Royal Army Chaplains' Department Mess Dress - Female

• Mess Jacket

Specified by the dress evidence but not separately listed as a Goldings product for this uniform.

Choose one authorised option

• Long Mess Dress Skirt
• or Formal Trousers

Choose one lower-garment outfit. The existing skirt/dress or female-cut trousers remain available, with the matching male-pattern trousers or overalls offered as alternatives by Goldings. Rank, appointment, occasion and mounted-duty conditions remain specific to each option.

• Collarless White Shirt

The chaplain-specific collarless shirt is the exact product; generic bow-tie shirts do not apply to the clerical-collar construction.

• Full Clerical Collar

The No. 10 shirt is expressly for use with a clerical collar; the generic black bow tie is not part of RAChD No. 10 Dress.

• Women’s Black Court Shoes

Female RAChD No. 10 Dress specifically requires black evening shoes; the local article is retained instead of a generic court-shoe projection.

• Authorised stockings or tights

The RAChD tables prescribe natural-tan tights or stockings for female No. 1, Service and Mess Dress; no safe atomic stock item models them.

Not part of the standard composition for this role and order of dress.

ADR 09.65 states that female Army personnel do not wear headdress with Nos. 10 or 11 Dress.

Select the authorised insignia for the wearer’s rank

• 5/8 Inch Gold Metal Bath Stars — Coloured Centre
• 5/8 Inch Gold Metal Crowns
• Bullion Rank — RAChD Mess, Class 1 and Above

Class 2 and below: the existing 5/8-inch metal crown and gold anodised Bath stars with coloured tops are selected according to rank; the star’s blue dot points towards the sleeve head. The crown is worn on a purple cushion for crown-bearing appointments. Class 1 and above: bullion rank on gold-lace-edged shoulder straps; the ordinary metal configuration does not apply.

• Authorised rank carrier for the wearer and garment

The rank carrier depends on the wearer and authorised garment construction under the cited rule.

• Royal Army Chaplains’ Department No. 1 and Mess Collar Badges

Supplied as a separately displayed Goldings product.

• Royal Army Chaplains’ Department 22 Ligne Gilt Buttons

Supplied as a separately displayed Goldings product.

Chaplains do not carry swords; the generic officer sword rule must not flow into any public RAChD uniform.

The scabbard is part of the prohibited sword system for chaplains.

A sword knot must not be inherited where the wearer is expressly prohibited from carrying a sword.

Sword slings and a concealed sword belt are not part of RAChD dress because chaplains do not carry swords.

Choose one authorised option

• Four Pleat Purple Silk Mess Cummerbund - Female
• or Roman Catholic Plain Purple Silk Mess Cummerbund

Female chaplains use the four-pleat purple-silk cummerbund, while Roman Catholic female chaplains use the plain purple-silk version. They are alternative separable catalogue products, not simultaneous components.

Not part of the standard composition for this role and order of dress.

• Authorised shoulder cords, chains or details

Shoulder cords, chains or other details depend on the authorised local pattern.

This exact composition is skirt-only, so braces or other trouser support are not used.

This exact composition is skirt-only, so spurs and spur-box footwear are not used.

• Orders, decorations and medals as entitled

Orders, decorations and medals are selected by individual entitlement and the occasion.

Choose one authorised option

• Authorised lanyard or aiguillette where entitled

The Departmental lanyard is expressly not applicable. In Mess Dress an appointment or Royal aiguillette remains possible only where separately entitled, so the combined slot is conditional rather than universally absent.

• Additional authorised item for the occasion

Any additional accessory is controlled by the cited occasion or local dress rule.

• No. 3 Staff Aiguillettes

Offer the same No.3 Staff pattern conditionally, only for an entitled ADC/Military Assistant/Flag Lieutenant appointment and official duty during that appointment; ordinary officer status alone confers no entitlement.