# Livery - How to Dress Like a Servant (and how to avoid dressing like the butler)



## Sator (Jan 13, 2006)

Livery is defined as _a characteristic attire or uniform worn by servants or similar class of people_. Traditionally, it was the concern of a gentleman to ensure that his servants were presentably attired - but never so elegantly as to upstage their employers. It may seem a dated concept today but at every function such as at a wedding it remains imperative to avoid the following embarrassing scenario:










This comes to us from _Punch_, February, 1891. It emphasises the need for the catering staff to be dressed so as to clearly distinguish them the guests, thereby sparing them of the embarrassment of being ordered to fetch a fork or drink.

One of the ways to mark out catering staff or servants' attire as being livery was to have them wear incorrect combinations of formal attire. Here is a typical example:

Notice that the master on the right is dressed in daytime semi-formal attire. However, the butler is dressed in an evening dress coat in broad daytime matched with formal striped trousers worn only with morning dress. He would also be wearing a black long tie instead of the proper white bow tie usually worn with evening dress.

In the evening, butlers tended to wear specific evening dress uniforms for the occasion:










The uniform of the butler on the left is highly typical with the guilt buttons and the details on the skirt seen from behind. The gentleman on the right is, interestingly enough, more likely to be a guest, as it was still common practice at the time to wear a black waistcoat with evening full dress. In the decade or so afterwards, black waistcoats with a matching black bow tie came to be worn only by servants.

Here is another excellent example of how a butler should dress:










Whoops&#8230;it looks like the butler has made off with the bride however, after knocking off the groom. I particularly like the way the master has got the servant to wear a waistcoat sticking out a proverbial mile underneath the dress coat.

Another typical practice was to sometimes have servants wear court dress. If you watch the final scene of the film To Catch a Thief, you will see the catering staff at the party wearing faux court dress. It is quite traditional to have livery be a notch up in formality to that of the guests. This is perhaps one of the best ways to make the catering staff distinct from the guests. Here is an excellent example of an old-fashioned ruffled shirt front worn in faux early 19th century court dress fashion:










Other combinations perfectly acceptable as livery include dinner jackets worn with a long tie for a daytime function. The look just yells out "_prego - at your service, Sir - what drink may I fetch you?_":










The features which make it particularly suitable as livery include the notch lapels - a perfect match with the long tie. Two or three buttons dinner jackets are preferable.

Armed with piece of dress education AAACers are encouraged to yell out _garçon - fetch me a drink!_ whenever you see someone in livery pass by when you are thirsty at a function.


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## Trilby (Aug 11, 2004)

Excellent! Sator - one of your best posts yet.


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## JibranK (May 28, 2007)

'tis commendable indeed


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## Leon (Apr 16, 2005)

"Confound you!".

Wish I had said that at a wedding i was a guest at, two years ago, when asked to put away someone's coat. I still cringe at the memory.

Leon


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## Benjamin E. (Mar 2, 2007)

Aren't people in breaking rules in pictures #2, #4, and #6?
(#2) I thought that dress coats shouldn't be paired with morning trousers.
(#4) The vest poking out from under the coat is almost as disturbing as the notch lapels.
(#6) I thought that whole ensemble was a no-no, anyway (3 button dinner jacket, long tie, etc.).
Doesn't this strike anyone as odd?


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## JibranK (May 28, 2007)

That's the point of the photos. They're showing incorrect examples.

Btw, some Hollywood stylist will probably stumble upon this thread and we'll be seeing butler #1 and butler #2 at the Oscars next year.


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## Teacher (Mar 14, 2005)

Leon said:


> "Confound you!".
> 
> Wish I had said that at a wedding i was a guest at, two years ago, when asked to put away someone's coat.


Such strong language!


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## lee_44106 (Apr 10, 2006)

Awesome post Sator, thanks.

That servant making off with the bride, in the fourth picture, is the honorable (or dishonorable) Dennis Kucinich from Ohio.


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## mussel (Oct 19, 2004)

Thanks, this is probably the best post in recent AA history. Well done.


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## Bertie Wooster (Feb 11, 2006)

Bravo Sator ! An excellent post as always old chap ! 
Two observations, both related to the second image. Firstly, when watching Jeeves and Wooster last night ( can't recall the exact episode ) I noticed Jeeves was wearing exactly the same outfit as the butler pictured. The scene was a dinner party at home, guests in dinner jackets and Jeeves wearing a dress coat with morning trousers and a black vest and long tie. TV being historically correct ? Good god what next ???
Secondly, isn't that a rather unusual choice of trousers that the master has on. I've seen ( and indeed worn myself ) striped morning trousers with a stroller. I've also seen dogtooth checks. I've not however seen that large a check. Rather interesting IMHO.


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## Tom Bell-Drier (Mar 1, 2006)

very nice post Sator, thankyou.


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## Holdfast (Oct 30, 2005)

Very enjoyable and amusing post Sator. Thanks for making me chuckle.


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## Literide (Nov 11, 2004)

Sator said:


> Here is an excellent example of an old-fashioned ruffled shirt front worn in faux early 19th century court dress fashion:


That picture of Sean Connery is actually an example of incorrect highland attire, I am sad to report. Not sure if this is from the time he was Knighted or some evening function judging by the guys in DJs in the background.

