The Mansa Court

WHITE TIE, BLACK TIE AND THE REST: A GUIDE TO DRESS CODES

As of 29 October 2026

Every engagement in the Almanac carries a dress code: the dress the Court wears to it. The code is written in one of a small number of words, each defined once in the Court’s Lexicon, and where an engagement needs more, a short note follows the code after a semicolon: “Lounge suit; with a hat”, “Black tie; in the evening”.

This guide sets out those codes from the most formal down, in the Lexicon’s own words, with engagements that call for each. Where an organiser publishes a dress code of its own, it is quoted as written. Where an organiser publishes none, the Court’s code stands alone, and the Court says so.

White tie

The Lexicon: “A black tailcoat, white piqué waistcoat, white bow tie and starched wing collar. For women, a full-length evening gown, with long gloves if she wishes. It is the highest evening code and the least negotiable; where an invitation names it, nothing else is dress.”

Orders and decorations, in the Lexicon’s words, are “worn with white tie by those entitled to them and by no one else. Those who hold none wear plain white tie and do not invent decorations to wear.”

The Court wears white tie to The Vienna Opera Ball, The Quadrille Ball, Queen Charlotte’s Ball and The International Debutante Ball. The organisers’ wording is not always the same as the Court’s:

  • The International Debutante Ball asks fathers and escorts for “full evening dress (black tail coat, black trousers, white shirt with pique front, white pique vest, white tie and, for the escorts, white gloves as well)”.
  • The Piarist Debutante Ball keeps what it calls a very strict dress code. For escorts it says that they must wear tails and white gloves. The Court’s page therefore reads “White tie; black tie also permitted”.
  • For Ballo di Savoia the Foundation’s invitation for 2025 asked for white tie or black tie, long formal gowns for ladies, and orders and decorations. The Court wears “White tie; with orders and decorations”.
  • For the Vienna Opera Ball and the Quadrille Ball the Court found no dress code on the organisers’ pages.

Black tie

The Lexicon: “A dinner jacket, black or midnight blue, with a black bow tie tied by hand. For women, an evening dress, long or of cocktail length, or evening separates; a dinner jacket is equally correct. It was devised in the 1860s as informal dress for dining at home, which is why it remains the lesser of the two evening codes.”

The Court wears it to The Winter Ball, The Washington Birthday Ball, The Bayreuth Festival and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Glyndebourne puts it plainly: “Black tie and Glyndebourne are synonymous.” Save Venice calls its ball a “black-tie masked ball”; the Court’s code for The Save Venice Ball is black tie. The Henley Festival says: “Henley Festival is a black-tie event.”

Notes after the code do the rest. At Cannes Film Festival it is “Black tie; in the evening”. At The Salzburg Festival it is “Black tie; to the opera, Tracht to Jedermann”. The Lexicon explains that Tracht “is not a code of its own and is written as a note after the code”.

Morning dress

The Lexicon: “A morning coat with cutaway front, waistcoat, striped or grey trousers, and a top hat where the enclosure asks for one. For women, a day dress or tailored suit of modest length, with a hat on the same terms; in the Royal Enclosure at Ascot, a hat rather than a fascinator. It is daytime formal dress, worn before six and not after.”

At Royal Ascot the Court wears “Morning dress in the Royal Enclosure; a lounge suit in the Queen Anne and Village”, and Ascot’s own code for the Royal Enclosure is morning dress. The Court also wears morning dress to The Epsom Derby, where it found no organiser code, and to Trooping the Colour, with “a lounge suit at the reviews”.

Lounge suit

The Lexicon: “A matched suit in a dark cloth, with a tie. For women, a tailored dress, or a suit with a skirt or trousers.”

It is the Court’s most common code. It is worn to The Championships, Wimbledon, Art Basel and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and with notes elsewhere: “Lounge suit; with a hat” at The Kentucky Derby, “Lounge suit; linen, with a panama” at Glorious Goodwood, “Lounge suit; cut to the period” at Goodwood Revival.

Country attire

The Lexicon: “Tweed or moleskin, a shirt and tie, stout shoes or boots. For women, the same cloth, as a tweed or moleskin jacket with trousers, breeches or a skirt, and boots. It is working dress before it is anything else, and it is judged by whether it would survive the day it is worn for.”

The Court wears it to The Cheltenham Festival, The Hahnenkamm Races and The Glorious Twelfth. None of the three organisers publishes a code; at Cheltenham the Jockey Club says it has “no formal dress code”, so country attire there is the Court’s own choice.

Smart casual and yachting attire

Smart casual, in the Lexicon, is “A jacket without a tie, trousers rather than jeans, and shoes rather than trainers”, and the Court “uses the code only where a suit would be wrong”. The Court wears it to The Australian Open and The Masters. Yachting attire is “Soft soles, white or navy, and nothing that will blow away”, worn at The Monaco Yacht Show and, with “a blazer ashore”, at Cowes Week.

For admission to The Mansa Court, see Admission.

Sources

Definitions are quoted from the Court’s Lexicon (https://themansacourt.com/lexicon.html) and each engagement’s code from its Almanac page, read on 29 October 2026. Organiser wording (last checked 26 to 29 October 2026):

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