Morning Wear is the traditional daytime formal dress-code and is typically worn at weddings, garden parties, investitures and race meetings such as Royal Ascot. It is without doubt our favourite dress code in terms of its creativity and splashes of colour. You can play things up or down as much as you like, creating your own mood and palette. Our model Olivier wears a monochrome combination for an elegant and refined turnout. We've put together a list of tips and tricks to ensure that you're ready to go if and when any such invitation is to come your way.
Shirts
Embrace the brighter days and select one of our optic white shirts, perfect for elevating any jacket and great when it comes to photographs. Alternatively, throw in the sweetest dash of colour, with shades of sky blue, pink, lilac or cream. Budd now offers three different shirt cuts, ensuring a polished, clean cut look. Alternatively, leave yourself enough time and have your shirt tailored by our made to measure or bespoke teams, for something truly personalised and unique.
Pocket Squares
Never overlook the pocket square. It not only serves for acts of chivalry, but can perform visual trickery by broadening your chest and aesthetically serve to bring your outfit together. Never match your pocket square to your tie, but instead pull out a colour in it, or perhaps match to the colour of your shirt. Nothing beats a simple white square with a contrast edge. Its simplicity will always work in your favour. Our batistes in a multitude of pastel shades are also very versatile.
Belt or Braces?
We prefer braces. A good pair of loop and buttons braces looks great if you take your jacket off and keeps colourways and textures considered. Erring on sounding too snobby, a belt can sometimes cheapen a suit and detract from its clean lines. Choose from fancy designs or more sensible solids, but embrace the choice of linen, silk or boxcloth and the best collection of colours around.
To tie the knot or not?
Budd offers deliciously textured ties in solids, motifs and timeless spots in a kaleidoscope of colours to sit perfectly with any wedding look. Often, there is some uncertainty as to whether you can get away with a tie free look when attending a wedding as a guest. We suggest bringing one along whatever the case, but highly recommended opting for a knitted tie for a cheery compromise between smart and dressed-down.
A little goes a long way
It’s all in the detail. Show some sentimentality with your choice of cufflinks and opt for our hand-painted, Codis Maya symbols of love and affection in vitreous enamel and silver. Opt for a tie pin for a note of difference.
Shop Cufflinks and Shirt Studs
Best Foot Forward
ALWAYS pay attention to your choice of socks. Be playful with colour or match them to your suit. Whichever you choose, ensure that they are a good length (we recommend ¾ hose), to avoid unsightly flashes of hairy leg and do justice to the rest of your get-up.
Budd recommends: Choose a neckband shirt in sky or white, and wear with a detachable collar for some polished old school charm, they make the perfect choice to wear under a morning coat and vest. For optimum comfort, when selecting a neckband shirt and collar, opt for a shirt in your normal neck size, and then go up a neck size for the collar itself...and don’t forget the dress studs.
With thanks to Favourbrook for their kind loan of morning suits and vests.