Formal trousers

Formal trousers, also known as morning trousers, formal striped trousers or cashmere-stripe trousers, or colloquially spongebag trousers, are grey striped or patterned formal trousers for day attire in traditional Western dress code, primarily associated with formal morning dress or, secondly, its half dress equivalent, black lounge suit. Traditionally made from heavy wool ranging from worsted, melton to partial twill weave, the pattern is most often of a muted design in stripes of black, silver, white and charcoal grey in various combinations (not to be confused with pinstripe or chalkstripe, which are formed of single thin lines spaced equally apart). In addition, formal trousers may also come in check patterns, such as houndstooth check, or plaids, although these variants are widely considered as not the most formal.

Typically, formal trousers are intended to be worn with braces with a fishtail back covered by a waistcoat, and have pleats for correct ironing result and comfort. Likewise, for traditional reasons of formality, they do not have turn-ups, since these are considered less formal.

Name

The British synonym "cashmere striped trousers" refers to the actual name of the stripe pattern, and not to the fabric. Similarly, the slang term "spongebag trousers" or "spongebags" is due to the perceived similarity of the distinctive stripe pattern to traditional sponge-bags, a bag of toiletries (but does not apply to check patterns). In Germany, the synonym "Stresemann trousers" occurs, for the same reasons that the less formal stroller or black lounge suit is called a "Stresemann".

History

These trousers were introduced in the first half of the 19th century as a complement to the, then widely worn, frock coat. As established formal day attire trousers, they were subsequently worn to go with morning dress, which, along with its less formal equivalent black lounge, in turn, gradually replaced the frock coat as a standard of formal day attire by the 20th century.