Livrée

Livrée is a French noun meaning livery or uniform. It traditionally refers to the distinctive clothing, insignia, and accompanying dress worn by servants, attendants, and official personnel to indicate their allegiance, rank, and employer.

In historical contexts, households of nobility, royal courts, and military units used defined livrées: footmen, coachmen, grooms, and courtiers wore agreed colors and emblems. The expression porter la livrée denotes wearing this uniform as a sign of service or employment, while la livrée de la cour describes the court's official dress.

In modern usage, livrée can also denote a company’s branding or color scheme applied to vehicles and equipment, a broader sense of livery in English. This is seen in the livery of airlines, trains, ships, and delivery fleets. The term is commonly encountered in historical writing, art, and fashion to describe the visual identity of a household or institution.

In heraldry and ceremonial contexts, the concept is related to insignia and badges that identify allegiance to a patron or ruler. While in everyday French the word livrée may be supplanted by livery or uniforme, it remains a standard term in descriptions of historical dress and in discussions of branding.

See also: livery, uniforme, heraldry, court dress.