Informal attire, also called
international business attire,
Western business attire, or
Tenue de ville is a
dress code, typified by a
suit and
necktie. On the scale of formality, informal attire is more formal than casual but less formal than semi-formal. It is more presentational than
semi-casual, but offers more room for personal expression than
semi-formal dress. Informal should not be confused with
casual, not even
smart casual — in loose common usage, many people refer to informal dress as
semi-formal or
formal and formal dress (in the technical sense — that is, white tie, black tie, and similar) as
very formal. The technical definition of
informal is used in this article.