That is a Prince Charlie jacket, which is properly worn with a kilt and black tie in the evening. That ruffle, or jabot, is correctly worn in the evening with another variation of highland jacket called the either "Sherrifmuir" or "Montrose"

On the occasion of his dubbing by the Queen, a daytime function usually requiring morning attire or the ethnic equivilant, Sir Sean, apparently forgiven for being a rabid Scottish Nationalist if not a republican, was incorectly attired with the above jacket and ruffle with his kilt and an evening formal fur sporran. He should have been wearing a black argyle (day) jacket, perhaps a dove gray vest to meet "morning" formality, and a plain, though not too rustic, leather sporran.

Scottish servants livery? I have no idea.

Honors ceremonies once required court dress, but I think that stopped sometime after WWII


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## GBR (Aug 10, 2005)

Literide said:


> That picture of Sean Connery is actually an example of incorrect highland attire, I am sad to report. Not sure if this is from the time he was Knighted or some evening function judging by the guys in DJs in the background.
> 
> That is a Prince Charlie jacket, which is properly worn with a kilt and black tie in the evening. That ruffle, or jabot, is correctly worn in the evening with another variation of highland jacket called the either "Sherrifmuir" or "Montrose"
> 
> ...


The man is a consummate actor with little idea of dress, merely of theatre.


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## A Questionable Gentleman (Jun 16, 2006)

Literide said:


> Honors ceremonies once required court dress, but I think that stopped sometime after WWII


Couldn't say. I do know that Austin Powers was knighted wearing a morning coat...


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## DougNZ (Aug 31, 2005)

Quite right on the Highland dress, Literide.

Regarding Scottish livery, from what I gather all followers of a chief or chieftain wear much the same clothing in highland wear with the sett, badge and plant badge showing their adherence. In reality, most estate employees wear 'saxon' clothes with no livery features.


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## Albert (Feb 15, 2006)

Outstanding post. Thanks for making my day!


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## Good Old Sledge (Jun 13, 2006)

I think I've never seen a more compelling argument against notch lapel dinner jackets and long ties with evening dress.


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## yachtie (May 11, 2006)

> Here is another excellent example of how a butler should dress:
> 
> 
> 
> ...










LOL That's classic, Sator!


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## asaffi (Jun 14, 2005)

Ok...here's one thing I' ve always wanted to ask: How do you know a guest from a waiter, if both are using tuxedos? What would a guest wear that a waiter in a tuxedo woudn't? How would you organize this party, supposing you can't ask the waiters to use anything diferent?


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## Sator (Jan 13, 2006)

asaffi said:


> Ok...here's one thing I' ve always wanted to ask: How do you know a guest from a waiter, if both are using tuxedos? What would a guest wear that a waiter in a tuxedo woudn't? How would you organize this party, supposing you can't ask the waiters to use anything diferent?


It is traditional for livery to be one step more formal than the dress code of the guests, although this is not invariably necessary. If the guests are in informal dress then the waiters can be in black tie. If the guests are in full dress then a type of faux court dress will be distinctive.

Where the guests and servants wear the same dress code, livery traditionally also incorporates combinations which are obviously wrong eg a dinner jacket ('tuxedo') before 7PM perhaps worn with a long tie, or a dress coat worn with a black tie and waistcoat also worn before 7PM. A dress coat with a long tie and striped morning trousers worn in daylight hours is an extreme example of this tendency.

It is best to avoid having both the waiters and the guests wear the same dress code. In the past having subtle signals such as a waiter wearing the wrong coloured bow tie or a long tie when a bow tie is required might have been enough but these days half the guests turn up in livery themselves, so you need much stronger indicators.


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## Albert (Feb 15, 2006)

Talking about Livery, vergers' uniforms might be a good modern-day example. (I couldn't help noticing yesterday) 

In Westminster Abbey, for example, their dress exhibits reminiscences to clerical court dress. At St. Pauls cathedral, on the other hand, it's a morning coat with striped trousers (i.e. at least three formality notches above regular church visitor) with a dark waist coat (mismatch) and mostly dark tie (another mismatch). A little bit dark, but not too unfashionable.

Interesting, how much this forum helps reflecting on sartorial everyday phenomena. Thanks, Sator!


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## Literide (Nov 11, 2004)

JibranK said:


> That's the point of the photos. They're showing incorrect examples.
> 
> Btw, some Hollywood stylist will probably stumble upon this thread and we'll be seeing butler #1 and butler #2 at the Oscars next year.


As Sator indicated;

<<characteristic attire or uniform worn by servants or similar class of people>>


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## Bog (May 13, 2007)

*The Steward (Lewis of the Porcellian [Club, Harvard]), 1919., Joseph DeCamp.*

*Servants' dress as shown above*: Black tie and turn down collar worn with tailcoat. Yellow waistcoat worn with tailcoat. Gilt buttons worn on vest and tailcoat.

*Correct dress (tailcoat)*: White tie and wing collar worn with tailcoat. White waistcoat worn with tailcoat. Covered gross grain buttons worn on tailcoat and white buttons or waistcoat studs worn on white waistcoat.

We can see in this painting that up to 4 elements of dress are worn by the servant which, had he not been a servant, would be exceedingly incorrect. That should be more than enough to distinguish Lewis from the rest of the party even if all the rest of those attending would be wearing tailcoats for a white tie event.

Note the similarity to Sator's butler on the left in the 1900 illustration. The buttons are gilt. The waistcoat is striped and somewhat higher buttoning than a proper waistcoat worn with a tailcoat.


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