The black lounge suit (UK), stroller (U.S.), or Stresemann (Continental Europe), is a men's day attiresemi-formal intermediate of a formalmorning dress and an informallounge suit; comprising grey striped or checked formal trousers, but distinguished by a conventional-length lounge jacket, single- or double-breasted in black, midnight blue or grey.[1] This makes it largely identical to the formal morning dress from which it is derived, only having exchanged the morning coat with a suit jacket, yet with equivalent options otherwise, such as necktie or bowtie for neckwear, a waistcoat (typically black, grey, or buff), French cuffsdress shirt of optional collar type, and black dress shoes or dress boots. The correct hat would be a semi-formal homburg, bowler, or boater hat. Just as morning dress is considered the formal daytime equivalent of formal evening attire dress coat i e. white tie, so the stroller is considered the semi-formal daytime equivalent of the semi-formal evening attire dinner jacket, i.e. black tie (also called tuxedo). Unlike other dress codes, there is no clear equivalent for women, though typical morning dress and cocktail dress have both been identified as alternatives.
Wearing a black lounge suit the traditional way with formal trousers largely fell out of use following the counterculture of the 1960s, although its practice has still been observed occasionally ever since.
For semi-formal weddingday attire, the groom may dress in a dark-grey suit jacket with a dove-grey or buff waistcoat and optionally a wedding tie. For a semi-formal funeral day attire, the mourner may wear a matching black jacket and waistcoat presumably with a black necktie.
Name
In British English, it is called a black lounge suit. Since black was reserved for formal wear, it was unknown as a colour for lounge suits, so the term was unambiguous. It has also been referred to as a Marlborough suit in the U.K.
In American English the style is referred to as a stroller suit, club coat or sack coat.[2]
In the United Kingdom this mode of dress is now unusual, though the dress code sometimes does occur in fraternal orders such as Freemasonry for semi-formal daytime meetings. It is also still worn within the legal profession, especially by barristers. Indeed, the striped formal trousers are in some circles referred to as "barrister trousers".
The stroller's apparent decline in use, as opposed to the staying power of its evening counterpart the dinner jacket, could be attributed to several factors: daytime formality in general, and specifically the standard of changing clothes for various occasions, fell out of general use in post-World War II Western culture; and strollers were sometimes associated with uniformed servants, a concept which had also fallen out of favour. By the late 20th century, fictional characters in media depicted wearing strollers were often portrayed as self-important or inflexible snobs, often in opposition to more sympathetic characters dressed casually.
Yet, notably, at his first inauguration in 1981, former U.S. PresidentRonald Reagan wore a black stroller. When his planned attire was announced it generated some controversy among D.C. lawmakers who thought they were being told to acquire such suits as well.[4]
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