Male formal attire, including tailcoat

A tailcoat, sometimes a swallow-tail coat is the coat traditionally worn by men for white tie dress for formal evening occasions. This is not to be confused with a morning coat, which does have tails, but is a different garment, and worn for formal daytime occasions.

A tailcoat is waist length in the front and sides, and has two long tails reaching to the knees in back. (Sometimes with a pocket on the inside meant to hold gloves). The tailcoat predates its descendent, the frock coat, and differs from the frock coat's descendent, the morning coat, in the shape of the front half of the coat.

The tailcoat traditionally also has silk facings in grosgrain or sometimes satin on the lapels, is double breasted, and meets but does not fasten in the front.^[1] (There are two rows of buttons, all non-functional.)

It is worn as part of the white tie dress code, which (briefly) consists of a white wing-collar dress shirt with single cuffs fastened with cufflinks, a matching white bowtie and waistcoat, black trousers, and black patent leather shoes with leggings. It is accompanied by a top hat, leading to the phrase 'top hat and tails' for white tie.

Although regarded as formal wear today, like all such "formal wear" it is based upon standard fashions of earlier times. Tailcoats, sometimes called a "claw-hammer", would be standard day-to-day wear in the 1830's to 1850's. A period photo of President James Buchanan and his cabinet shows a group of men all wearing this type of garment. Indeed the tailcoat was considered de rigueur for men during the English Regency era.^[2]

During the War of 1812 a single breasted version was worn in all ranks.

A variation used by some horseback riders in certain riding disciplines is called a shadbelly.

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