A top hat (also called a high hat, a cylinder hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat for men traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally made of black silk or sometimes grey, the top hat emerged in Western fashion by the end of the 18th century. Although it declined by the time of the counterculture of the 1960s, it remains a formal fashion accessory. A collapsible variant of a top hat, developed in the 19th century, is known as an opera hat.
Duke of Westminster (Herzog von Westminster) ist ein erblicher britischer Adelstitel in der Peerage of the United Kingdom. Der Titel ist nach dem Londoner Stadtteil benannt.
Der hauptsächlich genutzte Landsitz der Familie ist Eaton Hall, in der Nähe von Chester in Cheshire; daneben wird Ely Lodge im nordirischen County Fermanagh genutzt. Die Familie besaß in der Vergangenheit außerdem ein großes Stadthaus in der Londoner Park Lane, das Grosvenor House genannt wurde.
Der Titel wurde am 27. Februar 1874 von Königin Victoria an Hugh Grosvenor, 3. Marquess of Westminster, verliehen. Er führte bereits seit 1869 die fortan nachgeordneten Titel 3. Marquess of Westminster, 4. Earl Grosvenor, 4. Viscount Belgrave, 4. Baron Grosvenor und 11. Baronet, of Eaton.
Der Titel Marquess of Westminster war am 13. September 1831 in der Peerage of the United Kingdom seinem Großvater Robert Grosvenor, 2. Earl Grosvenor, bei der Krönung von Wilhelm IV. verliehen worden. Dessen Vater Sir Richard Grosvenor, 7. Baronet, war von Georg III. in der Peerage of Great Britain am 8. April 1761 zum Baron Grosvenor, of Eaton in the County of Chester, und am 5. Juli 1784 zum Earl Grosvenor und Viscount Belgrave, of Belgrave in the County of Chester, erhoben worden. Dessen Ur-ur-urgroßvater, der Unterhausabgeordnete Sir Richard Grosvenor, war am 23. Februar 1622 in der Baronetage of England der Titel Baronet, of Eaton in the County of Chester, verliehen worden.
Der Heir Apparent des jeweiligen Herzogs führt den Höflichkeitstitel Earl Grosvenor, dessen Heir Apparent den Höflichkeitstitel Viscount Belgrave.
Der heutige Duke of Westminster zählt mit einem geschätzten Vermögen von ca. 9,9 Mrd. £ zu den reichsten Männern Großbritanniens. Im Forbes Magazine von 2009 wurde er in der Liste der reichsten Personen der Welt auf Platz 29 geführt. Er verfügt u. a. über Grundbesitz von ca. 1,2 km2 Größe in den Londoner Nobelstadtteilen Mayfair, Belgravia und Pimlico, davon allein 770.000 m2 im an den Buckingham Palast angrenzenden Belgravia, sowie über den Landsitz Eaton Hall in Cheshire.
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 trousers. It is considered informal wear in Western dress codes. The lounge suit originated in 19th-century Britain as a more casual alternative for sportswear and British country clothing, with roots in early modern Western Europe. After replacing the black frock coat in the early 20th century as regular daywear, a sober one-colored suit became known as a lounge suit.
Suits are offered in different designs and constructions. Cut and cloth, whether two- or three-piece, single- or double-breasted, vary, in addition to various accessories. A two-piece suit has a jacket and trousers; a three-piece suit adds a waistcoat. Hats were almost always worn outdoors (and sometimes indoors) with all men's clothes until the counterculture of the 1960s in Western culture. Informal suits have been traditionally worn with a fedora, a trilby, or a flat cap. Other accessories include handkerchief, suspenders or belt, watch, and jewelry.
Other notable types of suits are for semi-formal occasions—the dinner suit (black tie) and the black lounge suit (stroller)—both which arose as less formal alternatives for the formal wear of the dress coat for white tie, and the morning coat with formal trousers for morning dress, respectively.
Originally, suits were always tailor-made from the client's selected cloth. These are now known as bespoke suits, custom-made to measurements, taste, and style preferences. Since the 1960s, most suits are mass-produced ready-to-wear garments. Currently, suits are offered in roughly four ways:
bespoke, in which the garment is custom-made by a tailor from a pattern created entirely from the customer's measurements, giving the best fit and free choice of fabric;
made to measure, in which a pre-made pattern is modified to fit the customer, and a limited selection of options and fabrics is available;
ready-to-wear, off-the-peg (Commonwealth English), or off-the-rack (American English), which is sold as is, although some tailor alteration tends to be required;
suit separates, where lounge jacket and trousers are sold separately in order to minimize alterations needed, including also odd-colored blazers or sports coats as smart casual options
A tailcoat is a knee-length 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 in the Early Modern era. Ever since the 18th century, however, tailcoats evolved into general forms of day and evening formal wear, in parallel to how the lounge suit succeeded the frock coat (19th century) and the justacorps (18th century).
Thus, in 21st-century Western dress codes for men, mainly two types of tailcoats have survived:
Dress coat, an evening wear with a squarely cut away front, worn for formal white tie
Morning coat (or cutaway in American English), a day wear with a gradually tapered front cut away, worn for formal morning dress
In colloquial language without further specification, "tailcoat" typically designates the former, that is the evening dress coat for white tie.
The bow tie /boʊ/ 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 the two opposite ends form loops.
There are generally three types of bow ties: the pre-tied, the clip on, and the self tie. Pre-tied bow ties are ties in which the distinctive bow is sewn onto a band that goes around the neck and clips to secure. Some "clip-ons" dispense with the band altogether, instead clipping straight to the collar. The traditional bow tie, consisting of a strip of cloth which the wearer has to tie by hand, is also known as a "self-tie", "tie-it-yourself", or "freestyle" bow tie.
Bow ties may be made of any fabric material, but most are made from silk, polyester, cotton, or a mixture of fabrics. Some fabrics (e.g., wool or velvet) are much less common for bow ties than for ordinary four-in-hand neckties.