Uniforms of the Royal Air Force featured a high waisted single-breasted blue-grey jacket which tapered to a point at the front below the waist. A blue-grey waistcoat, trousers and black shoes were also worn. Rank was indicated on shoulder boards in gold lace. This uniform was modified in 1928 when the shoes were replaced by boots and overalls with gold lace and bright blue stripes were introduced. This modified form of the uniform lasted until 1934 when it was replaced by a version similar to the current men's mess dress. The wearing of mess dress was suspended during World War II. For women, mess dress currently
Uniforms of the United States Air Force trousers replaced these. Early versions of the short-sleeve Shade 1550 shirt in the 1970s were characterized by small pin-on metal rank insignia for officers, similar to what had been the case for the 1505 shirt, while enlisted personnel continued to wear sewn-on cloth sleeve rank insignia. This variant was later replaced by a new short-sleeve shirt in Shade 1550, plus a long-sleeve shirt in Shade 1550 with dark-blue (Shade 1549) tie, both of which incorporated buttonable shoulder epaulette straps. For officers, a dark-blue slip-on "soft rank" shoulder loop was created to slide over the epaulettes, with rank insignia consisting of