An optional wear item for Female Officers, Chief Petty Officers (CPOs), and Junior Enlisted Sailors, the Formal Blue Skirt is a floor-length, six-gored skirt made of Navy-authorized fabric with optional slits no higher than mid-calf on either side. In the Navy, it is authorized for wear by Officers and CPOs with the Formal Dress, Dinner Dress Blue/White Jacket, and Dinner Dress Blue Uniforms; Junior Enlisted Sailors may wear with the Dinner Dress Blue/White Jacket Uniforms. Female Coast Guard Auxiliarists wear the Formal Blue Skirt with the Dinner Dress Blue Uniform.
The Formal Blue Skirt is also authorized for wear by United States Coast Guard female personnel with the Formal Dress Blue and Dinner Dress Blue/White Jacket Uniforms; see Section 3.A.1. of COMDINST 1020.6J, Required Uniforms, to determine authorization for wear by Officers and Enlisted personnel.
When wearing the Formal Blue Skirt, Navy personnel must also wear flesh-tone hosiery, and the skirt must be worn with the side zipper on the left. The skirt is not authorized for wear aboard Navy ships, but it may be stored aboard ship and worn when immediately departing or returning to it.
Coast Guard Uniform Regulations mandate the wear of black pumps and hosiery when wearing the skirt, which must have a 2- to 3-inch hem that is parallel to and no more than 1.5 inches off the floor. While the skirt is not normally worn aboard military ships, cutters, boats, or aircraft, they may be authorized for special occasions when safety is not a concern or when its wear would not violate rules of decorum or cause embarrassment to the wearer.