always accepted.

Before the modern system of formal, semi-formal, and informal was consolidated in the 20th century, the terms were looser.

[citation needed] Therefore, in the 21st century, full dress often refers to white tie only.

Undress (not to be confused with nudity) in turn was similarly loose in meaning, corresponding to anything from a dressing gown to a lounge suit or its evening equivalent of dinner clothes (now one of the more formal dress codes seen in many Western regions).